For me, Joe Pass beats anyone in terms of technique and fretboard harmony. He's never going to be a historically important as Reinhardt and Christian, whose achievements are utterly beyond 99.999999999% of musicians, but he certainly did his bit to expand what was possible or expected from a guitar player.
Here he is in action.
Another guy who hasn't been mentioned yet is Johnny Smith. His 'Moonlight in Vermont' album is superb for fans of chord-melody playing.
Others who could be recommended are: Hank Garland, Howard Roberts, Tal Farlow, Freddie Green, Herb Ellis and two of the early players, Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson. I think they recorded a tune together that sums up one distinctive feature of jazz improvisation: Have To Change Key (To Play These Blues).
Honourable mention to Les Paul, whose achievements as a player and an inventor are extraordinary. Of course he also gave us a million and one guitarists playing the instrument he helped design, most of them without half the chops he had.
Just check him out.
