Jeff Beck's un-released recordings

[Cato]

Hummm.........

[GAR]

Actually the colour is "Oxblood"...

Nope! It's a definate brown. I seen both, the one in distressed-form and the one painted clean as-new finish..

They are both solid-brown, a color Gibson's never done before and the guy in charge of the historic division's been working there almost 30 years who told me they've never done that color before.

He said he went to the UK and went thru Jeff's guitars, after being a kid fan himself with only the album as a visual reference to the guitars' existence. After doing the measurements and photo documentation, it was determined the neck was a mid70s replacement on a late 60's body.. which of course were old-stock 50s bodies and seconds sent thru assembly again in late 67 for reintroducing the Les Paul.. but he says Jeff told the guy he just gave the guitar to a tech or a freind he knew and it came back with another neck, painted that color.

So nobody knows the true color or manufacture, what they came to use had to be colormatched by eye to the digital photos.

[chefcraig]

Nope! It's a definate brown. I seen both, the one in distressed-form and the one painted clean as-new finish..

They are both solid-brown, a color Gibson's never done before and the guy in charge of the historic division's been working there almost 30 years who told me they've never done that color before.

He said he went to the UK and went thru Jeff's guitars, after being a kid fan himself with only the album as a visual reference to the guitars' existence. After doing the measurements and photo documentation, it was determined the neck was a mid70s replacement on a late 60's body.. which of course were old-stock 50s bodies and seconds sent thru assembly again in late 67 for reintroducing the Les Paul.. but he says Jeff told the guy he just gave the guitar to a tech or a freind he knew and it came back with another neck, painted that color.

So nobody knows the true color or manufacture, what they came to use had to be colormatched by eye to the digital photos.

The reason it's called Oxblood is because it was once a '54 gold top, the owner of which decided was too showy, so he had it sanded and repainted in a deep chocolate finish that used red "Oxblood" highlights. As a result, the guitar itself became known as Oxblood. The guitar was painted by a luthier employed at Strings And Things, the Memphis guitar shop that Beck purchased the guitar from in the early sixties. This has been verified in the exhaustive Crazy Fingers bio by Annette Carson.

[Diamondjimi]

Gibson 1954 Jeff Beck Les Paul Oxblood
January 23, 2009



The one-of-a-kind guitar that accompanied Jeff Beck during his transition from "Clapton's Replacement" to celebrated solo artist in his own right is one-of-a-kind no longer. The Gibson Custome Shop has seen fit to introduce the Gibson 1954 Jeff Beck Les Paul Oxblood.

According the Arthurian-type folk-history associated with the instrument, the original "Oxblood" was basically a heavily modded 1954 Les Paul Goldtop. The story, according to Gibson, goes thusly:


"While recording in Memphis, Tenn., Beck paid a visit to a popular music store called Strings and Things to check out the stock. The guitar that caught his attention was a ’54 Gibson Les Paul that a customer had dropped in for some very specific modifications. One request was that its original Goldtop finish be stripped off in favor of a deep chocolate-brown finish, a color that turned out to exhibit some oxblood tints in certain light. Other modifications included the installation of full-size humbucking pickups in place of the P-90s, altering the full and rounded early ’50s neck shape to a slightly thinner profile and changing the original tuners for modern replacements. Legend has it that the customer didn’t like the results. . . but Jeff Beck did."

While Gibson doesn't cite their sources, the story at least seems fairly believable, especially when you consider the fact that the customer who originally ordered the guitar was, in fact, John Mayall (it follows a pattern of rejection, see).

The other details that Gibson omits from their story are certain specifications (Burstbucker 2 and 3 pickups, aluminum wrap-over bridge, long-tenon neck joint) and the price: $8235 US MSRP. I wonder what Jeff paid for his.

[GAR]

The "legend" I'm telling you right now, is contrary to what the guy (got his faaakin bus card in the soup somewhere) in Historic Dept. told me.. only AFTER I said "hey, so this neck is like from ____ period, and the body looks like it's shaped from ______ " and I wasn't far off, so he tells me what I posted, which is of course different than what you posted.

Legend vs. what I've related seeing with my own eyes, you get your hands on one and see if I'm not correct!

Maybe it's a dogpile parts guitar but it's one helluva comfortable one with that wraparound bridge. However, you could do the same thing with an Epi Paul, just grind and reshape the top a bit, strip and paint it then do a wraparound bridge like Wilkinson or a titanium one from TonePros which is the shit.. if you do that though to any Paul you either have studs left behind for the tailpiece or you pull the stud bushings and dowel 'em up before painting.

[chefcraig]

Christ on a cracker, do you ever tire of being being proven wrong on a consistent basis? This is more or less the same nonsense you pulled in the Kennedy thread, wherein you chose to offer a clip from a video game to prove your (incorrect) theory. The guitar was not created some years after Beck initially purchased it out of odds and ends. You see, this would be beyond the very basis of the time and space continuum. So in effect (quantum physics aside), once again you are mistaken.

[Cato]

Gibson 1954 Jeff Beck Les Paul Oxblood
January 23, 2009



The one-of-a-kind guitar that accompanied Jeff Beck during his transition from "Clapton's Replacement" to celebrated solo artist in his own right is one-of-a-kind no longer. The Gibson Custome Shop has seen fit to introduce the Gibson 1954 Jeff Beck Les Paul Oxblood.

According the Arthurian-type folk-history associated with the instrument, the original "Oxblood" was basically a heavily modded 1954 Les Paul Goldtop. The story, according to Gibson, goes thusly:


"While recording in Memphis, Tenn., Beck paid a visit to a popular music store called Strings and Things to check out the stock. The guitar that caught his attention was a ’54 Gibson Les Paul that a customer had dropped in for some very specific modifications. One request was that its original Goldtop finish be stripped off in favor of a deep chocolate-brown finish, a color that turned out to exhibit some oxblood tints in certain light. Other modifications included the installation of full-size humbucking pickups in place of the P-90s, altering the full and rounded early ’50s neck shape to a slightly thinner profile and changing the original tuners for modern replacements. Legend has it that the customer didn’t like the results. . . but Jeff Beck did."

While Gibson doesn't cite their sources, the story at least seems fairly believable, especially when you consider the fact that the customer who originally ordered the guitar was, in fact, John Mayall (it follows a pattern of rejection, see).

The other details that Gibson omits from their story are certain specifications (Burstbucker 2 and 3 pickups, aluminum wrap-over bridge, long-tenon neck joint) and the price: $8235 US MSRP. I wonder what Jeff paid for his.

here's a pic of the back view of headstock



tuners are not the Schaller's unlike the original oxblood Jeff owns. that sucks!