Perhaps the two guitar models that Jimmy Page is most synonymous with are by Gibson. Of course, I’m talking about a Les Paul and the EDS-1275, the latter of which is a double neck model consisting of both a 12-string and 6-string.
But certainly of the two, it was a sunburst 1959 Les Paul that Page was spotted riffing, strumming, and soloing on the most during Led Zeppelin’s performance in the ’70s.
In my 2022 book, “Iconic Guitar Gear,” Page expert Brad Tolinski explained how the former Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin member came to play a Les Paul and also which other famous guitar player hooked him up with his eventual go-to guitar.
“The times were interesting, especially with these British guitar players. Because they played what they could get, especially in Jimmy Page’s generation. These guitars were imported, so at any given time in England, there might only be a few Les Pauls available. Or a few Strats, depending on the import and export of the country and all the handful of music stores. Most of the players back then, if the guitar was good and they could get their hands on it, then it was good enough, they’d figure how to make a good sound out of it. And I find that point sort of fascinating, they took what they got and made it work, and came up with all sorts of fantastic things because of that.”
“So, Jimmy at the time was playing a Tele [1959]. And the Tele, the Dragon Tele, that he had was actually a Tele that he didn’t even buy. It was given to him. Back then, rock bands…it was a whole different world, a lot of times, the managers owned the musician’s gear or paid for it. So, Jimmy, famously, went into the Yardbirds. And when he went into the Yardbirds, they just gave him Jeff Beck’s Telecaster. [Laughs] Here’s a guitar…you get this! I mean, Jimmy had other guitars from his days of being a session musician. He had a black Les Paul that he loved, but he didn’t want to take that on tour with him, because it was his prized possession. It was too expensive. And touring back then was pretty rough and tumble, you didn’t even have flight cases, you just checked your stuff in at the airport, and it had zero protection. Amplifiers, they would just toss them into luggage and you just prayed that they’d come out the other end…and in one piece.”
“So anyway, Jimmy had this Tele, and he had his Black Beauty Les Paul. But while he was touring…he has said a couple of different things. One is he felt like he needed something that sounded bigger on stage. He wanted something for his live performance. He wanted a bigger-sounding guitar. So, he felt like he could get that out of humbuckers. And he wanted a Les Paul. He just basically said to Joe Walsh, ‘I’m looking for a new guitar. Do you have anything?’ Joe Walsh and [Cheap Trick’s] Rick Nielsen were two of the earliest guys to see that there was value in old guitars or in guitar collecting. Like, before anybody else gleamed that these guitars are going to be important, Joe, I don’t know why, he just understood their intrinsic value. Rick Nielsen was the son of music store owners, so I think he just sort of had it from that.”
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“But Joe was just this guy that could find cool guitars and the James Gang were playing with Led Zeppelin, and Jimmy and Joe were having this conversation, and Joe’s like, I just got two Les Pauls. I can give you one of those and you can see if you like it. In fact, Joe maintains that he gave Jimmy the shittier Les Paul! So Jimmy’s like, ‘Sure. 500 bucks, boom.’ The Les Paul [1959], in Jimmy’s mind, was the sturdier road guitar. The humbuckers could deliver a bigger sound. It would just be more reliable and a more sturdy guitar. It almost wasn’t all the things that you would do these days, where you would check out 38 guitars and see which one is the best. It’s just something that he got and it was a good guitar, and he made it work.”
“Perhaps what’s more interesting is Jimmy’s original Black Beauty and his second Les Paul, the #2 [also 1959]. Because Jimmy was also one of the first guys to say, I have a guitar. It’s pretty good, it’s got a lot of good sounds in it. But I want to get more out of it. So…what can I do? How can I alter this guitar that’s already good and make it into something great or something that is more versatile? So, the first guitar that Jimmy experimented on was the Black Beauty. He had a lot of different electronics put into that and extra switches added to it to do coil tap. Jimmy’s Black Beauty was one of the first guitars that I know of that a musician says, This isn’t enough for me. I need it to do more. And not only that but the guitar’s cool. I can do more with it, I can do different things with it. I can work on it. And he did the same thing with his #2 Les Paul. It had all special electronics built into it.”
“And in that way, he sort of precedes Eddie Van Halen as somebody who says, OK. This is a good instrument…but I can make it better. I mean, when you think of it, the guitar is so amazing that way, right? That’s what is so wonderful about it. If you’re a saxophone player, you don’t say, I’m going to modify my saxophone. [Laughs] Or a piano, you can’t really modify it. A guitar, you can take and do things with it. It’s almost a living thing. I would say Jimmy’s important because he also signaled that, you can take and do something individual or unique with your instrument. As well as Eddie.”
“His Les Paul he got from Joe Walsh…I played it. It’s a good guitar. It’s only really special in that Jimmy Page is a genius and did all sorts of things. What I think is sort of interesting is he wanted a bigger sounding guitar…but that fucking Tele on the first Led Zeppelin record sounds as big, if not bigger, than the Les Paul does!”
