Photo Set: Gibson’s Jimmy Page Signature Guitars
Back in 2004, we were super excited to get our hands on the brand-new Gibson Custom Shop Jimmy Page Les Paul “Number One”. It was the most highly anticipated guitar that had come through the door in years, and we were lucky enough to have the signed, aged Pilot Run #9 of 25 in the store. Most folks are used to the idea of a signed and aged Jimmy Page guitar these days but the first time around it was almost like having Jimmy himself walk through the door, whistling “The Rover”. We had it on display in the store for a good long while, and we also put up a page on the website with absurdly large pictures of every angle of #9. Now that there have been a few more Jimmy Page replica/tribute guitars that have come through The Zoo, we thought we would revisit the photos we shot of these popular guitars, and compile them all in one post for all you Jimmy Page fans.
The Original: Jimmy Page Signed Aged Gibson Les Paul #9 of 25
Gibson had already made some Jimmy Page Signature Les Pauls in the mid-90s that were very interesting guitars in their own right, but this right here was Gibson’s first big swing at a guitar that replicated one of Jimmy’s actual vintage instruments – his “Number One” ’59 Les Paul Standard Sunburst. As with subsequent Page tribute guitars that followed, Gibson sought to replicate every modification, and every ding and scratch that existed on the original Number One. Jimmy’s guitar had a shaved down neck – a very thin and fast elliptical shape, thinnest in the middle of the length of the neck, very unusual – and Gibson replicated it here. The pickups were a special wind, exclusive to the Page Les Paul. Another cool feature carried over from Jimmy’s original was the push-pull pot on the rear volume control that produced an out-of-phase sound. Gibson even thoughtfully included a violin bow as part of the package. This guitar weighed only 8.6 pounds.
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The Jimmy Page Signed Aged Gibson Doubleneck #7 of 25
Building on the success of the Page Number One Les Paul, Gibson next recreated one of Jimmy’s most recognizable guitars, his red 1971 EDS-1275 Doubleneck. Again, 25 were aged and signed by Jimmy, and shown here is #7 of that very limited series. This guitar had special Page-spec pickups, and a neck shapes that matched his original. We played “Stairway” on it. Everyone did.
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The Jimmy Page #2 Les Paul, Aged Version (Non-Signed)
In 2010 Gibson came out with another replica Jimmy Page Les Paul, this time recreating his “Number Two” 1959 Les Paul Sunburst. In 1973 Jimmy bought a second 1959 Les Paul Standard to complement his Number One ’59. This guitar was more lightly figured, and a bit darker in color. The neck was modified to feel thinner like Number One, but not to nearly that extreme. The main thing about Number Two that sets it apart from any other guitar on the market is the extensive custom electronics package. Jimmy installed push-pull pots on all four knobs along with two switches hidden under the pickguard that together controlled all sorts of coil splitting, phase reverse, and series/parallel options, and all these modifications are present on the signature model. Again there were 25 aged and signed by Jimmy Page, but this time there were also an additional one hundred aged (not signed) replicas built. This is one of the non-signed guitars.
Jimmy Page guitar aficionados will notice that there is one Page Les Paul missing from these photo sets – the Jimmy Page 1960 Les Paul Custom Black Beauty that was reissued in 2008. Jimmy loved his Black Beauty, a 3-pickup with a Bigsby but, sadly, it was stolen from him at an airport in 1970. We sold one of the rare signed replicas of this guitar, but, almost fittingly, our pictures of it have gone missing. When we come across another one, we’ll update this post. Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy the pictures.
Click here to see the full photo set!
UPDATE: The Jimmy Page 1960 Les Paul Custom, #20, Signed Version
We mentioned above that we lost our pictures of the ’60 Les Paul Jimmy Page model we previously sold, but we have just received the Signed #20 in the series and here are the pics! Jimmy Page always loved his Custom, and felt that it was the “one that got away”. Aside from the slim ’60 neck, the signature feature of the Jimmy Page Custom is the trick 6-way electronics setup, achieved through a push-pull pot in conjunction with the toggle switch. It provides for pickup combinations not usually available with a 3-pickup Les Paul, as well as the coil-tap single coil tone that Jimmy was known for.
