John Lennon was
always a fan of Charlie Christian, and he also enjoyed tinkering
with his guitars. So when he met New York luthier and guitar
repairman Ron DeMarino in the early 70’s, he asked him to take his
1950’s Tobacco Sunburst Les Paul Junior and add the pickup made
famous by the jazz legend.
“We put it in the neck position,” says DeMarino.
“Installing the pickup involved extensive routing and major
modification to the back of the guitar. We left the Gibson P-90
pickup in the guitar and added a toggle switch wired for pickup
selection. When I got the guitar back to John he liked the way it
sounded.”
Later, at Lennon’s request, he sanded off the ‘burst finish and
added the Tune-O-Matic bridge and stop tailpiece. On August 30,
1972, Lennon used his customized Les Paul in its new raw wood
state during his famous benefit concert at New York ’s Madison
Square Garden.
Today, the guitar is on permanent display at the John Lennon
Museum in Japan. We are honored to include this musical legend and
his Charlie Christian-inspired guitar in our own Gibson Custom
Shop Inspired By series.More
information
here.
Gibson Website on this guitar
here.
Contact us to get one now, before it all
runs out. Only 4 sets available only. |
John Lennon "Inspired By"
Les Paul Electric Guitar |
