1959 Gibson Les Paul: Various artists talk about the "HOLY GRAIL"

The 1959 Gibson Les Paul featured in the previous post showed it's great tone and why vintage guitars can't be matched. Due to my recent fascination and search for clips of the 1959 Gibson Les Paul, I thought I'd post another cool video I've seen.

This clip features famous guitarists including Slash and Billy Gibbons talking about why they love the 1959 Les Paul, everyone loves it, enjoy the video.

The Tone difference 1959 Gibson Les Paul - AKA The Holy Grail

The 1959 Gibson Les Paul is known as the holy grail of electric guitars by guitar lovers and collectors, they are worth a fortune, and you'll be lucky to find one for sale. This guitar made countless guitar heroes famous...(continued after the video)



The Tone
Why is the 1959 Gibson Les Paul so valuable, it's due to one word - TONE. Vintage guitars always have their own character to them but the 1959 Gibson Les Paul is something else, Les Pauls already have the reputation for being sustain monsters giving a rich fat tone, and a vintage Les Paul will give that and more. The pickups fitted on the 1959 are also one of the sweetest sounding pickups ever made. Gibson are constantly trying to recapture the tone and specs of the 1959, that's why every year there seems to be a new 1959 VOS reissue released.

Tone is a very subtle and subjective thing, but every guitarist that cares about how their guitar sound knows about it. One thing about a vintage guitar is the wood has aged and has adjusted to the vibrations of strings, this is what gives it more tone and sustain. I found a video from guitar world with Paul Riario playing Larry Dimarzio's all orginal 1959 Gibson Les Paul and comparing it with his 2002 Gibson Les Paul Historic reissue. The difference is, to say the least, noticable, so noticable infact that I had to share it with everyone. He plays it acoustically first and you can here the sustain and warmth, not many reviewers do this, I think all guitar reviews/comparisions should follow this example whether it's an acoustic guitar or not, to hear what the guitar sounds like unplugged is essential.

For more 1959 Gibson Les Paul videos follow this link

Yngwie Malmsteen buys a Vintage Fender 1963 Stratocaster

Yngwie Malmsteen the shredding king, this video clip looks like it was back in the 90's in London's famous guitar street, Denmark Street London in Andy's guitars. The start of the clip has Yngwie talking about music and singers he's worked with etc, if you skip to around 2 minutes 40 seconds you'll see him buy a vintage guitar for £3500, which was alot in those days, he test out the vintage Fender Stratocaster 1963Fiesta Red, plays a few licks, and tries to haggle. The seller probably knows it's Yngwie Malsteen buying soo doesn't budge in his price. You'll see how Yngwie respects the guitar like a true guitar rock n' roll legend would do at the end of the clip when you see how he carefull places it in his car after he leaves.

Enjoy the clip
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Brian Setzer and his Gretsch

Brian Setzer another Gretsch man, he's has his Gretsch since he was 17 years old, I know how it feels to pick up and look at the guitar you've been playing for years and realise it's a masterpiece. Brian Setzer's style and tone really suits and comes from his Gretsch, Gretsch's definietely have something unique about them making you play a certain way and feel a certain type of music. Brian Setzer also has a signature Gretsch released to everybody that wants his guitar and personal preference on specs.

Heres a video of Brian Setzer talking about his Gretsch.

Richie Sambora

Richie Sambora from Bon Jovi talks about some of his favourite gear and guitars. This is the kind of video I like, when guitar legends test out their signature guitar and classic guitars and tell us what they think of it, and give some cool licks to demonstrate.

Richie talks about some of his favourite guitars and some vintage guitars from his collection. Here are the guitars featured:

1958 Gibson ES335
Richie Sambora gives a demo of the "mother tone" created by Eric Clapton by rolling off the tone. Gibson ES335's are smoth as hell and a classic blues guitar.

1959 Gibson Les Paul
This guitar is down in history not just by being a Gibson Les Paul, but the year it was made, something about the 1959 Les Pauls tone, everyone loves it, and Richie has one.

Richie Sambora Fender Signature guitar
A nice signature guitar, a Fender Stratocaster with a Floyd Rose Trem, what more can you ask for.

1963 Fender Stratocaster
Another one of Richie Sambora vintage collection, this 1963 Fender Stratocaster. Strats still have it's unique sound, glassy clear, the best guitar for funky rhythm playing in my opinion.

Robert Johnson Gibson L-1 vintage guitars

I went into a guitar store today in Denmark Street London, the shop is called Wunjo guitars. They have a collection of second hand guitars, and some of these are vintage. I saw an old Gibson L-1 with a tag on it that said it was from 1928 (picture on the left, taken from Wunjo's site). The most famous Gibson L-1 player in history must be Robert Johnson the so-called creator of the blues, the man that sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads to play the blues.

Well, back to the L-1, this guitar was beaten up and had been refinished, I've never played a vintage acoustic of this age before and didn't know what to expect.... however, the guitar was amazing. You can hear that the wood of the guitar had been played into and was soft and flexible absorbing the sound of the strings. The tone was a bit flat but had a warmth and character that nothing can replicate. It was a special experience, I could feel Robert Johnson and the soul of the whoever it was that owned and played it for all those years. I now see why vintage guitars are valued so much. I'm in love with vintage acoustics now, the price of the guitar was around £2200 which I think isn't that much for the a vintage instrument of that age.

What triggered me to write about this Gibson L-1 I played today at Wunjo was it's price, ok, the guitar had been refinished and had countless scratches dings, and marks, but if you look at a brand new Gibson L-1 Robert Johnson acoustic, it's $2793 as stated on the Gibson website. There's not too much of a price difference between the vintage instrument and the brand new one! I've never played a brand new Gibson L-1 Robert Johnson model, does it have the same vintage sound as a vintage guitar? Why is the price of this vintage one comparable? If I had the money I'd get the vintage Gibson L-1, I gonna be dreaming of it tonight.

John5: The Greatest Telecaster Collection

John5 done a interview with Guitarworld showing his gear and his Telecaster collection, I started watching it thinking its gonna be a normal colection of guitars, but I was wrong. John5 must have the greatest Fender Telecaster Collection in the world!!! This guy collects the best of them, spending millions of dollars. John5's got the most vintage Fender Telecasters in guitar history and he only buys them if they are in good condition, it has to be nearly mint or he won't buy it. He's got the the Telecaster before it was called a Telecaster, the Broadcaster.

Respect to John5 for his collection and for sharing with us. John5 the Fender Telecaster addict.

Enjoy the video...
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John5 Gear Fender Telecaster

Phil X

While searching through youtube for guitar gear videos, and guitar reviews I found this guy reviewing vintage gear in a guitar shop. He done reviews on tons of cool vintage guitars. This guy turned out to be Phil X.

Who's Phil X
Phil X, also known as Phil Xenidis, is the guitarist in a band called Powder and The Drills. Phil X has also played guitar on tracks for many artists including Tommy Lee to Avril Lavigne.

Phil X done a series of reviews for frettedamericana.com on youtube. This guy knows how to play and shows us what fun it is to test out vintage guitars. Some of the reviews are just him rocking out playing classic tunes which suit the instrument e.g playing Led Zeppelin on vintage Gibson Les Pauls, even though it seems like he's mindlessly just having fun with the guitar, you actually get a nice sense of tone of the instrument. Occassionally Phil gives some info on the instrument such as history, pickup type ect. I just found his reviews entertaining and thought I'd share it with everyone.

Heres a link to the youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/frettedamericana

hope you enjoy

Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones talks about the guitars he takes on tour

Ronnie Wood guitar gear walkthrough on tour with the Rolling Stones. Ronnie goes through some of his guitar such as the lapsteel, pedal steel, and sitar. Then he talks about more traditional guitars like the Gibson FirdBird, Custom guitar (used on Monkey Man), and a ESP B bender.

Then he goes through his main guitar a vintage Fender Stratocaster 1955, and his spare 1954 Fender Stratocaster.

The rest of the interview has Ronnie Wood talking about his acoustics.

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Young George Lynch talks about vintage guitar gear

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Heres a section from George Lynch Guitar Bible where George tries to emulate classic tone using vintage gear and test runs his vintage setup with a Voodoo Chile cover.

George Lynch Selection of Vintage gear:

Guitar: Fender Stratocaster 1957

Distortion Pedal: RAT distortion pedal

Wah Wah Pedal: Original Dunlop Crybaby Wah Wah pedal

Echoplex

Amp Head: Marshall 1974 100 watt

Cabinet/speakers: Celestion speakers 25 watt

Vintage Guitars -Larry DiMarzio's Vintage Guitar Collection - Gibson Les Paul, Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster

Larry DiMarzio famous for his pickups talks about his most valuable guitars. The 1959 Gibson Les Paul, 1960 Fender Stratocaster, and 1951 Fender Telecaster.


Larry Dimarzio explains how the 1959 Gibson Les Paul was the model which defined what we know a Les Paul is now, Gibson finally got it right in every way, from the tone and volume knobs, double humbuckers, and kneck, even the way material the the way the humbuckers were wired.


The 1960 Fender Stratcaster in mint condition from Larry Dimarzios collection. He talks about the "more dynamic cuts" of the body, and the general properties which gave the stratocaster its sound and versatility which moulded the sound of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.


Larry Dimarzios original Vintage 1959 Gibson Les Paul




Larry Dimarzios original vintage 1960 Fender Statocaster




Larry Dimarzio's original vintage 1951 Fender Telecaster