In The Yardbirds, Jimmy had worked alongside Jeff
Beck since joining in the summer of 1965 and when
he shifted to guitar, he mostly played a Telecaster
borrowed from Jeff. When Jeff left The Yardbirds at
the end of 1966, he took his favoured Burst with him
and left the Tele in Jimmy’s hands. Its status as a 1959
example can be seen in the rosewood ’board and the
top-loader bridge with optional string-through holes.
When Jimmy first began playing the Tele in The
Yardbirds, it had its original finish, but during the
early months of 1967 he decided it needed something
more distinctive. Maybe he’d seen Syd Barrett’s
Esquire with its body covered in plastic sheeting
and silver discs?
Jimmy said it was the use of mirrors in fashionable
jackets and dresses of the day that inspired him to
add eight mirror-finish discs to the front of his Tele’s
body and he enjoyed making them flash and glitter in
the stage lights.
That look didn’t last long, though, and a few
months later – perhaps this time he’d seen Eric
Clapton’s painted ‘Fool’ SG? – Jimmy removed the
discs, stripped the body down to natural figured ash
and painted it with a design that’s become known as
the dragon. Jimmy said he exploited the way oppositeCrusaders. He recalled flirtations with a Strat and a
6120 along the way and found himself a Harmony
Sovereign acoustic.
For his job as a busy session guitarist on the 60s
London circuit, he acquired a Les Paul Custom and
a Danelectro 3021. Next, it was The Yardbirds, at
first on bass playing the band’s Epiphone Rivoli, then
switching to guitar. It must have seemed like he’d
really arrived. Little did he know what was in store...1959 FENDER TELECASTER
Think of Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin and probably
the first guitar that comes to mind is a sunburst Les
Paul, or maybe that spectacular double-neck. At first,
however, he played a Telecaster that he brought with
him from The Yardbirds. From Zep’s first appearance
in 1968 that’s immortalised in Jørgen Angel’s photos,
it was clear that this was no ordinary band. And the
guitar Jimmy played was no ordinary Tele, either.FROM LED ZEP’S DEBUT IN 1968
IMMORTALISED IN JØRGEN ANGEL’S
PHOTOS, IT WAS CLEAR THIS WAS
NO ORDINARY BAND. AND JIMMY’S
GUITAR WAS NO ORDINARY TELE
PREVIOUS PAGE
Led Zeppelin were back
in Denmark to play
K.B. Hallen in Copenhagen
on 28 February 1970
ABOVE, ABOVE RIGHT
The Yardbirds at Holte
Hallen in Denmark, 15 April
- Jimmy Page is playing
his 1967 Vox Phantom XII
12-string guitar and using
a violin bow on his ‘Mirror’
Telecaster, the subject of a
recent Fender tribute model
OPPOSITE Page and Plant
at the Gladsaxe Teen Club,
Denmark, on 15 March 1969.
It’s the same Tele, but Page
has unleashed the ‘Dragon’
©
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©
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JIMMY PAGE
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