into the marathon song, he built a logical, satisfying
statement on his Telecaster that perfectly suited
the lofty surroundings. It was a fitting close to this
opening chapter of the story of his Led Zep guitars.
GIBSON LES PAULS
When Joe Walsh of the James Gang took a sunburst
Les Paul to show Jimmy at a Zep date in America
in 1969, Jimmy recognised that here was a potential
replacement for his ailing Telecaster. The meeting
most likely took place at the Fillmore West in San
Francisco at the end of April. Jimmy bought the
ex-Walsh Burst and was seen playing it straight away,
certainly by the time Zep played Pasadena in the first
few days of May.
He knew he had a gorgeous Les Paul and very
soon it came to define his sound and his future with
Zeppelin. More immediately, he knew that toward
the end of May, the band would start work on their
second album and he wanted just such a reliable,
playable guitar for this important job.
The Burst remained Jimmy’s favourite guitar
through most of his time with Led Zep and
eventually it would be known as ‘Number 1’ once
he acquired others. Walsh had done some work to
the guitar, including shaving its neck to an unusual
profile. Jimmy described it as a “shallow neck” and in
fact, it had been shaved almost to the truss rod in the
centre section.
Roger Giffin, who later made a replica of Number
1 for Jimmy, told me the asymmetric profile was “like
a section through an egg, deeper on the bass side
than the treble”. But it worked for its new owner and
that’s all that mattered.
Jimmy made a sensible mod by quickly changing
the ex-Walsh guitar’s tuners from the notoriously
fragile originals to a robust set of gold-plated
Grovers, a type that he was familiar with on his
Les Paul Custom acquired back in the session days.
The bridge-pickup cover came off, too, revealing
double-white bobbins and the switch cap was in the
wars, going through a few changes.
There’s nothing unusual in any of this: it was a
busy working guitar that otherwise held up very well.
A headstock repair probably done during Walsh’s
ownership had removed the guitar’s serial number,
so an accurate production year will never be possible,
though an educated guess would place Number 1 as
probably a late ’59 or early ’60 example.
Jimmy got another Burst during his time in Led
Zeppelin, probably in 1973, an instrument later
known as ‘Number 2’. This one was serial-numbered
and clearly a 1959 model. He kept it mainly as a
backup to Number 1, although he occasionally used
it onstage, sometimes in alternate tuning for Kashmir.
Interviewers often asked Jimmy about his
influences and he would talk passionately about
rockabilly and blues. When the subject turned to Eric
Clapton, he would say how Eric was among the first
to develop and exploit the sound of a Burst plus a
Marshall. But it was Jimmy who took that evolution
further, putting his ex-Walsh Les Paul to use during
Zep’s time at the very top of the rock tree in the
1970s, onstage and in the studio.
Not only did Jimmy and his Burst create an
unforgettable onstage image, but in the studio
he reminded a generation of guitarists and guitar
fans just what a Les Paul could do in imaginative
hands. For some, this would remain as the definitive
combination of player and instrument.
“It’s hypothetical, but I may not have come up
with the riff of Whole Lotta Love on the Telecaster,”
Jimmy said when we discussed his Burst. “That fat
sound you’re working with, you are inspired – well,
I am – and I know other people are, by instruments,
the sound of the instruments. And then they’re
playing something they haven’t played before and it’s
really user-friendly, and suddenly they’ve got some“IT’S HYPOTHETICAL, BUT I MAY NOT
HAVE COME UP WITH THE RIFF FOR
WHOLE LOTTA LOVE ON THE TELE,
THAT FAT SOUND YOU’RE WORKING
WITH, YOU’RE INSPIRED. WELL, I AM”
THIS SPREAD By 1970, the
1959 Telecaster was replaced
in Jimmy’s affections by his
iconic 1959 Les Paul Standard,
bought from Joe Walsh the
previous year©(^) JØ
RG
EN
(^) AN
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JIMMY PAGE
GUITAR MAGAZINE 63