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Oxblood Epiphone Les Paul


wrighty3693

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Apparently there's a whiff of ambiguity about the "legend" of Beck's 1954 "Oxblood" Les Paul.

 

"According to the Arthurian-type folk-history associated with the instrument, the original "Oxblood" was basically a heavily modded 1954 Les Paul Goldtop. The story, according to Gibson, goes thus:

 

While recording in Memphis, Tenn., Beck paid a visit to a popular music store called Strings and Things to check out the stock. The guitar that caught his attention was a ’54 Gibson Les Paul that a customer had dropped in for some very specific modifications. One request was that its original Goldtop finish be stripped off in favor of a deep chocolate-brown finish, a color that turned out to exhibit some oxblood tints in certain light. Other modifications included the installation of full-size humbucking pickups in place of the P-90s, altering the full and rounded early ’50s neck shape to a slightly thinner profile and changing the original tuners for modern replacements. Legend has it that the customer didn’t like the results, but Jeff Beck did."

 

...according to some sources, the story is often embellished with a comment that the "original customer" was John Mayall of Bluesbreakers fame...but there seems to be little to substantiate this...

 

(Source: http://www.gearwire.com/gibson-1954jeffbecklespauloxblood.html)

 

This (rather poor quality clip) is supposedly the original in action, in 1974.

 

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]
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