Steve Hackett's 1974 Les Paul. Looking for photos from the past!

[MacGyver]

Hey everyone,

I've owned kind of an odd old Les Paul for the last 12 years (time flies...) and I've always been looking for older photos of it. Here's a wrap-up about its history:

• Built in 1974 according to an old thread I created on the forum (link here!), although the owner said it's a '71
• Sandwich body, original T-Tops, non-original potis
• Serial number 129414
• Pickup holes tell that it's a factory standard, not a re-routed Deluxe (from my understanding this was available as a custom option back then)
• Probably an early refinish(?) as the color looks odd. According to the fading and the bright red below the pickguard/pickup switch, this must've been loooong ago
• Tuners were replaced by the previous owner, although I have the original ones at home

Now comes the interesting part: I've bought it from a guy here in Germany in 2007, who himself bought it at Freedom Guitars in LA in the early 90s and brought it over. He told me that this guitar belonged to Steve Hackett in the 70s, and is also visible in some early Genesis material (although I was never able to 100% spot it in any old photo/video). Back in 2007 I just tried my luck and contacted Steve Hackett via his management's website, and two awesome things happened:

1. He actually replied (didn't expect that!)
2. He said that he remembered this guitar and that it was actually stolen from him back in the 70s!

Now comes my question:
Has anyone ever seen a photo or video of Steve Hackett playing a Les Paul like this from the 70s?
As a huge Genesis fan since early childhood, I'd love to see this!

Also, if anything I listed about the guitar might be wrong - please let me know (you guys are the experts here!).

Here are some photos:

 

[kips2]

I play in a Genesis tributeband. Our keyboard player (who also does some guitar) is a HUGE Genesis fan, I'll ask him what he knows about this guitar... He's a trivia freak so I wouldn't be surprised if he comes up with something...

 

[kips2]

Here you can see him play the sunburst:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FBcz3tBH74&feature=youtu.be

Here's more general info about Hackett's guitars. It mentions the stolen sunburst:
https://thegenesisarchive.co.uk/steve-hackett-gibson-les-paul-goldtop-late-1957-model/

 

[kips2]

After a closer look, I can see that the guitar he plays on the video is a Deluxe with mini-humbuckers, rather than a Standard...
Sorry!

 

[guitplayer]

1973 vid.

 

[Truss Rob]

Hey everyone,

I've owned kind of an odd old Les Paul for the last 12 years (time flies...) and I've always been looking for older photos of it. Here's a wrap-up about its history:

• Built in 1974 according to an old thread I created on the forum (link here!), although the owner said it's a '71
• Sandwich body, original T-Tops, non-original potis
• Serial number 129414
• Pickup holes tell that it's a factory standard, not a re-routed Deluxe (from my understanding this was available as a custom option back then)
• Probably an early refinish(?) as the color looks odd. According to the fading and the bright red below the pickguard/pickup switch, this must've been loooong ago
• Tuners were replaced by the previous owner, although I have the original ones at home

Now comes the interesting part: I've bought it from a guy here in Germany in 2007, who himself bought it at Freedom Guitars in LA in the early 90s and brought it over. He told me that this guitar belonged to Steve Hackett in the 70s, and is also visible in some early Genesis material (although I was never able to 100% spot it in any old photo/video). Back in 2007 I just tried my luck and contacted Steve Hackett via his management's website, and two awesome things happened:

1. He actually replied (didn't expect that!)
2. He said that he remembered this guitar and that it was actually stolen from him back in the 70s!

Now comes my question:
Has anyone ever seen a photo or video of Steve Hackett playing a Les Paul like this from the 70s?
As a huge Genesis fan since early childhood, I'd love to see this!

Also, if anything I listed about the guitar might be wrong - please let me know (you guys are the experts here!).

Here are some photos:

Hey bud.. totally intriguing guitar and history . I did some scouring of the internet and some resources and some friends of mine that are Gibson and Genesis historians and came up empty. His '57 LP gold top keeps popping up in just about everything . Pretty freaking cool he replied to you. Any thoughts to what the original finish was ? I'm guessing whoever stole it refinished it ? lol

 

[MacGyver]

Thanks a ton for your help so far! Yeah, I've been watching a ton of 70s Genesis videos but mostly saw him play his Goldtop or the Deluxe Sunburst - no sight of anything different so far. Interesting to read the article that mentioned a stolen Hackett sunburst in NYC, kips2!

I'm also wondering what the original color was, so I took some additional photos of the control cavity. I'm not an expert at all, but maybe some of the experts in here can chime in what was original and what isn't? :hmm

 

[guitplayer]

Thats a 1974 CC. Pots and caps changed out.
Back should be "bursted". whole guitar may have been refinished.

 

[MacGyver]

Sorry, but what does 'CC' stand for in that context?

Btw, looks like a sunburst in the control cavity, doesn't it? Maybe the cavity was left out during the refinish.

 

[guitplayer]

Control Cavity. Square wiring Ch. Probably originally a sunburst. Looks like
that in the pickup routs. maybe this color. Back would be
bursted.

 

[AJCR]

This is a quite rare 1974 Standard.... that iconic script on the TRC was only used for that run.....assuming it is original to the guitar.

 

[Progrocker111]

Yes, factory routed 74 Standard.

 

[metropolis]

Sorry for digging this up from the archives, I have no idea how I missed it last year as I'm a HUGE early Genesis / Hackett fan, have played in a tribute band and still do an awful lot of research on his playing and gear from that period. I actually found this thread while trying to figure out his rig at various times. One thing I've learnt is information is a bit patchy.

I've not come across any Standard other than the '57. The only Les Pauls I've seen Steve use in Genesis are the black 70's Customs, two Deluxes (one Sunburst and one Goldtop) and the '57. My gut was this must be the converted Deluxe but that's obviously not the case.

Here's more general info about Hackett's guitars. It mentions the stolen sunburst:
https://thegenesisarchive.co.uk/steve-hackett-gibson-les-paul-goldtop-late-1957-model/

Interesting you found this article - I actually wrote to the author to highlight a few discrepencies in here, actually caused by not knowing the difference between the Deluxe Goldtop and the '57 Goldtop. He removed a photo but not the wording, and still doesn't list the goldtop Deluxe at the top which Steve is clearly seen using for the first half of 1974.

I've always assumed the stolen 'Sunburst' referenced in this article is the Deluxe which he used (from what I can tell) all the way from the two Customs being stolen, to it being stolen in November '73 and seemingly replaced with the Deluxe goldtop. The sunburst Deluxe is the guitar shown in a lot of the well known videos from the Foxtrot tour and the live albums 'Live' and 'Live at the Rainbow'.

I absolutely don't want to piss on your parade here, I'd love to find a picture of Steve using it or find out it was a backup we never saw much and if I do find that I'll be the first to post it!

 

[Ed Driscoll]

Hey everyone,

Also, if anything I listed about the guitar might be wrong - please let me know (you guys are the experts here!).

Here are some photos:

Were those photos taken around the same time, and the guitar looks that dramatically different in direct sunlight and in a room, or has the guitar faded over time? Also, I agree it could be a refin, as it seems like a lot of yellow near the toggle switch when compared to the typical Gibson paint pattern. :hmm

 

[metropolis]

Given it's a '74 that means it couldn't really have appeared before The Lamb tour. On the Lamb tour he was using his 1957 Goldtop and a Goldtop Deluxe with mini-hums as backup (which he'd previously used for all the early '74 shows I can see). I wonder if this Standard became the new backup so he had two full-sized humbucker guitars after the Lamb, potentially for the Trick of the Tail tour so much later than most of us have been looking for now.

 

[IMMUSICRULZ]

Beautiful looking Les Paul. Huge Genesis fan, and I find Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford to be some of the best guitarists who ever lived.