Jan AkkermAn Les Paul Personel signature by GIBSON?

Midnight Blues · Jan 18, 2019

fred dons said:
he has been using his les Paul Personal for the last 40 years so it was not really a hit and run (the guitar was absent for a few years when he sent it in for a repair and apparently forgot about it) , and yes he did have other endorsements during that time but the guitar has been a steady part of his live rig. I have seen signature guitars being awarded (or considered) to guitarists who had much less of a affiliation with the Gibson brand (ritchie sambora Comes to mind who was considered for an l5s signature and Vivian Cambell who is a renowned Gibson hater but yet has a signature LP)

and to add this model is now being copied by Brandin and selling well, so also from a Marketing Point of view there is an apparent market for it (perhaps a CC type of thing but still)

+1. Excellent points fd! Jan has definitely been a loyal supporter of Gibson.

Bob Womack said:
He modded that custom so much it is practically a signature model already. I remember the 1975 Guitar Player Mag. article (and still have it) where he described all the mods - right down to altering the placement of the knobs!

Bob

I still have it too Bob!

Richard.Pool said:
One of the strong arguments for me, would be the fact that Jan did what he did. Customize to needs.
So a signature would be really different than all those other signatures with just a flipped magnet or different knobs. Imho.
And what Fred said, hoi Fred, Jan still plays a black 3 pickup Custom and a white 3 pickup SG.
Along with the Brandin and other guitars, like we all do.

If I'm not mistaken, he's also played/plays and L5 too?

Midnight Blues · Jan 18, 2019

Yup:

And an L4 too:

Richard.Pool · Jan 18, 2019

This one is funny too https://youtu.be/OqdUFLpOeDI Jan on his Framus, Stochelo Rosenberg- who is a great Django Reinhardt style player- out of his comfortzone, Ruben Hoeke on his Brandin JA and Leendert Haaksma, former guitarist of Anouk, who attended Eurovision Songcontest with her beautiful song 'Birds'.
btw, Stochelo played the guitarparts of Django in the movie Django, about his live during 2nd WW.
Nice movie to watch and great music, if you like gypsyjazz by Reinhardt.

fred dons · Jan 18, 2019

Richard.Pool said:
Btw, Fred Dons worked on one of Jan's Robberts , or was that the custom, Fred?

I worked on both guitars as have many, many others. When I had the Personal on my bench I noticed that very little was not replaced with probably the back being the last original part

Bob Womack · Jan 18, 2019

Richard.Pool said:
Bob, can you scan that article? Would be a nice read.

It's right HERE online. Enjoy!

Bob

Richard.Pool · Jan 18, 2019

Thnx Bob.

That Personel Fred, was it hollowed out?

Richard.Pool · Jan 21, 2019

I noticed that Kate Perry got a Signature Les Paul.
Thought she was a singer :wow

jtees4 · Jan 30, 2019

I was a huge Focus and Akkerman fan back in the day. I know he mostly played Les Pauls, but I distinctly remember seeing him playing (maybe endorsing) a Hagstrom Swede, this would have been in the mid-late 70's. Since I have a captive audience of Akkerman fans here

, I'm hoping one of you have seen or heard about him playing one. Thanks for any info.

Bob Womack · Jan 30, 2019

jtees4 said:
I was a huge Focus and Akkerman fan back in the day. I know he mostly played Les Pauls, but I distinctly remember seeing him playing (maybe endorsing) a Hagstrom Swede, this would have been in the mid-late 70's. Since I have a captive audience of Akkerman fans here , I'm hoping one of you have seen or heard about him playing one. Thanks for any info.

No info, but some of my old Guitar Player Mags had him in there with the Swede.

Bob

Richard.Pool · Jan 31, 2019

Personnaly I have never seen a Hagström in Jans hands.
I guess that's before 1988, when I was just married and I started broaden interest from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and classical and flamenco, to other guitar oriëntated music, like Django Reinhardt and Rosenberg Trio and Akkerman and another hero: Eelco Gelling (with his original '58)
https://youtu.be/s2KSJ0ld5Ls
His solo is one of my favorite of all time.

jtees4 · Feb 4, 2019

Bob Womack said:
No info, but some of my old Guitar Player Mags had him in there with the Swede.

Bob

Thanks for that, I was starting to think it never happened anywhere ever....maybe it was Guitar Player where I saw it, after all that was my Bible back in the day. I bought an '83 Carvin DC100 all maple because I remember seeing it all the time in Guitar Player. Not that the magazine influenced me much :hmm

Richard.Pool · Feb 5, 2019

Haha, recognizable.
I bought all the Bibles back in the day, German, British, Dutch, US.
I should have saved all that money, I could have bought a vintage Les Paul

eace2

Bruce R · Feb 5, 2019

Richard.Pool said:
Haha, recognizable.
I bought all the Bibles back in the day, German, British, Dutch, US.
I should have saved all that money, I could have bought a vintage Les Paul eace2

Much better off in the long run with the Bibles!

Richard.Pool · Feb 5, 2019

Well, I have an old big bible here that I won't run long with :rofl for it's as heavy as a 70ies custom.

Btw, anybody here tried to copy few of Jan's licks?

I know Focus nowadays tours with Menno Gootjes, pretty mean guitarist himself and before him Niels van der Steenhoven but also Philipe Catherine and Jan Dumée, who fooled me when hearing him play on Focus dvd, thinking it was Jan.

fred dons · Feb 8, 2019

so his Brandin endorsement stopped (Jan has been Faithfull to Gibson but not many other brands in the past 40 years

) so would be a good time for a signature

El Gringo · Feb 8, 2019

I tend to agree with Big Al , because having not seen the guitar in question but hearing about the modifications is kind of a turn off for me because I enjoy and appreciate the simple design of the Les Paul in it's basic incarnation .

Richard.Pool · Feb 9, 2019

I read that, Fred, between the lines though.
This is the right time indeed.

Richard.Pool · Feb 9, 2019

Fred, did you take pics of the Personel? I know E Muleta read this topic, but I dont know his thoughts about it.
You still speak him once in a while?

Jan AkkermAn Les Paul Personel signature by GIBSON?

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