Jimmy’s final signature guitar should not be a Fender.

El Gringo · May 15, 2020

Elmore said:
I vote for a B-Bender Les Paul. A red one.

JP , did have a red Les Paul , I am not positive of the shade of red but I remember him using it on a guest slot on a Robert Plant show I believe .This was pre Page/Plant ,which probably came after .

C-4 · May 15, 2020

Reading through this thread, I was in college in April 1969, and it was either Yardbirds II or Led Zep that played at our college, just before I was drafted in the first lottery. I cannot remember which name they used, but at least I got to see them very early on.

During that concert, Page used a Tele almost exclusively, so he must have gotten his #1 LP from Walsh shortly thereafter.

I've played LP's since the late 1950's, as my guitar teacher had the originals back then and allowed me to play them often. When he needed a guitar for a specific jazz job, he would trade me one of his LP's for my Super 400.

The first person I saw play them back in the mid 1960's was Keith Richards, and that made me decide to buy one. Prior to that all I played was my Super 400.

I currently have 3 CS LP's including 2 R9's. As soon as I received my 2018 R9, (had R9's from Gibson since 1998, onward), I felt like I was back playing them in the 1950's. What a rush it was, when I first picked up that 2018 M2M R9. It was the first one of the many Historics I owned that really made me remember playing the originals. My 2019 R9 reinforced that feeling again. :dude:

El Gringo · May 15, 2020

C-4 said:
Reading through this thread, I was in college in April 1969, and it was either Yardbirds II or Led Zep that played at our college, just before I was drafted in the first lottery. I cannot remember which name they used, but at least I got to see them very early on.

During that concert, Page used a Tele almost exclusively, so he must have gotten his #1 LP from Walsh shortly thereafter.

I've played LP's since the late 1950's, as my guitar teacher had the originals back then and allowed me to play them often. When he needed a guitar for a specific jazz job, he would trade me one of his LP's for my Super 400.

The first person I saw play them back in the mid 1960's was Keith Richards, and that made me decide to buy one. Prior to that all I played was my Super 400.

I currently have 3 CS LP's including 2 R9's. As soon as I received my 2018 R9, (had R9's from Gibson since 1998, onward), I felt like I was back playing them in the 1950's. What a rush it was, when I first picked up that 2018 M2M R9. It was the first one of the many Historics I owned that really made me remember playing the originals. My 2019 R9 reinforced that feeling again. :dude:

Very impressive I must say and ditto for owning and playing the big daddy of all archtops the Gibson Super 400 , that has to be so cool in and of it self !!!!!!!!

Keefoman · May 15, 2020

El Gringo said:
JP , did have a red Les Paul , I am not positive of the shade of red but I remember him using it on a guest slot on a Robert Plant show I believe .This was pre Page/Plant ,which probably came after .

This one not with Robert Plant, but I too remember the red Les Paul.

Ed Driscoll · May 15, 2020

El Gringo said:
JP , did have a red Les Paul , I am not positive of the shade of red but I remember him using it on a guest slot on a Robert Plant show I believe .This was pre Page/Plant ,which probably came after .

I'm pretty sure the red Les Paul had the B-Bender installed near the end of Page's tenure in the Firm. I remember reading (I think) a Musician magazine profile of Page in which they interviewed his guitar tech, and there was a comment from the author that they experimented with a B-Bender in the Les Paul, but because of how much wood was chopped out, Page wasn't happy with the tone. He couldn't have been that unhappy, since he went on to play that guitar on his '88 solo tour, with Plant at Knebworth in 1990, with Plant on the Unledded MTV show and on tour, etc.

If Fender decides to do a brown Page B-Bender Tele, they're going to have to decide which mechanism to use. The original Parsons B-Bender mounts the gears right onto the wood of the body, and then a metal plate goes over them. As Meridian Green told me when I did an article on the B-Bender for Vintage Guitar back in 2004, when Fender decided to mass-produce B-Bender equipped Teles, she and Gene Parsons designed a metal plate for the back of the Tele that holds the mechanism as well, which would be easier to install on the Fender assembly line. That's the version I have in my 1998 Fender Nashville Telecaster:

I suppose it's possible Fender could use the mass-production StringBender version for a regular model, and the on-the-body mechanism on Custom Shop versions, if they want have one model that gets it right, and have two price-points to sell to guitarists.

c_wester · May 15, 2020

Edit.

Gold Tone · May 17, 2020

Ed Driscoll said:
I'm pretty sure the red Les Paul had the B-Bender installed near the end of Page's tenure in the Firm. I remember reading (I think) a Musician magazine profile of Page in which they interviewed his guitar tech, and there was a comment from the author that they experimented with a B-Bender in the Les Paul, but because of how much wood was chopped out, Page wasn't happy with the tone. He couldn't have been that unhappy, since he went on to play that guitar on his '88 solo tour, with Plant at Knebworth in 1990, with Plant on the Unledded MTV show and on tour, etc.

If Fender decides to do a brown Page B-Bender Tele, they're going to have to decide which mechanism to use. The original Parsons B-Bender mounts the gears right onto the wood of the body, and then a metal plate goes over them. As Meridian Green told me when I did an article on the B-Bender for Vintage Guitar back in 2004, when Fender decided to mass-produce B-Bender equipped Teles, she and Gene Parsons designed a metal plate for the back of the Tele that holds the mechanism as well, which would be easier to install on the Fender assembly line. That's the version I have in my 1998 Fender Nashville Telecaster:

I suppose it's possible Fender could use the mass-production StringBender version for a regular model, and the on-the-body mechanism on Custom Shop versions, if they want have one model that gets it right, and have two price-points to sell to guitarists.

I’ve got a ‘63 Tele special order from Custom Shop that I sent to Gene Parsons for installation of B-bender (String Bender).

After playing a Tele with the “mass produced” version and the one that Gene installed I can tell you the mass produced adds significant weight, and (as Gene points out) the mass produced is not a smooth a mechanism but still works just fine...though I must say the one Gene installed is a thing of beauty! He’s a master machinist, all parts are built by him except the spring, c clamp/washer, rubber stop

I too hope a sig model would offer both versions according to price point

Ed Driscoll · May 17, 2020

Gold Tone said:
I’ve got a ‘63 Tele special order from Custom Shop that I sent to Gene Parsons for installation of B-bender (String Bender).

After playing a Tele with the “mass produced” version and the one that Gene installed I can tell you the mass produced adds significant weight, and (as Gene points out) the mass produced is not a smooth a mechanism but still works just fine...though I must say the one Gene installed is a thing of beauty! He’s a master machinist, all parts are built by him except the spring, c clamp/washer, rubber stop

I too hope a sig model would offer both versions according to price point

After doing the piece for Vintage Guitar in 2004, I lost track of Parsons and Green. I'm glad they're still doing custom installations. Please post some photos of your Tele once it's back! :dude:

Gold Tone · May 17, 2020

Ed Driscoll said:
After doing the piece for Vintage Guitar in 2004, I lost track of Parsons and Green. I'm glad they're still doing custom installations. Please post some photos of your Tele once it's back! :dude:

I had it done in 2011

Gene is still hard at it! You need to call him and talk to him to “accept” your request for install as I believe he does 40 or so a year

I’m at family cabin this weekend (hiding out from COVID). Will post picks this week...it’s a thrill to play and own, stunning workmanship

https://www.stringbender.com/

jb_abides · May 17, 2020

El Gringo said:
JP , did have a red Les Paul , I am not positive of the shade of red but I remember him using it on a guest slot on a Robert Plant show I believe .This was pre Page/Plant ,which probably came after .

It's like a maroon or plum red-purplish painted over gold top, I believe. Likely 50s gold top, it's been conjectured, right?

jb_abides · May 17, 2020

He has the Transperformance ones, too

pqs · May 18, 2020

jb_abides said:
He has the Transperformance ones, too

View attachment 11576

I bet people will get behind the self tuning part. Maybe Gibson should have included a picture of this Jimmy Page’s LP Classic with a bit of explanation, then maybe people wouldn’t have gotten so riled up with the G-Force thing.

Ed Driscoll · May 18, 2020

pqs said:
I bet people will get behind the self tuning part. Maybe Gibson should have included a picture of this Jimmy Page’s LP Classic with a bit of explanation, then maybe people wouldn’t have gotten so riled up with the G-Force thing.

I did a quick Google and didn't see any direct comparisons between the TransPerformance system and Gibson's Robot Tuners. Page used his TransPerformance system in the studio and on the road in the mid-1990s, so it must work reasonably well. What did they do right that Gibson apparently didn't, 20 years later?

pqs · May 18, 2020

Ed Driscoll said:
I did a quick Google and didn't see any direct comparisons between the TransPerformance system and Gibson's Robot Tuners. Page used his TransPerformance system in the studio and on the road in the mid-1990s, so it must work reasonably well. What did they do right that Gibson apparently didn't, 20 years later?

I wasn’t being completely serious. Those systems aren’t related. It’s more the concept of a self tuning guitar. Honestly, I think the 2015 G-Force was horrible. It took a long time to tune and there was also the bronze nut issue. From 2016 on the system worked really well, in my experience. The titanium nut held together and the system got faster, more reliable and quieter.

jb_abides · May 18, 2020

G-Force is Tronical, rebranded.

Transperformance assets were acquired by AxCent Tuning Systems.

Both companies are still in business.

I bought an SG with G-Force just to try it. It's doesn't suck, nor is it flawless. It's handy for some situations.

:hank

Gold Tone · May 24, 2020

Ed Driscoll said:
After doing the piece for Vintage Guitar in 2004, I lost track of Parsons and Green. I'm glad they're still doing custom installations. Please post some photos of your Tele once it's back! :dude:

Ed Driscoll · May 24, 2020

Gold Tone said:
I use my Nashville Tele all the time to write and record songs, but I mainly like the B-Bender aspect to add an occasional spice to the usual blues-style licks, so I don't think I have an urge to have an actual Parsons-Green unit installed. But I will admit to being a bit jealous of someone who has the mounted to the body version. :dude::dude::dude:

au_rick · May 25, 2020

pqs said:
I never meat to imply that he dropped the Tele after he got his #1. What I’m pointing out is that the Les Paul became his main in live performances. He still used the double neck for stairway live among other things, his danelectro, his tele, etc but he was mostly seen with Les Paul when playing live. Of course the two Teles are valid signature models. The argument that started this thread is whether or not a tele should be his last signature model, not if a Tele should be a sig model at all. At least that’s how I understand it. My opinion is that he should have his two tele sigs, but that we get another LP sig after that.[/QUO

The story goes that someone took his Tele and refinished it and it was never the same again as far as Jimmy was concerned, hence the switch (and remembering that his previous LP Custom had been stolen).
"When Giants Walked The Earth" by Ken Wall is good bio of the band (and Peter Grant) and has some really good information in it (assuming it is all correct) :salude

Big Al · May 25, 2020

They have done his #1 & #2 Burst as well as the 90's Signature Standard, a CS Custom 3 pup BB and the double neck. About time they did the Dragon Tele. First time I saw Zep that was what he used, along with the Dano for his solo spot. He used those blue and red Univox amps and I bought a double stack from the HOG within a week because I was so inspired. Already had a tele and dano, but lacked the Tonebender.

ourmaninthenorth · May 25, 2020

By way of a musical interlude, you Lads might enjoy this....not seen it before myself.

Jimmy’s final signature guitar should not be a Fender.

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