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FINALLY!... Details on the return of Jimmy Page's Black Beauty...

Ed A

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oops.... i see that SWS1 also posted about this in another thread... Ive added the video news report above which shows actual evidence of the patched up holes both front and back of the guitar... by the way I spoke to Jimmys friend Joe Jammer a couple years ago who did the mods for Jimmy fifty years ago... the extra two switches were simply set up as on/off for all three pickups, so he could get any combination of the three....
 

MapleFlame

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Ed, it's too bad we didn't have more pictures of the current state of the guitar compared to the way it was when stolen. Cool story. Funny how you could own a guitar and not recognize the fills. Who ever did the fills has to be a really good luthier. That would be cool to know. Had to be someone in the same city.
 

c_wester

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My radar goes off here....


Why do I think the guitar he recieved in the "trade" is a Custom Shop reissue signed by Lord Page and not a vintage 59....??!!
 

AA00475Bassman

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Ed, it's too bad we didn't have more pictures of the current state of the guitar compared to the way it was when stolen. Cool story. Funny how you could own a guitar and not recognize the fills. Who ever did the fills has to be a really good luthier. That would be cool to know. Had to be someone in the same city.
Living in this town for 64 years I have a good idea , the guy will never admit such a deed on a stolen guitar . He's about 75 now and no longer repairing hiding issues was his talent .

The Page guitar has been a ghost in Minneapolis several non confirmed surfacing's every year !
 

MapleFlame

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Living in this town for 64 years I have a good idea , the guy will never admit such a deed on a stolen guitar . He's about 75 now and no longer repairing hiding issues was his talent .

The Page guitar has been a ghost in Minneapolis several non confirmed surfacing's every year !

I figured someone would know. That guy may not have known it was Page's guitar
 

El Gringo

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Living in this town for 64 years I have a good idea , the guy will never admit such a deed on a stolen guitar . He's about 75 now and no longer repairing hiding issues was his talent .

The Page guitar has been a ghost in Minneapolis several non confirmed surfacing's every year !

Well ill be darned , all of this is mind blowing and makes me wonder how many missing and stolen treasures are out and about in the open unbeknownst to all of us . Such as "Beano" That is the crime , such historical instruments lost forever and to the thieves -go pound salt , because you can't sell them at a Southeby's or any auction house for the big $
 

Ed A

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Now if I were Jimmy Page, and I’m not, just for old times sake I would bring the guitar to Joe Jammer who did the mod in the first place and have him reroute it in the exact same spots and put the two extra switches back in… Why not? the guitar has already been messed with. This way it can be like Jimmy had it at the time.
 

Ed Driscoll

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I figured someone would know. That guy may not have known it was Page's guitar

Here's what I posted in my replies to the thread on this topic in the Backstage Forum:

What i don't understand is how a thief, a guitar dealer & a guitar player gigging from Minnesota can all use/possess one of the most iconic STOLEN guitars on the planet and not get into trouble. And how can that one guy gig with it ???

The 2018 book, Led Zeppelin: All the Songs has a few paragraphs in a section headlined "The Return of the 'Black Beauty,'" which rehashes most of the information in the above article, but at the end, the author writes, “By all accounts an unidentified person had ‘inherited’ the guitar from his uncle, who claimed Jimmy Page had given it to him in 1970.”

Whatever gets you through the night, I guess. (To borrow from another icon of British rock.)

I had no idea about this with the daily deluge of doom gloom & tragedy that goes on nowdays.

I'm kind of surprised to see an article on Page recovering his Custom in 2020, since the thread on the topic at the LPF dated back to 2016:

https://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/...age-gets-his-1960-Gibson-Les-Paul-Custom-back

Here are some photos of the Custom I took at the Met on April 15, 2019. Whoever removed the toggle switches did a first-class job repairing the damage:

i-v2Rfqsw-L.jpg


i-P5S6FPw-XL.jpg


i-wSV5pW4-L.jpg


i-Z7HfJXS-L.jpg


(The lighting was dark and dramatic in most of the exhibition rooms and they didn't allow flash, so getting decent photos was very hit or miss there.)
 

Ed A

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I'm kind of surprised to see an article on Page recovering his Custom in 2020, since the thread on the topic at the LPF dated back to 2016

Except for me at least it’s the first time I’m hearing such specific detail as to where it has been since it was stolen… I’m sure others knew but it’s taken five years for that info to become public!
 

brandtkronholm

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Except for me at least it’s the first time I’m hearing such specific detail as to where it has been since it was stolen… I’m sure others knew but it’s taken five years for that info to become public!

+1

I've been wondering about the details since the 2016 thread.
 

Ed Driscoll

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Now if I were Jimmy Page, and I’m not, just for old times sake I would bring the guitar to Joe Jammer who did the mod in the first place and have him reroute it in the exact same spots and put the two extra switches back in… Why not? the guitar has already been messed with. This way it can be like Jimmy had it at the time.

I always thought the extra toggle switches looked pretty wonky. I'm sure Page still owns one or more copies that Gibson gave him of their Page LPC reissue with all of the varied switching options, so my vote would be to keep the old one looking stock, the way Les and Ted McCarty intended, and use one of the reissues if he wants an offbeat Custom sound. But heck, I'd just like to see Page play live one more time, with whatever guitars are his current favorites.
 

Sixpense

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Dec 23, 2006
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Fascinating!.... was fortunate to see the guitar hanging at the Met Museum.... wow!

A video news report here that shows pictures of the covered over switches:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwxOzbnaIrk&feature=youtu.be

And a printed report with more details here:
https://www.startribune.com/how-led...lis-and-got-it-back-45-years-later/571659372/

The guy in the video claimed that Jimmy Page used the black Les Paul when he recorded Whole Lotta Love. This not true. In Jimmy Page's new book (of which I own) Jimmy's equipment on Whole Lotta Love was:

Danelectro (slide)

Les Paul No 1

Fender Dragon Telecaster

Vox UL7120 Amp

Vox C02 'Long Tom' Tape echo

Rickenbacker Transonic Speaker Cabinets
 

Ed A

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Well actually he didnt say he recorded Whole Lotta Love with it, he said it was the last song he ever played on the guitar at the Met Center in Minnesota (4-12)... there are no photos or video of that show, so we dont know for sure if thats actually true, although by April '70 he was favoring the guitar and could very well have used it on that song...
 

Dave P

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The guitar was stolen by a luthier for a well known former Minneapolis music store. He also did the repairs to hide the added switches and huge hole in the back. The guitar actually hung out for sale at this store for a while long before Nate got it in the 1990's.
 

ledjeff

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Mar 7, 2020
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Hi all, new to the forum here.

I noticed that the fret ends are not covered by the bindings, most obviously seen in that last photograph. Does that mean that the guitar has been refretted some time in the past?
 

JJ Blair

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I wonder if the current owner of Beck's Burst will see this video and be inspired to give Jeff his guitars back! Probably not.
 
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