2008 Gibson Custom Shop Jimmy Page Les Paul Custom Black Beauty VOS Signature

This absolutely magnificent and rare  2008 Gibson Custom Shop Jimmy Page Les Paul Custom Black Beauty is in excellent condition, all original and has hardly ever left the house. It comes all complete with no modifications and includes the signed Certificate of Authenticity, Les Paul Custom hardshell case and all case candy.

The History
Jimmy acquired his 1960 Les Paul Custom sometime towards the end of his stint with the Crusader, so probably around 1963. It was his main guitar during the pre-Led Zeppelin era, when he worked as a session guitarist all over London.
Produced in 1960 his Black Beauty was one of the last original Les Paul Customs ever produced. It was equipped with three PAF pickups (designed by Seth Lover in 1955), a Bigsby tremolo and Grover Rotomatics tuners.

Session Musician Era
Up until he joined the Yardbirds in May of 1966 Jimmy worked as a session guitarist for a number of years during which this Les Paul Custom was his main axe, as it’s often referenced as “the” guitar used by him in a number of biography books – including “Jimmy Page: The Definitive Biography” by Chris Salewicz and “No Quarter – The Three Lives Of Jimmy Page” by Martin Power.
Some of the songs that Jimmy played on from that era include the “Goldfinger Theme Song”, Tom Jones’s It’s Not Unusual”, and Petula Clark’s “Downtown”. He also played on a couple of songs by the Kinks, and on The Who, “Bald Headed Woman”, as well as some ripping solo's and riffs on five tracks of Joe Cocker's debut album "With a Little Help from My Friends".

The Toggle Switch Mod
Sometime in early 1970, shortly before the Led Zeppelin North American Tour which started on 21 March 1970, Jimmy modified his Les Paul Custom with two more toggle switches, which allowed him to quickly turn each pickup on or off separately. This means that all the Led Zep recordings that Jimmy did with this guitar were done prior to the mods.

The One That Got Away
The guitar was then stolen from Jimmy in April of 1970 during Led Zeppelin’s US tour. Jimmy decided to post an ad in Rolling Stone Magazine, but unfortunately, no one ever called back – or at least not until very recently!!

The Return Of The Legend
In the late 2010s, after 50 years, the guitar found its way back to Jimmy Page.
Apparently, it was stolen by someone who worked at the airport, and then it spent 20 years sitting below that person’s bed. After that person died, their spouse took it to a local guitar shop, told the story, and ended up selling it for $5,000. An attempt was made at that point to authenticate the guitar, but after a quick look-over, no indication of the two additional toggle switches ever being there was seen, so the guitar was once again re-sold.

From that point on, it spent another 20 years with its new owner and punkrock guitarist Paul “Bleem” Claesgens. Recently, Paul, after dropping it on stage after a rather unfortunate podium trick which cracked the headstock, took the guitar for a neck repair to the exact shop where he bought it. After a second and closer inspection, it was discovered that the guitar was amazingly plugged and refinished and the new paint covered the plugged holes made for the extra toggle switches. From then on, a deal was struck between Paul and the people representing Jimmy. Jimmy got his guitar back, and Paul was given a different vintage Gibson Les Paul Custom. What a legend...

Read All About It
If you want to read the full story about it, including the statements of the people involved, please refer to GuitarWorld’s wonderful article – "How Jimmy Page was reunited with his beloved 1960 Les Paul Custom – nearly 50 years after it was stolen".