Oxblood Customs: When?

[Ariel Pozzo]

I just got a 2007 Custom Oxblood. Love the color.
I know about the Jeff Beck 54 reissue, but I would like to know more about the oxblood color itself, if it was a regular production color or a lucky mistake on Beck's LP, and what years it was offered on Les Paul Customs. Thanks in advance!

 

[integra evan]

Very nice. Oxblood is stunning in person!
Not sure about the history of the color though.

 

[Grenville]

Wasn't Beck's a refinish?

 

[01GT Eibach]

"While recording in Memphis, Tenn., Beck paid a visit to a popular music store called Strings and Things to check out the stock. The guitar that caught his attention was a ’54 Gibson Les Paul that a customer had dropped in for some very specific modifications. One request was that its original Goldtop finish be stripped off in favor of a deep chocolate-brown finish, a color that turned out to exhibit some oxblood tints in certain light. Other modifications included the installation of full-size humbucking pickups in place of the P-90s, altering the full and rounded early ’50s neck shape to a slightly thinner profile and changing the original tuners for modern replacements. Legend has it that the customer didn’t like the results … but Jeff Beck did. He purchased the modified Les Paul from the store, and ended up playing it extensively on tour and in the studio. He even gave it pride of place on the cover shot of his milestone 1975 album, Blow By Blow. "

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Amended:
Was typing when the above post was posting.
Great minds...

The story I have heard is a guy left his ‘54 LP Goldtop at a music store in Memphis, wanting modifications.
It was allegedly routed for humbuckers and painted in the ox blood color. The owner did not like it and refused to pay for the modifications.
Jeff Beck bought it when he was in Memphis.

I was fortunate enough to see Jeff Beck play it in the early 1970’s. It sounded amazing.

 

[Oranjeaap]

Oxblood is stunning in person!

I sure hope so, because on 99.9% of all pictures it looks just like any other black les paul

 

[edro]

It is one of those finishes that depends on light temp… It is a nice finish under stage level light…. You can see the color which to me is not really brown and not really red but somewhere in between but very dark… It is an odd finish… I like it…

 

[musicmaniac]

Very nice!

 

[endial]

Many of one's grandfathers' Florsheim and wing tip shoes were finished in oxblood. Not exactly black, and not exactly burgundy, not exactly brown, but somewhere in between. An ox's blood is actually very close to this tone because it is very rich.

It is a fantastic color.

 

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

I was due to get an Oxblood R4 a while back but at the final hour they decided to hold onto it. I remember the owner saying that one cool thing about it was that the nicely flamed top was visible in the right light

Can't remember the year of it but I do remember we'd settled on NZ$4k (a little over US$2,800). Wish the sale had gone through pfffff

 

[Ariel Pozzo]

Is there a way, or maybe a website where I could check when the Oxblood was offered on Les Paul Customs? (not the 54 reissue). That could be of much help...some kind of catalog of colors offered on Customs, by year...
Thanks!