Page's Les Paul Custom - the one stolen in the USA

[Greg's Guitars]

The thing is that we are seeing the theft in the context of today rather than the time of the theft. We all wonder what someone would actually have done with "Rock God" Page's favorite guitar, and how he possibly could have unloaded it without being discovered. However, when this incident happened, I don't think zeppelin had even graduated from the club & theater circuit, so I would doubt that nobody would have recognized that guitar, nor really given 2 $hits that it was once owned by Page. The guitar didn't become infamous until many years later, and could have changed hands many times since. Could the switch holes have been filled? I guess, but I assume the was also a huge amount of routing out of the back to make room for those switches. It still should not be that difficult to identify. But who knows, it very easily could have been destroyed years ago, or it could be sitting untouched in some guys basement. You just never know.

I had a guy tell me one day he knew where "that stolen Zepplin guitar" sat for years and possibly is still there, he didn't know I dealt in guitars it just came up in a conversation so it could be plausible, I have been trying to track the gent down for the last few years to no avail.

 

[MCAN]

He got the burst in early 1969. The Custom was stolen a year later.

Correct. He used both guitars at the [epic] 1970 Royal Albert Hall gig.

 

[MCAN]

Zep were just growing their reputation and the guitar was just another second-hand "toured" guitar - not nearly as valuable as a shiny new guitar, but not in any way, form or fashion vintage, historic or iconic either.....

Plus the guitar wasn't a burst, which if I'm not mistaken, was what people were really after when looking for a LP. (And still are)

 

[Shadowplayer]

well, at the time, people were still not entirely into the whole Les Paul thing yet. It was coming around, but not in full swing. so Pages guitar was not high on the desirable list either. As I recall hearing from someone, at the time the guitar that people really wanted was a red strat. I may be off by a year or 2. the only well known players using bursts at the time were Clapton and Richards.

 

[Shadowplayer]

He got the burst in early 1969. The Custom was stolen a year later.

it was stolen in 71, not 70

 

[Nigel Tufnel's tech]

it was stolen in 71, not 70

Was stolen in 70

 

[Shadowplayer]

Was stolen in 70

Right, cause RAH was Jan. I was thinking it was late in the year opposed to early

 

[Fuzznutz]

well, at the time, people were still not entirely into the whole Les Paul thing yet. It was coming around, but not in full swing. so Pages guitar was not high on the desirable list either. As I recall hearing from someone, at the time the guitar that people really wanted was a red strat. I may be off by a year or 2. the only well known players using bursts at the time were Clapton and Richards.

Shadow - Let's not forget about Skydog.

I do agree with your comments though. Today's younger players have really never known a world without the Net and easy accessibility to dealers, collectors, and vendors. Back in the day, there was MUCH more effort involved in finding these things.

Same goes for replacement parts. Younger players wonder why Page didn't just replace his bridge PAF with another instead on the chrome covered T-top. There just wasn't the industry or infrastructure at that time... even for guitar gods like Jimmy.

 

[andreww]

Shadow - Let's not forget about Skydog.

I do agree with your comments though. Today's younger players have really never known a world without the Net and easy accessibility to dealers, collectors, and vendors. Back in the day, there was MUCH more effort involved in finding these things.

Same goes for replacement parts. Younger players wonder why Page didn't just replace his bridge PAF with another instead on the chrome covered T-top. There just wasn't the industry or infrastructure at that time... even for guitar gods like Jimmy.

True dat. You have to laugh when you see pics of the duct tape switch tip or the 45 degree rotated jack plate. Even the gold Grovers on an otherwise all nickel guitar. You just wouldn't see anybody doing that stuff today.

 

[Flogger59]

True dat. You have to laugh when you see pics of the duct tape switch tip or the 45 degree rotated jack plate. Even the gold Grovers on an otherwise all nickel guitar. You just wouldn't see anybody doing that stuff today.

Well, they do nowadays, but you have to add a "0" to the price tag.

 

[Shadowplayer]

True dat. You have to laugh when you see pics of the duct tape switch tip or the 45 degree rotated jack plate. Even the gold Grovers on an otherwise all nickel guitar. You just wouldn't see anybody doing that stuff today.

I had gold grovers on a nickel LP before. then I found the nickel ones

 

[Ace1432]

i dream that one day someone will be one ebay and see the auction for the dilapidated mutilated black LP custom with extra toggle switches....just like that white custom of Les Paul's surfaced a few years back

 

[Revv23]

i dream that one day someone will be one ebay and see the auction for the dilapidated mutilated black LP custom with extra toggle switches....just like that white custom of Les Paul's surfaced a few years back

Not familiar with that story.

 

[jimi55lp]

I can't imagine Page's Custom will come uo for sale because it was stolen, and the white Custer belonging to Lester wasn't, if I remember correctly it was just trashed.

 

[andreww]

I can't imagine Page's Custom will come uo for sale because it was stolen, and the white Custer belonging to Lester wasn't, if I remember correctly it was just trashed.

It depends on the circumstance in which it was stolen. If the guy that took it sold it as a guitar, not as "Jimmy Page's guitar", it could have been circulated enough that the current owner has no idea its stolen or that it was ever owned by Jimmy. Or the airline could have lost it. Maybe it got on the wrong plane and ended up in some foreign country where it went unclaimed, and was then sold at auction. The fact that Page can only say that it disappeared between between two cities leads me to believe that he really has no idea what happened to it, so there could still be ways that it could come to market at some point.

 

[Shadowplayer]

Not familiar with that story.

the one that went up for half a million I believe

 

[Flogger59]

the one that went up for half a million I believe

And keeps getting relisted, too. I don't think it has sold.

 

[Shadowplayer]

And keeps getting relisted, too. I don't think it has sold.

no, its been taken off. but there is another one for $75,000 but now its down to $49,000

 

[Flogger59]

OK, I just got off the phone with Joe Jammer, Page's roadie in 68-69-70. He and Henry Smith (former road manager for the Jeff Beck Group, Page roadie after Joe, and Aerosmith's tour manager for 14 years) di the work on the Custom. Page was dissatisfied with the limited pickup choices, so two more holes were drilled and three on\off switches installed allowing for any pickup combination, as well as mute. Sadly the guitar was almost immediately stolen, as Joe remembers it on a flight from Minneapolis to New York. As he says "We were stupid back then. The band was getting pretty big and here we are checking guitar cases with the band name stenciled on them."
He thinks that it was likely a baggage handler.
Joe also remembers Henry adding harmony vocals to Whole Lotta Love, but was obviously at an earlier time. A couple of years back Joe got tip about someone on Facebook who claimed that after their father's death they found a Les Paul Custom under his bed with Led Zeppelin stenciled on the case. Joe forwarded the info to Page, but doesn't have a follow up.

Joe repeated several times that his memories are just that, he was too busy living life (he has his own musical career) and being run ragged by all the travel and the band to be able to keep a diary of, as he put it, "Someone else's adventure."

 

[andreww]

That kind of makes sense that it could have been a baggage handler, but I wonder how the make that distinction between stolen and lost? And why were they lugging their own gear around? I've never seen a picture of a famous guitarist walking through the airport with a guitar case, past or present day. I guess Jimmy may have liked to have that guitar in his hotel room with him?