Les Paul: Last News

NFTs of some of its most famous guitar designs.According to a report by Billboard, the manufacturer has disclosed its intention to sell NFTs that contain images of its Les Paul, Flying V and Thunderbird guitars – among others – to the federal trademark office.In the documents, obtained by Billboard, Gibson Brands Inc. applied for trademarks covering the “uniquely shaped body” of six of its signature guitars.It comes after ESP Guitars launched NFTs of some of its guitars last year as well as a number of musicians.Earlier this month, Keith Richards announced details of a guitar-based NFT that will be auctioned off for charity this month.The Rolling Stones guitarist has partnered with the “green NFT platform” OneOf for the auction, which will raise funds for the Grammys’ music charity MusiCares.As well as the Richards NFT, the auction lot includes a black Gibson ES-335 electric-acoustic guitar hand-signed by Richards.

Donald Trump’s range of ‘Make America Great Again’ guitars are being made in China.It comes as the US President first made headlines last year for launching his own brand of Trump Guitars, and subsequently received a cease and desist from Gibson for “infringing upon” the manufacturer’s trademarks, including the distinctive Les Paul body shape.Now, a new documentary has seemingly revealed that the instrument – despite promoting the ‘MAGA’ message and showcasing stars and stripes – could be arriving from production lines in China.The reports were shared by CGTN and centred on a guitar manufacturing region in China called Guizhou. In the footage, it appears that the Trump axes are being made by a brand called Shenqu Guitars, which is one of the largest factories in the region.“The US President Trump has used our guitar,” said Shenqu owner Zheng Chuanjiu in the footage, showing the Trump Guitars site (via Guitar.com).

Guitar World, Gibson confirmed it had sent the warning to Trump Guitars owner 16 Creative for its alleged design infringements.The Trump Guitar-made instruments, some of which Trump autographed, are advertised as the “only guitars endorsed by President Donald J. Trump”.

including a collector’s version of Jimmy Page’s 1964 SJ-200. The guitar was played on Led Zeppelin’s 1969 self-titled debut album, and only 50 of the new range were made.Elsewhere in the anniversary celebrations, the guitar manufacturer announced a new ‘YardBurst’ 1959 Les Paul Custom, made in honour of guitar icon Jeff Beck, earlier this year.It pays homage to the axe that Beck played as he was first put on the map – the iconic 1959 Les Paul Standard that he played when making a name for himself as part of the Yardbirds.Noel Gallagher also created a limited-edition run of Gibson ‘78 Les Paul Customs earlier this year, inspired by the instrument originally given to him by Johnny Marr.Gibson was founded in 1894 in Kalamazoo, Michigan by Orville Gibson, originally specialising in mandolins and related instruments.

Freddie Salem, who played guitar and sang for The Outlaws in the late 1970s and ’80s, has died of cancer. He was 70.

Jeff Beck.The new model arrives both as the guitar manufacturer celebrates 130 of music history, and on the same day as the legendary player would have celebrated his 80th birthday.It pays homage to the axe that Beck played as he was first put on the map – the iconic 1959 Les Paul Standard that he played when making a name for himself as part of the Yardbirds. Available now, the ‘YardBurst’ is a faithful recreation of the historic guitar, and has been designed to capture all of its distinctive traits including the classic white bobbin humbuckers and black single-ply pickguard.Only 130 have been made – in keeping with the Gibson 130th anniversary – and each one was made by hand at the Murphy Lab and artfully aged to match the exact appearance of the original model during the guitarist’s Yardbird days.It comes following the unexpected death of the guitar pioneer in January last year, when he was aged 78.“Jeff was enormously proud to have owned the original of this guitar,” said his widow Sandra Beck of the new recreation.

Noel Gallagher once bought one of Peter Green’s Les Paul guitars, and intentionally removed the signature from it to get back at a rude employee.The late rock icon and Fleetwood Mac founder was the owner of countless high-profile guitars, including the famous ‘Greeny’ – which was later passed to Gary Moore, who handed it on to Metallica’s Kirk Hammett.However, that particular model was just one of a number of guitars that were sold after his death, and now The Coral guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones has revealed the story behind one that was modified by Oasis legend Noel Gallagher.Speaking with Guitar World, he recalled how he was given the Les Paul by Gallagher in 2006 when The Coral were recording an album in his studio, but was initially unaware of the rich history behind the model.Recalling how the Britpop icon got his hands on the guitar, Ryder-Jones recalled how Gallagher erased the Peter Green signature from the body out of spite of a rude shop owner.“He didn’t know who Noel was; he somehow had not heard of Oasis,” he explained. “But Noel saw one of the guitars at the top of the shelf, like behind the counter, and said, ‘Can I have a go with that Les Paul?’“And the guy behind the counter goes, ‘Erm, you do know that was Peter Green’s, and it’s signed by Peter Green, right?’ He reluctantly got it down and gave it to Noel.”From there, Gallagher, who was apparently irked by the shop owner’s attitude, decided to get back at him and “spat on his T-shirt and rubbed off the signature.”“He purposefully rubbed off Peter Green’s signature to make a point to the guy in the guitar shop,” Ryder-Jones continued.

Foo Fighters performing with Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian’s 12-year-old son has been shared online.The clip, which you can view below, shows Revel playing Pat Smear’s Les Paul alongside Dave Grohl and the rest of the band.“Rev gave Pat the day off. He deserves it. He’s the nicest guy ever.

Metallica’s lead guitarist Kirk Hammett for a gritty new single, ‘Runaways’. Check out the track below.Set to arrive on digital platforms next week, the track is a perfect halfway mark for fans of both Metallica and Goodnight, Texas, as it sees the American band team up with the guitarist and combine their respective folk and thrash metal sound.Taking a step away from their usual thought-provoking style of folk, the two singer-songwriters Patrick Dyer Wolf and Avi Vinocur instead take more of a classic hard rock approach to the single, before the thrash guitarist contributes one of his signature wah-heavy solos around three-quarters in.“This is the hardest we’ve ever rocked on a recording,” Dyer Wolf said of the new single (via Metal Injection).

Green Day have celebrated the 33rd anniversary of their debut album ’39/Smooth’ with a never-before-seen video and photos.The pop-punk icons shared an Instagram post that featured old throwbacks of the line-up that consisted of frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Durnt and original drummer John Kiffmeyer.They also unveiled a video of them performing the LP’s track ‘Paper Lantern’ in a backyard in their home city of Oakland, California, a couple of weeks before the album’s release.A post shared by Green Day (@greenday)’39/Smooth’ was released on April 13, 1990 via Lookout! Records. It was later reissued in 1991 under the title ‘1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hour’s, which included their earlier EPs ‘1,000 Hours’ and ‘Slappy’.Fans took to the comments section to celebrate the anniversary of the “bloody great album”.

Jimmy Page has shared a previously unreleased Led Zeppelin instrumental demo, ‘The Seasons’.The track, which you can listen to below, eventually formed the basis of ‘The Rain Song’ from the band’s 1973 album ‘Houses Of The Holy’.Explaining how the track arose, Page wrote a message that accompanied the song on YouTube: “My original idea for the opening tracks for ‘Houses Of The Holy’ was that a short overture would be a rousing instrumental introduction with layered electric guitars that would segue in to ‘The Seasons’, later to be titled ‘The Rain Song’. Again there would be a contrasting acoustic guitar instrumental movement with melotron that could lead to the first vocal of the album and the first verse of the song.“‘The Seasons’ was a memo to myself as a reminder of the sequence of the song and various ideas I’d had for it in its embryonic stage.

Metallica’s Kirk Hammett has joined forces with guitar manufacturer Gibson to create replicas of his iconic “Greeny” Les Paul.The original 1959 model has become iconic in the guitar world, having belonged to members of some of the world’s biggest bands. Originally, the axe was owned by Fleetwood Mac‘s Peter Green and from there it was passed down to Thin Lizzy’s guitarist Gary Moore, who played it for decades.Now, the design is owned by the thrash icon and Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, who has teamed up with the manufacturer to create replicas.“I am very honoured and grateful for this opportunity with Gibson,” Hammett said.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAfter two years of pandemic-induced shutdown and Omicron-postponed reopenings in December and January, Iridium, the downstairs music club in New York’s Times Square known as the “home of Les Paul,” is finishing the second week of its grand reopening, which launched on March 1 with a performance by the Harlem Blues Project, followed by four shows with a fiery jazz-rock band led by guitarist Mike Stern (featuring the great Randy Brecker on cornet), blues guitarist King Solomon Hicks, veteran folksinger Tom Rush and tonight and Saturday, guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, and jazz guitarist Larry Carlton, including sets focused on his extensively 1970s work with Steely Dan.The unusually intimate (for New York, anyway) 170-capacity downstairs club, which has updated its cleaning procedures and air-filtration system, returned with a full menu (including entrees like “The Les Paul” burger and the plant-based “Jerry Garcia”) a robust wine list and many (potent) specialty cocktails. The club is also launching Iridium Underground, a new series focused on emerging artists, next week with Brooklyn-based guitarist-producer Mario and the Mood.

Ian McDonald was a British multi-instrumentalist who co-founded King Crimson and Foreigner.After serving in the British Army as a bandsman, McDonald helped form the classic prog-rock band King Crimson. He played saxophone, flute, keyboards, and other instruments on their influential first album, 1969’s “In the Court of the Crimson King,” before leaving the band. He played with fellow King Crimson alum Michael Giles for a time, then briefly rejoined King Crimson before co-founding Foreigner in 1976.

Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett played a 1959 Les Paul guitar which was previously played by Fleetwood Mac‘s Peter Green.Hammett delivered a rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)’ at a tribute concert for Green which was held at The London Palladium in February – joined by an all-star cast including Mick Fleetwood.Taking place only months before Green’s passing in July 2020, the concert also saw contributions from the likes of Noel Gallagher, David Gilmour, Steven Tyler and Christine McVie.The clip of Hammett’s performance is the first taste of the concert, which will come to cinemas across the UK on 23rd / 28th March 2021, as well as being released in special boxset formats.The show will be released as a

Tool fans have been given the chance to win the most unlikely of memorabilia – a stainless steel kitchen sink signed by all four members of the band.The bizarre item is being auctioned off by the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund, but Tool fans won’t be able to actually use the sink, unless they’re willing to lose the signatures of Maynard James Keenan and his bandmates.As a press release states, “Tool members are generally reluctant to sign items to donate.