I agree with you about the tuners, I love the vintage style tuners on my strat, and the tuners on the tele neck I bought for my tele build, just a regular MIM stock neck. They hold tuning perfectly!
I needed a smile and this did it! Very funny man. Only a Page aficionado like myself would get that. I especially like the "K" you put on the end of "magick".
Yeah i just played a bunch of teles and the one that played best was a mim players tele for 674.00. put in some better pups and you're good to go. Get a good amp instead because on electric guitar, pickups are 95% of the tone. These days even 500 bucks can get you a great playing guitar.
@@utecastronoova863 i have a 50th anniversary top loader ,mim tele it feels so nice to play ( way better than a friends high end strat which surprised me ) and i actually like the pickups they are a little less bright/glassy , with more mid than others i have heard ,which works for me ,,don't know if I just lucked out and got a good one but it's a keeper
Thanks again John ! You rock brother ! I like the whole concept and history of the guitar being a LZ and Jeff Beck freak . The sound if you can get past the mirrors.. is a sweet sounding 59 reissue with classic rock tones. I won't lie .. the Blues Junior totally helps accentuate the tone of the tele . I want to say about mid year '59 , Fender intro'd rosewood. Aesthetically I like the contrast of the rosewood with the white blonde nitro finish . I think the pickups are also Jimmy Page '59 single coil pickups. Thanks John. Thanks Premier !
White bread used to be only for rich people and nobles and the whole grain breads were for peasants because it was more labor intensive to make white bread. Now wonder bread is for poor people and those whole grain loaf that cost 6 bucks are for the rich. Funny how that works.
I believe I commented somewhere below or on some other channel when these first came out... Yes- Townsend has confirmed that both he and Clapton both "had a passion for Syd Barrett" and Page has said as much in older interviews, so I'd definitely believe that Barrett was the inspiration for the mirrors as he had them on his Telecaster as well. Nor to mention his huge influence in Bowie and Bolan and imo, Ray Davies' singing and songwriting sounds very Barrett- like on Village Green...
That's a funny joke an all but coke was banned in 1922 and didn't come back into America until the early 70's. Jimmy had already striped this guitar down by 69 to the dragon.
Eric Clapton gave Keith Richards his famous '50's tele. Clapton also gave George Harrison his red les paul which, ironically, Clapton then played on While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
In 1986, I was at The Ritz in NYC (now Webster Hall). Australian band Hoodoo Gurus was on stage. I was up in the balcony standing by a VIP section and who strolls up next to me...Jimmy Page. He was with New York DJ Carol Miller who apparently was friends with the band and had a daily “Get the Led out” segment on her radio show. The bouncer let them into the VIP area and he gives me a polite nod on the way by. A almost spit my drink out , of course ...it was like spotting the Easter bunny ! 😁
I have watched a lot of Rig Rundowns with John but never seen him actually play. Well done, sir. You have an amazing job and seem to be an amazingly talented person.
Do people even watch the videos? John carefully explains that the guitar comes with the mirrors packaged separately in the case and it’s up to the buyer to stick them on if they want to do so. I would guess most will not, but I might be way off there.
Marketing 101: first impression is everything. That's always looks. If you walk up to a car and it looks like shit, do you still get in it and test drive? Exactly. This looks like shit with those clown mirrors. Huge mistake in selling this thing.
Jimmy totally copied Syd Barrett's mirrored Fender Esquire. Other than the colour, and the mirrors being in slightly different positions, they're virtually identical
Speaking of beding notes, 11:01 I heard somewhere that Page could easily bend a string up two notes the regular way. BTW- thank you John for doing this guitar run down as I've seen you do a lot of rig rundowns for music stars but never heard you play. I like your playing 🎸
i may be hated but this tele is not the same as all others...considering i bought this guitar and have a few other teles...i can safely say it plays and sounds way different then my 52 RI. the specs are really cool too...and the neck is actually amazing. great demo man!
Im lucky to own a 59 Tele like JP. Top loader and thru body also. The wiring though is a bit funky. I get bridge pickup,Neck pick up ( in the mid position) and neck pickup with all the highs rolled off (Jazz tone). However,if i notch the selector switch right in between bridge and mid ( like a 3 way switch strat would) i get an out of phase sound that sounds great. So im getting 4 sounds out of it. I believe that wiring was the original way. I wonder if Jimmy's tele had the same wiring. I think so because very recently upon hearing an early live bootleg show from very early 69 i can hear Jimmy's tele with that out of phase tone during "I Cant Quit You".
John, I too love my tele in the neck position for that woody and warm tone...drive a tube amp and you get great rock tones. A couple of compliments: love that you used a guitar stand (Fender shows their guitars on the floor all too often in their ad stock), you painted your paneling (brightens up the room, right?), and love the small tube amp being driven hard. Blues Jr. is nice with the reverb and all...but, I prefer a tweed Champ or Deluxe. Keep up the great work...
John, Remember most of these guy's liked Tele's because of Blues guy's like Muddy Waters. Page took the Les Paul but tried to make it sound fenderish too. Hiding series ,parallel, switches under the pick guard. As far as Joe Walsh and secret weapon for recording Gretch! And he gave Townshend one to which Pete took to. The mirror thing. Movies like Blowup featuring mirror chic.
That tele has one of the most comfortable neck shape i’ve played. 2k for this seems really excessive. Wish they had a lower price version with same neck shape and feel.
I've got this thing and man I just can't say enough great things about it. When I plug it into my AC30 I feel like I enter tone euphoria. It's definitely a steep price but if you think of how much a vintage Top Loader and Through Body would cost it's probably way reasonable.
Really enjoyed this one! I was lucky enough to get to see that guitar and the Dragon in person at Winter NAMM 2019...my first time...what an experience! I'd love to have one of those Dragons but this one is equally cool...the back story from my understanding was his first tech messed up the original finish and forced Jimmy's hand in doing something about it...and the Dragon was born. Great to hear your plaguingand you're enthusiasm for the first and the players associated with Page.. and his sound...get mystical man...I think there's lot of magic in those people, their sounds and their guitars! Thanks!
Music Therapy Laz Actually, the story is that Page quickly tired of the mirror thing and decided to strip the guitar and paint it with the “dragon” artwork. Later, a “friend” decided to repaint the guitar as a surprise for Page, destroying it in the process. Can you imagine the nerve of someone doing that?
I bought the mirror and found a guitar company in LA that will strip it down for $500 and pAint the dragon. Sucks they don’t make the dragon in the states, but I worked around it haha
Yeah John it’s got the tone !!!! A lot of people can’t get that tone and sound out of a honky tonk guitar, there’s nothing wrong at all with the honky tonk sound from a tele but the Page Rock sound from the Tele is something completely different !!!!! Great review !!!!
Very cool video clip ! You tell the entire story which is great ! I would add that Jeff Beck told that he never ''gave'' the guitar to Jimmy Page. After years of Led Zeppelin, Page simply told : well, this guitar is mine now... Page and Beck are great friends and this story is part of their personal history. They laugh about it. The sad story is Jeff Beck giving is legendary Fender telecaster to Seymour Duncan. That's a bad story... Duncan should have give back that guitar to Beck...
Eric D. I remember Jeff saying he gave Jimmy the Tele because Page’s black Les Paul sounded shit ( in his opinion) It also made sense for Jimmy to play a single coil guitar as Jeff had acquired a les Paul ( this is when page switched from bass to guitar in the Yardbirds ) .
Always enjoy your videos John, but I’d be remiss not to point out the key ingredient (besides the Supro amp and ambient micing,) of the Sola Sound ToneBender on Zeppelin 1. Otherwise a great review.😎
I thought I was doing my ryhem guitarist a favor giveing him a Epiphone 339 sunburst I had picked up at a pawn shop, he sold it for a hundred bucks and bought a real piece of crap ARIA with a big hole sawed into the back to fix the plug!!!!
Great playing as always. Still a nice present, even if it was a 7 year old guitar. Page ended up giving Beck a plastic guitar that he plays when he is home. I always thought it was a Les Paul also on the first album. I always thought it amazing that Page and Beck were friends from High School. I hate those mirrors too distracting. When I heard they were coming out with a Page Tele I figured it was a marketing ploy and I was right. Leo got it right the first time. Surprising, because he had no musical ability, but the mirrors look silly.
Ive seen a few online for $2500. There is also his painted dragon tele that retails for about $1500. Jimmy liked to "chase the dragon" as his dragon suit and guitar as well as his "poppy flower" suit eluded to his habit at the time . Jimmy is a God so I'm not criticizing. He was my definitive , singular inspiration when I picked up the guitar for the first time in 1980. Les Paul, Tele's and Marshall's later.. I don't know if I would spend the money on either... but the Dragon is way cooler in my opinion .
NO!! its a 59 reissue, with some little round mirrors with Jimmys name attached to it hahahahahahahaha rofl. theres a sucker born every minute if these sell more than usual teles. its funny watching him try sell a guitar thats just a Tele. the way he goes on about the vintage tuners like none of us have ever seen them or had them .
He top loaded in the yardbirds and thru body in zeppelin. You know this because in the interview w paul waller he talks about the differences between the mirror and dragon masterbuilt guitars
What a guy! Cool git box, too. I heard Page, as well as being artsy, put the mirrors on to mess with the audience by reflecting the spotlights into the crowd. Show Biz, baby!
It is amazing how the guitar gods handed nice guitars to other guitar gods... seemed like quite a fraternity where they were looking out for each other...
Great job J-bo. Man, do I love Page. I've held one of these at my local GC and it is the lightest tele I've ever picked up. It oozes mojo. I'd be all over one of these if I had the cabbage.
If you take the bridge pickup out, it SHOULD, have 4 additional Radio Shack “High Energy” magnets. 2 rectangle magnets with holes in them and 2 button type radio shack magnets! One on each end of the pickup! That’s like increasing the output manually! It has to have at least a 15% increase in power. Check it.
36hrs for old school session musicians? no problemo sir :) hey john , always pleasure to watch your vids....i'm HUUUUUUGE tele freak :), but honestly that beauty will look much better without additional "sparkOOOthings"...respect!!!
Awesome video! It really shows your passion about guitars and music, and you also have great playing skills! When did he get that Les Paul, and was the albums after that recorded on the Les Paul, or did he still use a Telecaster on the recordings?
Jimmy got his "#1" Les Paul from Walsh in 1969, but was not his first Les or even the only one he had at the time. He had previously often used a triple pick up equipped 1960 LP Custom with a Bigsby tremolo but it was actually stolen during the 1970 US tour (it is known to have been used in the studio for "Whole Lotta Love.) It was located and Page just got it back three or four years ago. Page bought a second 1959 Les Paul (unironically called his "#2") that was usually tuned to DADGAD and used as a potential back up live. Around 1970, after the Custom was stolen, he also bought a Goldtop that had been repainted red that he used off and on over the years but little is known about the details of that instrument. While Page is often associated with the Les Paul he used MANY different guitars when recording albums like the 1960 Danelectro that is known to have been used for the songs Kashmir and When the Levee Breaks and likely saw studio work and some use with The Ysrdbirds. Prior to acquiring the Gibson EDS-1275 double neck that is also an iconic Page signature guitar the role of electric 12 string was actually held down by a Fender Electric XII which was actually the guitar used on the studio version of Stairway as he didn't own the Gibson yet. He also used a Vox Phantom XII at points with The Yardbirds and early Zeppelin. On the album Presence several songs were recorded using a Pelham Blue 1964 Stratocaster, and it also showed up on the song "In the Evening" in 1979 as well as on stage on rare occasions. There are many others and I'm not even getting into his acoustic guitars but it's odd that Page is so heavily associated with the Les Paul, I think that occurred because he so heavily modified them so he could get a really wide range of tones and effects right out of the instrument making them great for live shows, so most photos you see of Page playing are with Les Pauls. It certainly helped with my decision as a young lad to scoop up a 1969 Les Paul Custom back in the mid-80s ($400 with an really nice Peavey tube amp) because that was close to what was on the posters in my dorm room...LOL! Oddly I also developed an affinity for the sound of the Tele over the Strat before I even knew Page had used one extensively. I think the twangy Tele and the ringing sustain of the Les compliment each other well.
