Tools of the trade - Neil Young’s Gibson Les Paul

 

Neil Young’s Les Paul with Bigsby tremolo was used, whether solo or with Crazy Horse, aka “Old Black and is a Les Paul Gold Top he first acquired in 1969.

There are a couple of different explanations as to how Young first acquired Old Black. Some say he exchanged an Orange Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins with sometime Buffalo Springfield collaborator, Jim Messina. 

Others claim the exchange was with Buffalo Springfield bandmate, Stephen Stills, and was for the Gretsch White Falcon that Young had played up to that point. Young still plays a White Falcon occasionally, though whether it's the same one or not, we don't know.

The guitar itself is a 1953 Gold Top, named because of the amateur paint job given to it to cover its original gold finish by a previous owner. In 1972, Young fitted a mini-humbucker from  a Gibson Firebird, in the bridge position. His Wikipedia entry describes it as 'severely microphonic… considered a crucial component of Young's sound.'

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