“Jeff was the ultimate ‘tinkerer’, always changing the look, feel and sound of his guitars”: Up close with the Gibson Custom Shop reissue of Jeff Beck’s ‘YardBurst’ 1959 Les Paul Standard
We take a closer look at another stunner from the Murphy Lab that celebrates a pivotal moment in rock history, and one of its greatest ever players
(Image credit: Future / Adam Gasson)
Jeff Beck’s career with the hugely influential Yardbirds lasted from March 1965 to November ’66. And while he’s probably better remembered with a Stratocaster in his magical hands, this latest release from Gibson Custom and the Murphy Lab celebrates Beck’s 1959 Les Paul Standard, reportedly purchased in London in early ’66, just before the recording sessions started for The Yardbirds’ eponymous album, aka ‘Roger The Engineer’.
While its maker reminds us that the ‘YardBurst’ Gibson Les Paul is “a faithful recreation of this legendary guitar”, it might be wise to add “…and one he’d mucked about with”. For example, Jeff is pictured on Ready Steady Go! (27 May 1966) with the dark sunburst guitar, showing off its distinctive black pickguard but still with a cream toggle switch surround and covered humbuckers.
In later images and YouTube footage, we see the guitar without its toggle switch surround and uncovered open-coil pickups – and then even that pickguard disappears.
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(Image credit: Gibson)
(Image credit: Gibson)
“Jeff was the ultimate ‘tinkerer’, always changing the look, feel and sound of his guitars, and the ‘YardBurst’ reflects that,” confirms Lee Bartram, head of commercial and marketing EMEA at Gibson. “Various references show the guitar having parts being constantly changed during its time, a testament to Jeff’s vibrant, experimental personality.”
(Image credit: Gibson)
It’s not precisely documented what happened to Jeff’s original ’59, either, or the recordings it was a part of, although Jeff had said it was used on that ’66 album as well as the Happenings Ten Years Time Ago single, which also featured Jimmy Page on guitar, of course.
It is quite possibly the guitar used on Beck’s Bolero (again, with Page) and the first Jeff Beck Group album, Truth. Was it the one that Jeff then stripped the finish off?
(Image credit: Future / Adam Gasson)
That’s an investigation for another day as we’ll remember this replica, number 28, as one of those guitars.
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Even before we dare pull it from its aged Lifton hardshell guitar case, it looks scarily like the 65-year-old real thing with its relatively light relicing; it’s still glossy and looks like a used working guitar, not a faux relic.
(Image credit: Future / Adam Gasson)
It’s a beautiful weight and the neck is a good handful – 22.5mm deep at the 1st fret, 24.4mm by the 12th. Unlike an original ’Burst, there’s good height to the well-fettled frets.
And c’mon, play-testing this £9k ’Paul can hardly be called work: it sounds just as good as it looks and feels. It’s great craft and a vivid reminder of a pivotal point in the history of rock music as Jeff moved from The Yardbirds to his own Jeff Beck Group.
Dave Burrluck is one of the world’s most experienced guitar journalists, who started writing back in the '80s for International Musician and Recording World, co-founded The Guitar Magazine and has been the Gear Reviews Editor of Guitarist magazine for the past two decades. Along the way, Dave has been the sole author of The PRS Guitar Book and The Player's Guide to Guitar Maintenance as well as contributing to numerous other books on the electric guitar. Dave is an active gigging and recording musician and still finds time to make, repair and mod guitars, not least for Guitarist’s The Mod Squad.
