Greeny

I learned today that Gibson is finally going to sell a replica of Peter Green’s 1959 Les Paul. I read they are only going to make 50 of them and I have to assume the price will be somewhere in the six figures. Maybe if I sell all of my blood or something I might be able to afford one.

1959 Les Pauls are generally considered the best Les Pauls, and many believe that Green’s ’59 is the best ’59.

When Green left Fleetwood Mac in 1970 he sold Greeny to Gary Moore for whatever money Moore happed to have in his pocket. Moore used it throughout his whole career (pretty sure the god-like, epic solo on “Still Got the Blues” was played on Greenie). If I follow the story correctly, and I could be wrong, when Moore’s health started to fail he sold Greenie to a collector. I’m not 100% sure of that, but that’s what I heard. Eventually someone offered it to Metalica’s Kirk Hammett for a sum of money that I once heard him refer to as not as much as you’d expect, but I gotta imagine it was pretty vast.

There is a flaw in Greenie that gives it its unique sound. The polarity of the magnet in the neck pickup is reversed so when you use both pickups together they are out of phase. I once heard Gary Moore tell a story of a guitar tech who “fixed it” for him without realizing that it was the source of the magic. Obviously Mr Moore flipped out and made the tech put it back the way it was. Fortunately the Magic was still there.

I think I am going to go listen to “Still Got the Blues” while daydreaming about owning one of the copies.