Rockers share stories of their most prized possessions
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http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/music/article/0,2792,DRMN_54_5081585,00.html
By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News
Led Zeppelin's Page owns two of the most legendary guitars in rock history - and he didn't pay for either one. He was given his 1958 Sunburst Gibson Les Paul by Joe Walsh in May 1969.
"It's on the bulk of the Led Zeppelin work," says Walsh, who gave it to Page because "he just wanted one.
"I found two in Ohio. This was before they were, like, $30,000. I had two, and on one the neck was a little small for me. He has smaller hands."
Ironically, Page hadn't had any luck getting his own Les Paul because of Led Zeppelin's success.
"Everybody wanted a huge amount of money back then to sell him - because he was him - a guitar," Walsh says. "I said 'Hey, Jim, why don't you just take mine? If you get used to it and like it, go ahead and run with it. If I need it back, I'll call you.' "
With that guitar now being among the most valuable in the world - the Stairway to Heaven solo was played on it - isn't it time to make that call?
"Well, he won't give it back," Walsh says, laughing. "That's the only problem. He won't give it back! Naw, that's his guitar and it makes me feel really good that it ended up in all that music."
In 1966 Beck gave Page the guitar that was used on the first Led Zeppelin recordings (the Walsh and Beck guitars can be seen in the band's DVD release from 2003). While fans have long thought Beck gave Page the rosewood 1959 Fender Telecaster as a thank-you for getting him in the Yardbirds, Beck says he gave it to him when he quit the band.
"I left the day I gave it to him. I walked out," Beck says. "I was in Dallas. I said 'Jim, I've had enough of this. You'd better have this guitar. I can't be bothered to take it home.' I just ran to the airport with my bag and went home."
"I wish I had kept that," Beck says now, though "in return he gave me a 1930 plastic Maccaferris (guitar), really rare, unused."
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