Joe's Guitars

Serial Number: 9-1688

Named for the unfaded spot at the top.

Featured in “Beauty of the Bursts” it has a long history of various collectors. Many years ago the pickup covers were removed exposing double-white PAF’s and the Bigsby bar was removed. It’s known as one of the greatest Les Paul’s in the world, but Joe still plays it almost every night.

Serial Number: 138796

This guitar was loaned to me by a fan… who won’t take it back. He bought it new in 1963. I immediately named it treasure because it’s one of my prized possessions in my collection. I’ve played the song “Slow Train” on it more times than I can remember! 

It’s just one of those great stories where he buys it new in ’63 and plays it for 45 years and wants me to keep playing music on it when he retired from playing. It’s a great guitar. I really feel like a guitar should be played and should have a life and not just look good.

Serial Number: 0280

Before the Telecaster and Nocaster, there was the Broadcaster. These guitars had a few interesting characteristics like no channel rout and a blend knob instead of a tone knob. The blend disappeared around 1952. Plus, you get flathead screws all the way around, including the truss rod!

This example is one of the lightest Broadcaster guitars I have ever played. I am lucky to own it, and is one of my cherished Fender guitars in my collection.

Serial Number: 12739

Ash body, Bakelite parts and the best neck I have found on a 1956 Stratocaster.

“This guitar I found in Nashville a few years ago. It was being sold at a substantial loss after fetching almost $100,000 a few years ago. It still has the original receipt and pictures of the original owner. Best heard on my song, I Gave Up Everything for You, ‘Cept The Blues.”

Serial Number:  10041

“I had pictures of this guitar on my wall as a kid. It was featured in Guitar World’s Collector’s Choice in April ’88. It has been in many books, and is widely considered one of the very first if not the first black Stratocaster guitars ever made.

“I purchased it from Bill Blackburn via George Gruhn in 2014. I can’t believe it sits in my house to this day. It is a fantastic piece of Fender history and rock ‘n’ roll history for Howard’s time in Gene Vincent’s Blue Caps and 15 years spent in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.”

Serial Number:  2581

“Terry is a friend of mine and a rock legend, in my opinion. He was responsible for some of the greatest country-tinged folk-rock of the 1960s and 1970s. Terry bought this guitar in 1968 when he was supporting Cream on their final tour in Chicago. By the time they reached Madison Square Garden, Terry had installed a patent number Gibson pickup in the front. It has remained unchanged for the most part until this day.

“Very early features and a killer-playing guitar. I have owned it for about a year.”

Serial Number:  45935

“You could also say the Page-caster, but I wanted one because of Steve Cropper. Honestly, you will not find a cleaner one. It is in mint condition, and without a question, on the verge of being unplayable because of it.

“Who the hell am I to ruin preserved Fender history? Plug it in and you get over that bullshit quite quickly.”

Serial Number:  L14080

“I own five Blonde Stratocasters: a ’56, two ’57s and two ’63s. This guitar is by far one of the best, if not the best rosewood Stratocaster I own. I bought it two days after I found my other ’63 Blonde! It was by pure coincidence that the original owner was selling this to help his son fund the downpayment on his house.

“It’s the kind of guitar that you don’t need to turn a screw on. It has never been apart, and that’s the way its gonna stay… Who cares what the neck date is, anyway?”

Serial Number:  238194

“I had been working on buying this guitar, along with two others, for about five years. I finally was able to make a deal and get one of rarest custom colours in the whole Fender line.

“This guitar is mint and fantastic as an instrument; throw in the Sea Foam factor, and it makes it one of the most expensive ‘surf guitars’ out there.”

Serial Number: 1755

“My friend Keith Nelson wants this guitar, and if I never gave it a second look he would own it. It is my go-to studio guitar; it is my go-to ‘Tele’, so to speak.

“It was routed in the 70s for a humbucker, aka a PAF, probably out of an SG or Les Paul Custom from ’61ish. It howls in all the right ways, and quite frankly, kills my ’59 Les Pauls on occasion. It is a lifelong guitar that I will play and cherish.”

Serial Number: 49887

“One of the best Fender guitars I own. Something about simplicity. It does one thing. It does one thing very well. I play it when I need reminding of the keep-it-simple method.”

Serial Number: L01310

“My ole keeper from my teenage years. I bought this guitar in 1993 at the fall Philly guitar show for $4,200. All the money at the time. It was mint and I was a kid and didn’t care. I was flush with record company advance (Bloodline record) and full of fearlessness.

“Five years later, I was broke and down to my last few guitars, and for some reason I kept it. Even in 2006 when the market exploded and it was worth $30,000, I kept it. I was broke then, too. I’ve kept it through thick and thin, and it has appeared on most of my 15 albums. Something to be said about old faithful.”

Serial Number: 8-2857

“Shipped May 29th 1958 to Amos Arthur’s music store in Indianapolis, In. There are many pictures of Amos posing with the guitar in 1958. A super-rare black pickguard, white jackplate model.

“I purchased this guitar from Norman, who had been storing it for more than 40 years. I am gonna bring it out for another round of touring and recording. Thanks Norm for trusting me to give it life again.

“It’s probably the most historically import guitar I own. In the korina world, provenance is everything. This guitar has a cargo ship full. A truly awesome instrument that I am proud to own.”

Serial Number: 4-1728

“A true sleeper in the Les Paul world. Many people look at wraptail P-90 Les Paul guitars and go ‘Wow! That would make a great conversion!’ I am including this guitar on the list to bring attention to the horrible carving-up of good guitars of late. Conversions are not ’59 Les Paul guitars, nor will they ever be, no matter what these luthiers tell you.

“I just played this guitar on the Three Kings tour and it killed my ‘burst… Shows ya what I know! P-90s rule!”

Serial Number: 9-1953

“This guitar was a tough purchase. It came from a guy who has been beat up by the vintage guitar business by buying at the very height of the market and selling most of his collection at a big loss. This guitar was to be Custer’s last stand. Unfortunately, the market only sustains the boom for so long, then readjusts itself along the way to a fair price.

“Carmelita spent many a year in Hawaii and with my friend Tom Wittrock in Springfield, Mo, before being sold to the gentleman I bought it from. Important to know about the guitar is it sounds very good and it is very flame-y. It is the flameiest burst I own.

“Do others sound better? Yes, but do they have that top that looks like a tiger’s claw? No… By the way, the previous name of the guitar was indeed The Claw…”

Serial Number: 0-7453

“I purchased this guitar in Germany from Detlef at Guitar Point. Detlef is one of the most honest and trustworthy people on this planet. He would give you the shirt off his back. The first time I met him, he brought three ‘bursts with him and left with two, and probably, if you ask him, the two he would not have expected to leave with.

“This 60 was the source of some sour grapes in the States. People were in line to make big money on it and got their feathers ruffled. Detlef stepped up and people tried to badmouth him and the guitar. Little did they know that this particular 1960 Les Paul is one of the best-sounding guitars I own. Originally bought in South Africa and played there until 2010, it truly is an underestimated ‘runt’, and of the four 1960 Les Paul Standard guitars I own this is among my favourites.”

Serial Number: 0-0162

“Probably the most valuable guitar I own. It is a factory black 1960 Standard that was ordered in lieu of the more expensive Les Paul Custom. Underneath that black paint is a super flame-y sunburst top. It is one of a kind, and I won’t get into the backstory here ’cause it’s all over the internet.

“I have the receipt and the payment plan dating January 1960. To see it in person is quite the sight! I am never scared of guitars, but for this one I might make an exception.”

Serial Number: 9-1951

“My desert island guitar for a long time until ‘Snakebite’ knocked it off the ledge. It does not take away from how great of a guitar this is. I use this guitar daily and always have it for sessions and records.”

Serial Number: A32732

“These guitars are so sought-after and I really don’t get it. It’s a natural-finished guitar. Gibson charged more for the natural finish, people pay way more for the natural finish… I don’t understand.

“Super-clean example that makes all my Mickey Mouse ear friends and enthusiasts weak in the knees.”

Serial Number: 10069

“The basis for my signature model and a guitar that I bought at a meet and greet in 2011. The folks have since become my friends, and I have used this guitar on many records and tours including the Muddy Wolf [At Red Rocks] DVD last year. A very special guitar to me.”

Serial Number: 44208

“Bought in a pawn shop in Ft Wayne, In. Killer in every way. I am not a fan of SG Standards at all! They don’t sound right to me and are very unbalanced. I have tried and tried and tried to find a good one, but ultimately sell them all except this one!

“Perfectly balanced and the sound that comes out of it is intense. I see why Pete dug these.”

Serial Number: A-9708

“I have three ES-5 guitars, but this one is the best. It’s essentially an ES-350 thick body with an extra P-90, but it’s the early BB King guitar, ’cause he wanted to be T-Bone Walker.

“We all want to be someone else. Goes to show even the King of the Blues, rest in peace, had heroes…”

Serial Number: A26570

“Chuck Berry is one of my heroes. Always has been and always will be. Despite all the shenanigans and skullduggery, he still is Chuck freaking Berry… That’s why I wanted this guitar.”

No serial number First Year

“Not a perfect guitar in the slightest, but the guitar that started the revolution and the forecast for things to come.”

No serial number First Year

“Not a perfect guitar, but again, it evolved into a music-changing instrument. I still prefer Jimmy Page on the three-pickup Custom versus the ‘burst…”

Serial Number: 8-6725

This very rare spruce-top sunburst double-neck is one of two made with a six-string neck and a 12-string neck in sunburst in the year 1958. These guitars were special-ordered from Gibson. Dealers wouldn’t have stocked such a specialty item nor would they have wanted something so expensive in their shop just on a hunch someone would walk in and buy a double-neck guitar.

It sounds fantastic, and quite frankly, Gibson should have experimented further with the spruce hollowbody concept, because they are some of the greatest-sounding guitars of that era.

Serial Number: 5411

“A super-rare, great-sounding acoustic guitar that is probably the rarest guitar I own. I have a pair of them, so two of the rarest guitars I own.”

“The cleanest tweed amp I have ever seen. I have some really clean tweed amps, and this screams past it. On the cover of the [Tom] Wheeler book Soul Of Tone, it is the best example of Fender’s best amp around.”

“It has three 10s, and it just screams. It’s cleaner in both condition and in sound than most, but with a Gretsch Country Gentleman it does Won’t Get Fooled Again very nicely…”

“I have two original brown Vibroverbs, but the one in the picture sounds the best. Imagine a great tweed amp with reverb.”

“Best-sounding amp you never heard of.”

“The matching amp to the Les Paul Guitar. Great overdrive and cheaper than the Fender counterpart.”