Page 19 - Guitar Classics Magazine - The Les Paul Bible 2019

THE ORAL HISTORY OF THE LES PAUL

Custom was a solidbody, it was not a sandwich, it was
solid mahogany, but painted black. So you had some
with streaks in it? You made Customs out of it. Dolled
it up fancy with binding and other things on it, and
sold it for a higher price.”
BILLY’S DIVINE MUSIC WITH PEARLY GATES
Billy Gibbons
“This guy I knew in Houston, John Wilson – he had a
Rickenbacker 12-string, they sounded like The Byrds,
they were called The Magic Ring – he rang one day
and said: ‘Hey, word is you’re looking for one of those
Les Pauls.’ I said, ‘Yeah’. He said: ‘There’s a farmer, a
rancher, up the road, just outside the city limits, big
ranch out there, a big cattle man, cattle and horses.
Well, he’s got one of those things.’
“We had secured a 1936 Packard automobile,
and we had a friend of the band, Renee Thomas,
she had an opportunity to audition in California
to win a part in a movie, so we gave her the Packard.
She called up, says she’s in California and she got
the part. Well, nally she sold the beater Packard
and sent me this cheque for, I think, $350. I swear,
the cheque arrived in the mail, and my buddy pulls
up and said: ‘Hey, let’s go out see about that guitar.’

THE LES PAUL BIBLE 19