That "Holy Grail" Les Paul is "just a broken-down guitar," says Paul's son

Mark Frauenfelder 1:42 pm Thu Feb 12, 2015

This 50th Annivesary 1960 Les Paul Custom 'Black Beauty' is similar to the 1954 Les Paul that is up for auction

This 50th Annivesary 1960 Les Paul Custom 'Black Beauty' is similar to the A 1954 Les Paul that is up for auction

Geoff Edgers's Washington Post article about the controversy surrounding the upcoming auction of a Les Paul guitar, advertised as "the most important Les Paul guitar of all time," is a fun read. Guitar historians are saying the guitar is not nearly as special as Guitar Player magazine and the guitar's current owner, former Les Paul assistant Tom Doyle, are claiming.

Choice bits from the article:

The first Les Paul came out two years earlier, in 1952, and … those models, not the Custom, evolved into the instrument embraced by Page, Clapton and other guitar gods.
"That article is absolute bull, and the whole thing’s as crooked as can be," – George Gruhn, a longtime Nashville guitar dealer and author who has sold dozens of Gibsons to Clapton, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons and Neil Young.
“Hell, I hope the richest, dumbest fucking lawyer in the United States pays a fortune for it.” – Steve Miller
On another Les Paul guitar Stavron tried to sell for $500k on eBay, Stavron was told on camera that his guitar wasn’t worth what he had hoped, and he snapped at host Curtis Dowling, going on an expletive-laced rant. “You just think I’m some toadstool that fell off a fucking turnip truck?” Stavron said. “. . . You got a lawsuit on your hands.” Watch the clip here.

The Holy Grail of electric guitars? Auction of a Les Paul ax has split six-string circles.

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