Jimi Hendrix, Bowie, T Rex all recorded here.
NGS did the gold window.
Check out our other creative studio @ NGS Relic Guitars if you love to rock.
Great story happened to draw me in when I was gilding this piece.
A senior, known guitar player popped in and recalled how Bolan wanted to buy his Black Les Paul and he reluctantly sold it to the corkscrewed haired pop prince…
Delivering it by hand, on a Saturday morning to a large house in Holland Park, with quite a lot of wild partying still under way, and handing it over to the T.Rex front man!
THE BOLAN LES PAUL
Above is the 1953 Gibson Les Paul, originally a ‘Gold-top’ that has been sanded and re-painted in a black finish, serial number no longer present.
The original gold paint is still visible in the guitar cavities and two original volume control potentiometers date to 1953, the other two potentiometers have been replaced and date to 1969. Pencil notation on interior cavity reads, “Nick Odell 19/7/72” indicating that Odell, who worked on Bolan’s guitars, serviced the instrument on that date.
The guitar features soap bar pickups, original tailpiece, tuning pegs, later 1950s Gibson knobs and a brown 1959-1960 five-latch hard case.
Bolan gifted this guitar to his close friend Ringo Starr who directed Bolan in their 1972 concert film Born To Boogie.
