The Gibson ES-335

George playing his beloved “Lucy”. Just a refinished 57 Goldtop and one of the most famous guitars on Earth.

I’ll move away from 335’s for a bit because I just got in a whole load of Les Paul conversions. Two of them are unusual in that they were converted to look like George Harrison’s well known Les Paul, nicknamed “Lucy”. I’ll get to that in a minute but first some history. At the height of Beatlemania, John, Paul, George and Ringo could afford any gear they wanted and, being Beatles, every instrument maker was clamoring for them to use their products-free of charge, of course. It is interesting that the guitars they first used were not particularly popular here in the USA (until the Beatles used them). Gretsch was well known but not at the level of Fender and Gibson. Once we all saw George playing his Country Gentleman on Ed Sullivan, sales went through the roof. Stratocasters were later acquired by John and George as were three Epiphone Casinos. Sales of those also went way up although Stratocasters were already wildly popular thanks to Buddy Holly and a zillion other players in the late 50’s and early 60’s. The Gibson Les Paul simply wasn’t a popular guitar at this time. A few British players discovered them as did John Sebastian of the Lovin’ Spoonful. The first time I ever saw a Les Paul was in 1966 in the hands of John Sebastian on “Shindig” on ABC or maybe it was “Hullabaloo” on NBC. The fact that no Beatle played one until 1968 isn’t that surprising. They simply weren’t very popular. Lucy was the first Les Paul owned by a Beatle. Paul still owns one (a lefty, of course).

According to Wikipedia, the Lucy guitar, in its goldtop finish, was previously owned by Skip Boone, brother of Steve Boone of the Lovin’ Spoonful. It is my understanding that it was also owned by John Sebastian of the Lovin’ Spoonful. Still a goldtop, it was sold to Rick Derringer of the 60’s pop group, The McCoys who had a few hits and Derringer went on to have a long solo career as both a player and a producer. The 57 Gibson Les Paul goldtop (SN 7-8789) was getting kind of beat up and he was convinced to have it refinished. It was sent to Gibson to have the top refinished in the translucent red that was popular at the time. When he got it back, he didn’t like it so much any more although no one knows exactly why.

Derringer traded it in at Dan Armstrong’s shop In Greenwich Village and, shortly after Armstrong acquired it, it was bought by Eric Clapton. Nobody cared much about refinishes back then. It was simply, a used guitar. Clapton never bonded with it and he gifted it in 1968 to his good friend, George Harrison. George, who didn’t seem the type to name his guitars, named this one “Lucy”. It was red, after all, and the world’s most famous redhead was one Lucille Ball. George had started to move away from the Gretsch’s he famously played in the early days. He and John had acquired Stratocasters in 65 and he painted his in psychedelic day glo colors and called it Rocky (maybe he was the type to name his guitars). Rocky saw a lot of hours in the studio. George acquired a Gibson SG around the time Paperback Writer was recorded and he was likely taken with the sound of Gibson’s humbucking pickups. His good friend Eric Clapton was certainly aware of this…he played an SG (“The Fool”) during much of the Cream era and also had a 60 Les Paul and a 64 ES-335 during that period. All humbucker equipped Gibsons.

When Clapton was invited to play on George’s “While my Guitar Gently Weeps”, he arrived at EMI without a guitar. George handed him “Lucy” and you know the rest. The story doesn’t end there, however. Lucy was one of George’s favorite guitars and it was stolen from his home in Los Angeles in 1973. By this time, George could certainly afford any guitar he wanted but he was set on getting Lucy back. It had been sold to a Mexican musician named Miguel Ochoa. After a lot of back and forth haggling, Ochoa agreed to take a 58 Les Paul burst and a Fender P-bass in trade for Lucy. Think about that-a real burst and a new P-Bass in trade for a refinished goldtop. George must have really liked that red guitar. George owned “Lucy” until his death in 2001. I believe the family still owns it.

George played Lucy for most of the white album and much of Abbey Road including the iconic “guitar duel” in Abbey Road’s “The End”-one of my favorite moments on any Beatles LP. Gibson reissued a copy of Lucy in 2007 and again in 2013. The range of prices for these reissues is insane. As much as $90,000 (2013-one of 100) and as little as $15,000 (2007 VOS finish). If you want a vintage version, there have been a few conversions made from 50’s goldtops like the original. As I mentioned, I have two of them. No fan worth his Beatle boots should be without one.

This is a converted 1952 center seam with a pair of double white PAFs. Conversion by Jim Weyandt

This one, also a center seam 52, looks a lot like the original Lucy. This one has double white PAFs as well. George’s Lucy did not. Jim Weyandt did this one as well.

Sunday, October 19th, 2025 at 9:01 am • Gibson General • RSS 2.0 feed • leave a response or trackback