Gibson Les Paul Custom (1974)

Photo: Rock Solid Investments
Model: Gibson Les Paul Custom (20th Anniversary)
Color: Alpine White
Year: 1974 (serial: 404050)

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Used in...

- 1999-2001

- used during the recording sessions of the album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants

- used during the recording sessions of the album Heathen Chemistry
Details

This Les Paul Custom is part of a special edition produced in 1974 to mark the 20th anniversary of the model's debut. The only difference from a standard Custom is a small inscription on the 15th fret inlay that reads "Twentieth Anniversary".1

It was Gibson's first anniversary model: the first of many, in fact, kicking off a marketing trend that would lead to countless commemorative editions in the decades to come.2

Noel bought this LP Custom sometime before early 1999. It was used during the Standing on the Shoulder of Giants sessions, beginning with the band's stay at Château de La Colle Noire in Southern France in May 1999.

Noel went on location a week early, with the engineers and all the gear, to set up the main room in the Chateau as a recording studio. The first track recorded was a demo version of Force of Nature:3

"Jude Law asked us to do a song for a film he was in called Love Honour and Obey [...] so I thought 'well while I'm out there I'll just record the demo for use in this film' - and anyway it came out so good that we just sent them the demo!"

According to a handwritten note from Noel, this Les Paul Custom was used to record the Force of Nature demo as well as guitar parts for Go Let It Out.4
An edited version of the Force of Nature demo appeared in the Jude Law movie,5 but the final version of the track wasn't officially released until 2002 on the next Oasis album, Heathen Chemistry:

"Everybody was saying, well, you know, is it going to go on Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants? [...] I wrote that song and Little By Little for the film. They were both supposed to be for the film but we only gave them one in the end. We decided not to use it on Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants because Bonehead was leaving and we thought, well let's keep some songs back for when we come back anyway."

This Les Paul Custom was also used during the Heathen Chemistry recording sessions: it can be seen on a sofa in a photo taken at Olympic Studios, probably in October 2001. Unfortunately I don't know the author: it might be Lawrence Watson or Jill Furmanovsky.

There's another photo, taken by Mitch Ikeda in what was likely spring 2002 in Japan, showing Noel playing a nearly identical Les Paul Custom in a shop.6 However, it's most likely a different guitar.
Around 2017 or 2018, Noel sold the guitar through a dealer to a collector - the owner of Rock Solid Investments.7 The photo of Noel with the guitar dates from this period.

It's unknown whether the guitar has been sold again since.
RSI also previously owned the Epiphone Les Paul Standard from the early Oasis years and the ex-Johnny Marr Flying V played by Noel at Monnow Valley in 1994: both have been sold at an auction in 2024.

The images above, taken from RSI's website, show the Les Paul Custom in beautifully aged condition, with its original white finish now looking like a creamy yellow.

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This is a fansite. It is not affiliated with Noel Gallagher, his management or his record label.
For informational and non-commercial use only. Please do NOT publish this content elsewhere.
If you share or use this information, please provide proper credit and link to the website.
I appreciate your respect for the years of dedicated, freely available research!
Visit the “Info & About” page for contact details and more.
Thanks!

go back to the main guitars
GO BACK TO THE COMPLETE lIST
  1. The Gibson Les Paul Book – Tony Bacon & Paul Day, 1993 ↩︎
  2. The Gibson Les Paul Book – Tony Bacon & Paul Day, 1993 ↩︎
  3. The Daily Oasis Fansite (archived from the original) ↩︎
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8YwbyJQnVA ↩︎
  5. https://monobrowdemos.wordpress.com/heathen-chemistry/ ↩︎
  6. Live Forever – Mitch Ikeda, 2002 ↩︎
  7. https://www.rocksolidinvestments.ie/private-stash/noel-gallagher-20th-anniversary-les-paul-custom ↩︎

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