Gibson Les Paul Custom (1978, Black)

Model: Gibson Les Paul Custom
Color: Black
Year: 1978 (serial: 73048576)1
Used in...

- 1994-2017

- the main live guitar between August 1994 and April 1995

- subsequently played live in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2017

- used during the (What's the Story) Morning Glory? recording sessions

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

- played by Johnny Marr during the Heathen Chemistry recording sessions

- featured in the video of Whatever (1994)

- featured in the video of In the Heat of the Moment (2014)
Details

At the infamous Newcastle gig on 9 August 1994, a fan climbed on stage and Noel used his '53 (ex-Marr) Les Paul guitar to defend himself. So, Johnny Marr sent him another Les Paul, a black Custom. And not a random one - it was his main guitar in 1985:

"I've got this black Les Paul that I wrote Bigmouth Strikes Again on, and The Queen Is Dead... and it's on the whole of The Queen Is Dead, pretty much."2

Marr recounts the episode in his autobiography:3

"I got a manic phone call to tell me that the night before in Newcastle the band had got into a fight onstage with some of the audience and the Les Paul I'd given Noel had got damaged. 'So what do you want me to do about it?' I asked. 'Have you got another one we can use?' came the reply. I looked at my guitars and reasoned: 'Well, he's accustomed to playing a Les Paul from The Smiths and The Who, so I can't send him something crappy.' I grabbed my black 1970s Les Paul that I used on The Queen Is Dead and stuck it in its case with a note that said: 'It's a bit heavier, in weight and sound. If you get a really good swing on it, you'll take some fucker's head off — Love from Johnny' and I sent it up to Newcastle."

'70s Les Pauls are known for being heavy guitars indeed. In Noel's words:4

"And that guitar is the fu**ing heaviest piece of equipment I've ever picked up in my life!"

The switch between the control knobs operates a coil tap: it was used to record the bending riff in the intro of the song Morning Glory.5
This guitar was played live again in 1997 in D'You Know What I Mean?, during the first few gigs of the Be Here Now tour in the USA. It was also used in Wonderwall at Noel's solo electric performance at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in the same month.

Between 1998 and 1999 the guitar was modified.
The cream pickguard, the cream pickup switch ring and the amber knobs were replaced with black ones; the humbucker pickups were replaced with two P-90s that had been removed in 1994 from Noel's Gibson Firebird:

"There were really modern pickups in it and I didn't like them. So I tossed the pickups out, took some from another guitar and put them in this. I cut the holes out myself. It's the one I've used the most for these recordings [the album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants]. It's a better guitar now."6

Noel talked again about the pickup change in 2023:

"Somewhere down the line the pickups had got damaged, and I had taken them out. And those P-90s are from a Firebird that I had. It was only then that [Johnny Marr] said: 'Oh, that's The Queen Is Dead guitar'. And I was like: 'Why didn't you fu**ing tell me that earlier before I butchered it?"7
This Les Paul was one of Noel's main guitars during the recording of the Standing on the Shoulder of Giants album in 1999.8
Then, in late 1999 it was played live in Cigarettes & Alcohol, Supersonic, Champagne Supernova and Helter Skelter.

In 2000 and 2001 it was rarely used for live performances of Gas Panic! (e.g. Jools Holland 2000).
In May 2001, during the Brotherly Love tour, Noel played it when he joined the Black Crowes with Gem at the end of their set for a cover of Down on the Street by The Stooges.9 10

In October 2001, Johnny Marr played his old Les Paul again to record guitar parts for (Probably) All in the Mind, a track from the 2002 Oasis album Heathen Chemistry.11

In 2014 it resurfaced, played by Noel in the video of In the Heat of the Moment. In 2017, throughout the U2 support tour, it was played live during the same song.
Stickers

This guitar has an interesting history of stickers: the oasis logo was added to the pickguard while in Japan, between 16 and 18 September 1994; it was later removed before 1997.

Then, sometime after 2001 the following were added:

- an Adidas logo on the new, black pickguard

- three white arrows, added in 2001 during the Brotherly Love tour

- a USA flag in the shape of a heart

- a The Strokes logo on the rear control cavity cover

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go back to the main guitars
GO BACK TO THE COMPLETE lIST
  1. Marr’s Guitars – Johnny Marr, 2023 ↩︎
  2. http://www.smithsonguitar.com/2008/12/johnny-marrs-gear.html ↩︎
  3. Set the Boy Free – Johnny Marr, 2016 ↩︎
  4. That Pedal Show, 2023 ↩︎
  5. That Pedal Show, 2023 ↩︎
  6. Total Guitar – May 2000 ↩︎
  7. That Pedal Show, 2023 ↩︎
  8. Total Guitar – May 2000 ↩︎
  9. Thanks to mahsteve on the live4ever forum for the heads-up! ↩︎
  10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjouslDYXXI ↩︎
  11. Marr’s Guitars – Johnny Marr, 2023 ↩︎

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