In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees… and a Doubleneck signature guitar. We knew it was coming, but did you predict the price?
It had to be absolutely as close to the bones as possible
Jimmy Page
$49,999 for a forensically accurate recreation of Jimmy Page's EDS-1275 Doubleneck, the guitar he would use to deliver Stairway To Heaven, The Rain Song, Celebration Day and The Song Remains The Same live with Led Zeppelin. And more recently, a tribute to Link Wray.
Each one of these 'Collector’s Edition' guitars has been signed and "played" by Page, so new owners have no excuses for not writing their own rock epic on it. It's also the first release in a signature guitar partnership that should last years, and will probably be the most expensive offering from that, but who knows? It might also be the most exclusive, given that only 50 of these instruments are being made.
Gibson surveyed Page's original EDS-1275's profile with 3D scanning technology and a process Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian described as “almost taking an MRI of the guitar” to attempt to recreate the guitar's feel.
“I really wanted to have something that was exactly the same as my one,” Page told us and the rest of the invited audience during a Q&A with Gueikian at the new Gibson Garage London in February.
“Because I’ve changed the controls but also the colour of it, from my point of view, it had to be absolutely as close to the bones as possible. They took a lot of trouble and time to get everything absolutely right.
“It wasn’t a case of OK, ‘I’m Jimmy Page, make my doubleneck. That looks shit, now go and make it!’ It wasn’t like that… The Murphy Lab, the distressing – that looks like mine.”
High praise - and a high price, though you do also get "a lavish collection of case candy" that was curated by Page, including a Certificate of Authenticity Book with photo taken by Barrie Wentzell, a wooden Pick Display with Herco Flex pick played by Jimmy Page on the specific serialised guitar, a Premium Cherry/Black Leather Strap and Vintage Replica Strap, Schaller Strap Locks, an Embroidered Dragon Guitar Shroud, and a Gibson Doubleneck Stand.
$50,000 doesn't seem so expensive now, does it?
OK, it does, but if you're interested, you can find out more on the Gibson website.
