Watch Joe Bonamassa unveil his signature Epiphone Les Paul Custom ”Black Beauty”on Gibson TV

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Gibson TV's visits Nerdville East for a trip through Bonamassa's incredible guitar collection and a first look at his new LP

(Image credit: Gibson)

In the latest episode of Gibson TV's The Collection, Joe Bonamassa welcomed Mark Agnesi to Nerdville East for a tour through JoeBo's massed ranks of vintage electric guitars.

We have all read of Bonamassa's collection. There's the 1960 Les Paul Standard ”Johnny B.” There's ”Lazarus,” a '59 'Burst that has been refinished in all the wrong ways before being restored to its former glory by Historic Makeovers. There's ”Laureli,” another exquisite Burst, the Terry Reid '52 Tele and so on... 

I made it a super playable instrument, throaty but clean, and the lead pick up just barks

Joe Bonamassa

The list of Bonamassa's guitars is long and distinguished, and that's before we even get to the amplifiers. But one guitar we hadn't seen before is his new Epiphone Les Paul Custom ”Black Beauty”

(Image credit: Epiphone)

“We based my new Epiphone signature on this 1958 Gibson Les Paul Custom,” said Joe Bonamassa. “I made it a super playable instrument, throaty but clean, and the lead pick up just barks. I fell in love with it, it’s a great Black Beauty and you just play this thing into the ground. Epiphone did an excellent job re-creating this guitar and I’m excited to share it with everyone.”

Bonamassa and Epiphone have regularly teamed up, and only last year released a signature ”Norm Burst” Les Paul, which was based on a pristine 1960 Les Paul that Joe discovered at Norm's Rare Guitars.

In other Bonamassa news, the blues-rock superstar will take the stage at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium this Sunday, 20th September, for a special live-streamed performance, with a dollar from each ticket sale going to Bonamassa's Fueling Musicians programme, which offers financial support to musicians who have lost their income during the pandemic.

See here for tickets and info.

And do join Mark Agnesi as he tours Bonamassa's Nerdville East in the video above.

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Jonathan Horsley
Jonathan Horsley

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.

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