“Absolutely mind-blowing”: Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith rips through the blues on a ‘55 Gibson Les Paul Custom previously owned by Paul Kossoff and Eric Clapton
Though the late Paul Kossoff was famed for wielding his iconic ‘Stripped Top’ 1959 Burst Les Paul, that was by no means the only ‘50s-era Gibson Les Paul that the late electric guitar great had in his collection.
As has been well-documented, the Free titan was an avid fan of LPs from that particular decade, and had also owned the ‘58 ‘Darkburst’ model he acquired from his contemporary Eric Clapton, as well as a ‘55 Gibson Les Paul Custom Black Beauty that just so happened to pass through Slowhand’s own collection at one point throughout the years.
The latter guitar currently resides in Matt’s Guitar Shop in Paris – a high-profile boutique vintage guitar emporium, which recently welcomed Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith through its doors.
During his time in the shop, Smith took that aforementioned ‘55 LP for a test drive and – instead of ripping through various riffs from the heavy metal outfit’s back catalog – decided to put it through its paces with four-minutes of all-out blues.
After Smith sets himself by see-sawing through the pickups to solo over the changes (with a few customary rock ‘n’ roll power chord progressions thrown in for good measure, too), the Iron Maiden maestro then doubles down with an improvised blues shuffle that cycles between swampy strums and ad lib licks.
Unfortunately, the video cuts out just before Smith decides to run the guitar through one of Gary Moore’s amps.
“It’s a great guitar,” Smith can be heard saying in the video. “It’s not a relic – it still works. It works very well!” The shop’s owner, meanwhile, described the visit as “absolutely mind blowing” in an Instagram post.
Even without its association to both Clapton and Kossoff, the guitar itself is a notable piece of guitar history. As explained by the Matt’s Guitar Shop site, it is an early-years Black Beauty, produced before the arrival of the humbucker-clad model that is well-known today.
That means it has a bridge P-90 and an Alnico ‘Staple’ unit in the neck – a pair of pickups that no doubt helped Kossoff hone his craft before he stepped up to the humbuckers of his Bursts.
As the story goes, the ‘55 Les Paul Custom was allegedly purchased for Paul by his father, and was Kossoff’s first “real guitar”. According to its current custodian, the lacquer had been removed by Kossoff, who didn’t want the binding to turn yellow.
It would eventually end up in Clapton’s possession, but the specifics surrounding that part of the story are slightly hazy. Matt’s Guitar Shop notes Slowhand got a hold of the Les Paul sometime in the mid-to-late ‘60s, and was apparently snapped playing it at The Marquee in 1967.
This chimes with information from other sources – including Ground Guitar – which sites an old auction listing of the guitar that claimed Kossoff used the LP while a member of Black Cat Bones, before it went to Clapton.
The guitar is also said to have passed through the hands of Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan, but evidence to support that theory is hard to come by.
It’s not the first time a high-profile guest has swung by Matt’s Guitar Shop to take the ‘55 LP for a spin. In 2023, Marcus King gave it another blues-fuelled workout while on tour in France.
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