1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard “Pearly Gates”

This was Billy’s first ever Les Paul – a 1959 model, the so-called “The Holy Grail” of Les Pauls. But, among the fans of ZZ Top and Billie, this specific guitar is known by its nickname – the Pearly Gates.

The Origin Story

As far as how Billie got the guitar, as the story goes, a rancher who lived in Downey, Texas, who himself once played in a country band, sold it to him for 250$.

But, before that took place, apparently, Billy loaned 250$ to an aspiring actress so she could buy a car and drive from Houston to Hollywood for an audition.

After she drove there and successfully got the part she was auditioning for, her friends, among them Billie, were joking around that car must have some kind of divine connection, and they named it “Pearly Gates”.

After she finally sold the car and sent the money back to Billy, he drove out to meet with the rancher with whom he was in talks about the guitar. From then on the “Pearly Gates” nickname transferred over to Les Paul, and Billie basically ended up using it on every album he recorded with the ZZ-top.

This guitar is still in its original condition, and Billy refuses to sell it, even though he had a single offer for 5 million dollars to sell the guitar.

2009 Gibson Les Paul Billy Gibbons “Pearly Gates” Replica

This guitar is essentially a replica of the above-mentioned ’59 Les Paul, produced by Gibson in 2009.

The model was manufactured in a limited quantity of only 350 guitars. 50 of those were aged to look exactly like the original Pearly Gates, another 50 were aged and then personally signed and played by Gibbons himself, and the rest were the “standard” models.

Billy’s Replicas

Billy owns at least a few of these replicas, among them a very special one. This special guitar, he seems to use the most, and it features some major changes when compared to the standard models.

The first is the custom “Gibbons” inlay on the headstock instead of “Gibson”. The second, and a more major one, is the fact that the guitar’s body is hollowed out at Billy’s request, so it would be lighter and easier to use during long concerts.

The second replica that he used very often is one of the first prototypes, which is kept completely stock.

1962 Gibson Melody Maker

This was Billy’s first electric guitar. He got it as a gift for Christmas just a little after he turned 13.

The guitar is just standard a Gibson Melody Maker with a single pickup, single cutaway, and two-tone sunburst. Right after he got the guitar, Billy took it to a local shop where he had a guy called Fred draw some pinstripes on it.

On a Christmas day when I turned 13, got a Gibson Melody Maker, and on that same day we took it over to the Axel Custom Shop where Fearless Fred put these fine pinstripes down.

Billy Gibbons

Worth noting that BIllly nowadays uses a replica of this guitar, with a pinstripe design, nicknamed “Mojo Maker”. The replica is fitted with what Billy calls a Seymour Duncan stacked humbucker, and has a “Mojo Maker” plate instead of the original “Melody Maker” at the end of the fretboard.

Gibson Les Paul 1957 Goldtop Pinstripe

Billy owns many gold-top Les Pauls, but the one that stands out is a custom-made pinstriped Les Paul. The design, including all the aging and pin-striping, was thought of by Billy himself and done by the Gibson Custom Shop and Rick Harris (a well-known hot-rod pinstriper).

The guitar is based heavily on the 1957 Les Paul model, with some modifications. The body was built from mahogany, but it is hollowed out from the inside, so it weighs a lot less than a standard model.

The guitar is also equipped with Billy’s own signature pickup set from Seymour Duncan, the Pearly Gates, and it has quite a unique control setup. There’s no pickup selector switch. Instead, there’s one master tone knob, and two volume controls – each of course controlling a single pickup.

1955 Fender Stratocaster Hardtail

Billy played a hard-tailed 55 Stratocaster on the recording of “La Grange”. However, the overdubs and the overdriven parts were done on the Pearly Gates Les Paul.

The 1955 ‘La Grange’ Fender Strat… hardtail, no whammy. Straight stuff here! This particular thrasher, combined with Pearly Gates, harmonics included, put the crowning touch on La Grange. Worn and weather-beaten, this skunk-striped, maple-necked special is another one that grooves on and on! Good combo.

Billy F Gibbons discusses his extensive collection of hot rod-inspired guitars

1961 Gibson SG/Les Paul “Lil Red”

This guitar originally belonged to one of the guitarists from the band The VanTels, who used it to record the band’s single “Memo to Maxi“. Billy was apparently associated with the band somehow, since he had that information, and wanted to purchase the guitar.

He eventually managed to do that, with the help of his friend Scott Thompson, who again somehow got the information that the guitar was with Thomas Slaughter, better known as Texas Tom.

Billy ended up using it on “Vincent Price Blues’from ZZ Tops’ 1996 album Rhythmeen.

The Replica Model

Sometime in the more recent years, Billy decided to auction off the original Lil Red. Following that, he had a replica of the guitar made for him by Gibson.

The replica was built upon the 2013 SG Les Paul Tribute, with some modifications. The first and the most obvious one was adding the pinstripe design, as seen on the original Lil Red.

The rest of the mods included removing the pickguard, the tremolo piece cover, and three of the control knobs – leaving only the master volume in.

John Bolin “Stoner” Broadcaster/Esquire

This guitar was custom-built for Billy by J. Bolin sometime in the early 2010s.

The guitar featured a Cream T pickup (Billy F Gibbons Banger Series), a top-loaded bridge, a chambered body and neck, and a Jimmy Reed-style pickguard.

John Bolin Billy-Bo Pro

Billy had quite a lot of these guitars over the years. They were all custom-built by John Bolin and sometimes featured different designs and specifications.

The most recent version of the Billy Bo Pro features a slightly smaller body than the older model and comes with only one TV Jones pickup.

Most of the guitars that Billy uses have the body hollowed out, so the guitar would weigh less. Some also have the neck hollowed out, for that same reason.

John Bolin Peeler

This is another guitar produced for Billy by John Bolin. It’s a “twin” guitar to Dusty’s Bolin bass guitar, so the two would often play them both on stage.

The Finish, Specs

Both the guitars have a very distinguishing finish, which is actually a vinyl sticker wrapped around the body.

The design was actually inspired by an old Fender bass guitar that was damaged in a flood and had its finish starting to peel off (therefore the “Peeler”). Billy had someone photograph that bass, transfer over the design to a computer, and then they simply printed out the vinyl and wrapped brand new guitars in it.

Billy’s guitar has a chambered body and a chambered neck, which makes it very light, and it’s fitted with a classic Tele-style bridge, and a Cream T Banger & Mash humbucker.

For a period of time, in the 2010s, this was one of Billy’s main touring guitars.

John Bolin/Gretsch Bo Diddley “Fur” Guitar

Billy uses this guitar exclusively for the song “Legs”. This guitar was made by John Bolin and was based on the Gretsch Bo Diddley model.

Billy has at least a couple of these guitars ready for touring. Also, he has another fur guitar that he usually uses when playing outside the US, since he has two separate rigs (rig A and rig B) for touring different continents.

Gibson Explorer “Fur” Guitar

This Billy’s “B rig” fur guitar, used for the same purpose as the above-mentioned Bo Diddley – to play “Legs” live.

According to Billy’s guitar tech, the guitar is just a standard Gibson Explorer model wrapped in white fur. However, it seems that it was actually modified somewhat since it has a Flying V style headstock, and only a single pickup and volume control.

This pickup is also somewhat of a mystery because it has red plastic bobbins, which is a bit unusual.