Duane Allman’s 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard Cherry Burst
Duane traded this guitar in September 1970 with Stone Balloon’s guitarist Rick Stine for his Goldtop, a Marshall head, and $200 on top of that. His only condition was that he keeps the original PAF pickups from the Goldtop.[Duane Allman: Memories from his Friend, Joe Marshall]
Specs, Usage
The guitar featured plaint-top cherry sunburst finish, and no pickguard (as was preferred by Duane on all of his Les Pauls), but it did have both of the pickup covers. This comes as a surprise knowing that Duane’s Goldtop didn’t feature pickup covers, and the pickups on this guitar were taken directly from the Goldtop as part of the deal made between Duane and Rick Stine. It’s possible that Duane simply added them himself after swapping the pickups, but this certainly brings an element of confusion into the subject. It is also possible that the pickups were swapped from Duane second Goldtop which did have pickup covers, but that’s just a mere possibility.
Be that as it may, Duane played this guitar throughout the rest of his career, most notably on the “At Fillmore East” live album recorded in 1971.
Duane’s Cherry Burst Les Paul Today
After his death, it ended up with his common-law wife Donna Roosman, and it was later given to Joey Marshall who had introduced Donna and Duane to each other, and who took care of the guitar until Duane’s daughter Galadrielle turned 21 years old [Galadrielle Allman, Please Be With Me, p. 119]. Galadrielle still owns the guitar to this day, even though it is mostly kept at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum for safe keeping. The guitar’s serial number is 9-1988 [Tony Bacon: Sunburst, p. 68]
Only recently the guitar has been put back to playable condition to be used during The Allman Brothers Band final show on October 28, 2014, at the Beacon Theater.
The red accent on the finish has almost completely faded due to aging, and the pickup covers seem the have to been removed once again, which adds some more confusion the subject of what pickups were used on this guitar.
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This guitar (59 cherry burst) is part of the current Bill Graham rock n roll revolution tour. I saw it in St Petersburg, Florida on 9-29-18.
God Bless Duane Allman and The Allman Brothers Band. 🙏❤️🎸
I’ve shared names with this man since the day I was born. As a kid, I hated the name Duane. Even though I was told daily that “I was named after the best guitarist to ever live, Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band”, I never really understood the significance of it. Plus it was the 80s. Duane and ABB weren’t getting the Recognition the get today.
Fast forward to today. As an adult, I couldn’t be prouder to share middle names with my idol and my favorite guitarist ever, Duane Allman. Today I understand the significance of ABB & Duane Allman and his contributions to music. Today, I play the guitar because of Duane Allman. And it all comes back to 1 specific song: ‘Loan Me a Dime’ by Boz Scaggs w/ Duane on lead guitar. That’s the song that got me learning to play guitar. It also happens to be my favorite song ever. Duane’s playing in that is magnificent.
As a kid, I was also told I’d never own a motorcycle. NEVER. I didn’t understand why back then and wasn’t told why. I mean, I was smart enough to assume it was because someone they knew died on one. But I had no idea that Duane and Berry had both lost their lives due to bike accidents. IMO, that was probably a large part of why I was told I would never own one. I had no idea. I didn’t know Duane had been killed until years later. That wasn’t something my dad ever mentioned when I was little.
This guitar is unbelievable. No guitar sounds like it. You could tell the difference when derek played it versus his sg.
Where is Duane’s original 59 les paul. The one Twiggs stamped. Duane’s name in the back with fretwire? I played that guitar at the Great Southeast Music Hall in Atlanta years back. It had darker sunburst, once broken neck and a defitive ding on the top near the end pin. All this taken it played incredible. I have a picture of it. Twigs was kind to let me play it! Where is it and is it playable?
Thanks
Tony