Eric Clapton’s 1950s Gibson Les Paul Standard

This guitar seemed to have been a very brief affair, but since the goal with this list is to make it as complete as possible at least when it comes to the early years, it is somewhat important to include it as well. To our knowledge, Eric only used the guitar at the 6th National Jazz & Blues Festival, the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival in Berkshire, England in July 1966.

Keith Richards’ guitar?

Since the guitar looked suspiciously similar to Keith Richards’ Les Paul, it is somewhat possible that Eric indeed borrowed it from him, since they were friends at the time and Keith had already made a switch to a black Gibson Les Paul Custom. [Keith Richard’s Gear Page – Les Paul Standard]

In any case, as far as Eric was concerned this guitar was used likely just out of necessity because his own Les Paul Standard got stolen just prior to the National Jazz & Blues Festival gig with Cream.