Joe Walsh's Gear Collection

This is one of Joe’s most recognizable guitars because he appeared to have used it as his main around the release of the Hotel California album in the mid-70s. Among others, Joe played this guitar on the 1977 video release Eagles: Live at the Capital Centre, and most likely on the studio recording of the song “Hotel California”.

Unfortunately, not a lot is known about this guitar. From the looks of it, it appears to be a 70s Telecaster, based on the Fender logo design and double string tree on the headstock.

It also looks like Joe removed the original Telecaster pickup from the neck slot and installed a Strat-style pickup instead. What’s potentially interesting about this pickup is that if you look at the photo below, you’ll notice that the poles are staggered. Furthermore, the pole with the lowest height is sitting below the A string. Usually, at least on modern single coils with staggered poles, the lowest pole would sit below the B string.

Joe acquired this guitar sometime in the late 60s. He traded it with a friend, and then shortly after that, in April of 1969, he sold the guitar to Jimmy Page. That same guitar would become Jimmy Page’s number one instrument, the one he would use on a majority of Led Zeppelin studio releases and live concerts.

He said, “This Telecaster ain’t cutting it for Led Zeppelin. And I don’t know what to do.” Now, Les Pauls virtually didn’t exist in England at the time. They didn’t hit popularity yet, and they were pretty easy to find because they hadn’t been discovered – and they didn’t cost very much.

And I happen to have two. I found one in the basement of a family-owned music store, I think in Athens, OH, where Ohio University is. It was just in the basement. I just walked in another garage, and it was all boxes – and I said, ‘What do you got downstairs?’ And there was a Les Paul!

And I found another one through a friend, I traded him some stuff for one. So, one I really liked and one I just was saving for a rainy day, so I gave Jimmy that one.

Joe Walsh – Wong Notes Podcast

There are some discrepancies in Joe’s story regarding whether he borrowed the guitar to Jimmy or whether he sold it to him, so it’s unclear what exactly happened. Based on what he said on the Wong Notes Podcast, it sounds like Joe gave the guitar to Jimmy to see whether he would like it, and Jimmy sort of just kept it, and eventually paid Joe for the instrument.

Joe started using this guitar as his main around 1971, as can be seen in numerous recorded performances from that year. The guitar is a tricky one to figure out because it seems to be modified, but we’ll try our best.

Based on one key detail on the instrument, this guitar is a modified Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. This detail is the volute or the protrusion on the rear of the neck-headstock join, which is basically supposed to make that joint a bit less prone to breaking.

This change in the design was introduced to the Les Paul model in 1969, when Gibson re-introduced the Standard model (which was discontinued in 1961), but renamed it to “Deluxe”. All the earlier Les Paul Standards had a flat surface on the back of the neck/headstock joint, and these guitars are notorious for being relatively easy to break.

Joe was seen playing this guitar occasionally in the 70s and the 80s. As is the case with most of Joe’s guitars, not much is known about the back story of this double-neck SG.

From the looks of it, the guitar was either a custom order from Gibson, or Joe had somebody modify it because the lower horn was a lot shorter than on the standard model. This allowed Joe to reach the high frets much more easily.

In the late 80s, Joe removed six of the twelve tuners on the bottom portion of the guitar and used both necks as standard six-strings. Around the same time, he also removed the metal pickup covers.

Joe used this guitar with the Eagles in the early 2000s and at 2004 The Strat Pack concert. Based on the statement from Joe’s guitar tech Alan Rogan, the guitar was an Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster, with a custom-made rosewood neck fitted on it.

Joe likes the sound that rosewood gives… It’s very different from the usual maple. It’s really hard, so I had it refretted with Joe’s preferred frets, which are higher than normal so he can get under the string.

At first we had the neck on a ’54 reissue body, but now he’s put it on an Eric Clapton body and it’ll probably stay there, because it’s really working out. It’s from the Fender custom shop, and the pickups are noiseless.

Alan Rogan, Guitar and Bass Classics magazine

Joe appeared with this guitar in a video and in some photos that he did as a promotion with Carvin guitars sometime in the early 2000s. According to Joe, he worked directly with Carvin Custom Shop in designing this guitar and he choose all the woods and all the hardware himself.

I decided to get a custom guitar. I looked through the catalog, picked out woods, picked out pickups, and everything. And I got this gutiar and I absolutely love it

The weight is light, the wood, the feel, it has got great sustain.

Joe Walsh – Carvin

Joe received a few of these guitars and occasionally used them liv the early 2000s, as can be seen in Farewell 1 Tour: Live from Melbourne DVD released by the Eagles (see photo below). The guitars had a quilted maple carved top on a mahogany body, double skunk striped mahogany neck with matching quilted maple headstock, likely an ebony fretboard.

Joe acquired this guitar sometime in the late sixties, probably around 1968 when Joe joined the James Gang. This was the first of the two vintage Les Pauls that Joe had around the time, the second one being the one he would eventually sell/give to Jimmy Page in 1969.

According to Joe, he found this first Les Paul in a basement of a music store in Athens, Ohio.

And I happen to have two. I found one in the basement of a family-owned music store, I think in Athens, OH, where Ohio University is. It was just in the basement. I just walked in another garage, and it was all boxes – and I said, ‘What do you got downstairs?’ And there was a Les Paul!

And I found another one through a friend, I traded him some stuff for one. So, one I really liked and one I just was saving for a rainy day, so I gave Jimmy that one

Joe Walsh – Wong Notes Podcast

Joe probably got this guitar from Glenn Frey, since this was Frey’s own signature model produced by Rickenbacker. He used it occasionally since the early 2000s, most notably at the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival.

As far as specs, this guitar is a little bit different from the publically available version. Most notably, it doesn’t have any of the branding on the pickups, and there’s no Glenn Frey signature on the pickguard. Maybe this was one of the prototypes, or maybe Joe simply changed the pickups and removed the signature – who knows.

In any case, this Rickenbacker model was produced as a limited run in 1992. The company planned to make 1000 units total, but due to low demand, the production was cut at 239. It’s interesting to point out that Glenn was never really seen playing this guitar on stage – he only made a few promo shots with it. Most people seem to know about this guitar through Joe Walsh.

Joe Walsh was spotted using this particular guitar on a few occasions during the 1980s. One instance where he was seen using it was at the US Festival held at Glen Helen Park in Devore, California in 1983. Another instance was during the Eagles’ performance at the Beacon Theatre on September 2, 1987.

As far as specs and history, this guitar is a complete mystery. It’s obviously a Les Paul Goldtop with a Bigsby tremolo, and with the metal pickup cover removed,

If you zoom in on the photo below from Getty, you’ll notice that the truss cover reads “Deluxe”, so this was likely another 1970s Les Paul Deluxe that Joe modified with full-sized humbuckers. He has done this previously on at least one of his guitars – on his 1969/70 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe “Rocky Mountain Way”.

Joe bought this guitar around 1975. This is according to Willie’s Guitars shop, through which the guitar went in 2022 before it was sold to Joe Walsh once again. You can read all about this here – 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard “THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY BURST” by Willie’s Guitars.

As far as when and where Joe used this guitar, in the July 2022 issue of the Vintage Guitar magazine, Joe noted that he thinks that he used it on his live solo album You Can’t Argue with a Sick Mind. This album was recorded before Joe joined the Eagles, which would obviously mean that he had this guitar when he was playing with the Eagles.

Joe had a few Les Paul Standards in the 70s and the 80s, and due to the lack of high-res photos, and the fact that the guitar now faded in color, it’s hard to match it to anything from those years with certainty. However, based on the Vintage Guitar story published in the July 2022 issue, the line of ownership is pretty well established.

Joe was seen playing this guitar in a couple of photos, all of which seem to date back to 1970 when he was playing with James Gang.

Based on the photos, the guitar was a Gibson SG Junior with dot inlays, and a stop-tail bridge. But, aside from this, nothing is really known about this guitar. If you happen to know anything about, its original story or where it ended up, be sure to post a comment below.

Joe Walsh was seen playing this guitar during the Eagles’ farewell tour in 2006. He can be seen using the guitar on the song “Already Gone” on the DVD release “Farewell 1 Tour: Live from Melbourne“.

The guitar is most likely a Special Edition FMT HH (flame maple top, humbucker-humbucker) Custom Telecaster, although Joe’s guitar could possibly have different pickups than the standard model since his ones have the metal covers.

This was Joe’s guitar before he gave it away to Pete Townshend sometime before April 1971. Pete then went on to use the guitar to record the entirety of Who’s Next album.

I never really got into old guitars until Joe Walsh (James Gang) rang me up one night and said, “I’ve got something for you,” because we buy one another presents. He buys me old concert amps and I buy him synthesizers and we have become very good friends. Anyway, he said, “I’ve got something for you,” and I said “What?” and he said, “A 1957 Gretsch.”

I used that guitar on every track on Who’s Next, it’s the best guitar I’ve ever had. It’s the finest guitar I’ve ever owned, it’s the loudest guitar I’ve ever owned. It is so loud, man, it whips any pickup that I’ve ever come across. It’s maybe six or seven times louder than anything I’ve come across. If I plugged it in my amp tonight, normally I’d be working on volume 6 or 7, but I would work this guitar on 1.

Pete Townshen, MAY/JUNE 1972 GUITAR PLAYER

Joe played this guitar in his first band called The Measles circa 1966, as can be seen in the photos posted here – Joe Walsh’s Measles on the Kent State Commons Back in 1966.

Based on the looks, the guitar was a Guild Starfire V model finished in red, featuring a Bigsby tremolo and block inlays.

It’s unfortunately unknown where exactly this guitar originated from, and what happened to it. Basically, the only information that we can conclude from this guitar is that in 1966 Joe did not yet own his Gibson Les Paul Standard. Otherwise, we would probably see him use it in those photos, instead of the Guild.

Joe was seen playing this guitar in 1972, during ABC In Concert with Barnstorm to play the song “Rocky Mountain Way”. From the looks of it, the guitar was a mahogany model and the only thing that was not stock on it is the fact that it didn’t have a pickguard.