Ronnie Wood’s 1960 Gibson Les Paul

When it came to designing the packaging for the ‘Whiskerbucker’ pickups complete with all the Billy F Gibbons merchandise it got us thinking “where do we put the slide?”. My initial thought was to drill a hole in the box so that the slide could slot in, I got this idea from when I had the pleasure of meeting Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood back in 2014.
After a long chat with Ronnie Wood he wanted me to make a him a special bridge pickup for his Black Beauty Les Paul that he primarily used for slide/bottle neck songs.
Ronnie introduced me to his guitar tech K to show me his guitars. When looking through the collection he picked out an original 1960 Gibson Les Paul with an amazing top. All of a sudden I was drawn to a huge hole in the side of the guitar! I began to think the guitar was a re-issue as K told me they drilled a hole in the guitar so that Ronnie could slot in his slide for easy access. I asked K whether the guitar was a re-issue, “Nope” said K, it was the real deal. An original 1960 Les Paul with a hole drilled in the side.

There you have it. Another very special 1960 Les Paul out there with a story to tell. I suggest you think twice before you consider drilling a hole in the side of your vintage guitar though.

Below is a photo from Keith Richards official Instagram account. Contains a gift from Billy F Gibbons and myself back in 2014.

// Thomas Nilsen //