Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley has started a new YouTube series to show off his electric guitar collection – and the first episode features a holy grail Les Paul that was once owned by Joe Bonamassa.
Whibley is something of a guitar aficionado. Over the past few years, he played Steve Jones’ Sex Pistols Les Paul, recovered the long-lost Gibson that was stolen in 2003, and was reunited with his beloved Iggy Pop Telecaster after it spent 20 years behind glass.
Now, Whibley has revealed he recently purchased one of the most storied Gibson Les Pauls in Bonamassa’s collection.
The Les Paul in question is Lazarus – the 1959 Les Paul Standard ’Burst that was brought back from the dead after a previous owner had treated it to a rather questionable mod job.
Whibley says he bought the guitar a few months ago, after he was given the opportunity to try out a few potential acquisitions from a dealer. Before that, it had been one of Bonamassa’s prized possessions.
Back in 2021, it was recreated as an Epiphone signature guitar. At the time, JoBo explained how he first crossed paths with it, and how it originally landed on his lap with a Cherry Red finish in 2019 after a “guitar geek” hang.
Despite the weird finish, there were telltale signs it was something special – including the frets and hardware – and after the finish was removed, Bonamassa realised he had stumbled upon a holy grail Gibson. It became one of his main guitars, and was played almost every night with him on stage.
Why Bonamassa decided to part ways with such a beloved Les Paul is unclear – he did imply he’d be winding down his collection, so maybe this is a symptom of that – but Whibley is now its rightful owner.
“I don’t even know where to begin with this guitar,” Whibley says. “This particular ’Burst has a name and a history all unto itself.
“After the last Sum 41 show in January 2025 I decided I was going to take a break from music and I was not going to buy any more guitars. A good friend of mine from Black Magic Guitars called me up and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a couple of guitars you might be interested in checking out.’
“One of them happened to be this guitar. Lazarus sticks out – it just felt great in my hands, it sounded great. A week later, I just couldn’t stop thinking about Lazarus. It was showing up in my dreams.
“It’s relatively new to me. I’ve only had it a few months, but no matter what I play with it, it just sounds incredible.”
Given the surprise sale of Lazarus, it will be interesting to see whether any other notable guitars from Bonamassa's collection find their way to new owners in the near future.
In an interview with Guitar World in 2024, Whibley discussed the making of Sum 41's final album and explained why he was ending the band.
