“The first pickup had a bad buzz, so I sent the guitar to a shop. When I went to get it, it was gone. And by that I mean the store was gone”: Neil Young's Old Black Les Paul is one of rock's most iconic guitars, and its backstory is appropriately colorful

Neil Young performs onstage at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, California on July 31, 1977.

Neil Young's live rig is famously as ragged and one-of-a-kind as the man himself, and at its center sits Old Black, a modded-to-high-heaven 1953 Gibson Les Paul goldtop.

The mods in question are a “chrome-on-brass” pickguard and back plates, a bridge-position Firebird pickup, and a toggle switch, installed between the two volume and two tone knobs, that acts as a bypass.