We enjoy living vicariously through Joe Bonamassa – and we appreciate how he shares the history and details of the vintage gear he buys with fans. It's not gear most of us will ever be able to afford anyway, but it seems there are some potential customers out there who think Joe is buying guitars and amps at the expense of their access.
"There’s a contingent of people who somehow think I’m depriving the world and other players of gear," he told Total Guitar in an interview in support of his excellent fifth album with Black Country Communion, noting how he also sees his posts on
You want a Blackguard? There’s plenty of them
vintage purchases as celebrating the history of gears too. "I always use the logic, ‘Do I get advantages that other collectors don’t because people want to sell sh*t to me? Absolutely!’ But I also just bought a 1959 Les Paul from a f*ckin’ music store in Boston. Anybody could have walked in and bought it.
“There are thousands and thousands of guitars out there. Anything in my collection, with the exception of maybe 20 pieces, you could source from somewhere else. You want a Blackguard? There’s plenty of them. You want a sunburst Les Paul? There’s plenty of them. You want a 335 in a blonde finish. There’s not so many of those, but if you want them in sunburst, there’s a lot out there.”
Joe doesn't even hoard every guitar we thought was exclusively in his collection anyway – he's happy to share ownership of some with his friend Charlie Daughty, the man who runs the popular Les Paul and Fender forums. Including recently aquistion; a 1954 Telecaster with a factory-installed Paul Bigsby pickup.
“I haven’t even seen that guitar in person at this stage," Joe reveals. "It’s at my friend Charlie Daughty’s house in Houston. He just picked it up and said it’s f*ckin’ great! Charlie and I split a few guitars here and there. It eases the pain and suffering slightly, we own them jointly.
These include some notable instruments we've seen in Joe's hands.
“He’s got the green Strat now, plus ['59 Les Paul] Lazarus and a few other things. It’s usually like, ‘I’ll send you this, I’ll send you that, blah blah!’"
Joe recently purchased another '59 Les Paul too, bringing his total to eight. But that doesn't include examples from the years either side.
“They shipped 536 or 539 in 1959," explains Joe regarding the total Gibson made that could be in circulation still. "Les Paul Standards from 1958 were split between Goldtops and Bursts. So the rarest variant is the ’58 Burst, because they were only made for half the year. I have a 1960 SG Les Paul Standard and the serial number is lower than one of my late-’60s sunbursts one.
I own 16 ’bursts in total, from 1958 to 1960, and I own eight 1959s
“They were shipping them tangentially as they would roll out," adds Joe. "There are approximately 1,700 guitars shipping between 1958 and 1960. So they’re not incredibly rare, just incredibly sought-after. I own 16 ’bursts in total, from 1958 to 1960, and I own eight 1959s.”
And if he's adding any more during his regular 'guitar safaris', we'll be happy to virtually go along for the ride.
Read the full interview at Guitar World. Black Country Communion V is out now.
