Jimmy Page and the Dragon?

[Anonymous9676]

Why did Page stop using his Dragon Telecaster? What was the last song he used it on besides Stairway to Heaven? Why isn't there a signature model of it?

[Mithril46]

As far as I remember there is detailed story about this in a Guitar Payer interview from June ?? 77'. It is surely posted somewhere.

As I remember Page lent it to a friend and the friend idiotically messed with the wiring, and basically screwed it all up. Page was not

An expert guitar technician but he knew how to use a soldering iron and had some expertise with electrics in general.

There is always this debate that Page's Dragon Tele was custom wired to have both pickups combine into a humbucker mode.

Certainly most other Tele's around at that time never sounded as thick as Page's, although with the Tele Page did sometimes use

a distortion/fuzz pedal, not sure if he used those with the Paul. Fender has in fact issued many paisley/psychedelic Tele's, but

strangely enough no Dragon Tele. Actually I believe Page's friend messed up the appearance of the Dragon as well. An interesting

mystery.

[Sathington Willoughby]

The 1959 Fender Telecaster, dubbed the "Dragon Telecaster", has a pretty wild life, although it ended in tragedy.

It was originally purchased in 1961 by John Owen for £107. It soon landed in the hands of Jeff Beck, his bandmate in the pop band, The Deltones. Beck brought the guitar with him to the Yardbirds in 1965 as a backup to his Gibson Les Paul. The original white Bakelite pickguard and switchtip of the Telecaster crumbled off and Beck had replaced it with a homemade black pickguard.

When Beck abandoned the Yardbirds in August 1966, the Telecaster was left behind for Jimmy Page to use (with its original white pickguard). By March 1967, eight reflective circles appeared on the front body of the guitar, perhaps as a nod to Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd, who donned a similar Telecaster inJanuary 1967 for a recording session for the movie Let's All Make Love.

In late 1967, Jimmy Page stripped the Fender Blond paint off and handpainted a green, red and orange psychadelic dragon on the front of the ash body and replaced the pickguard with a pickguard made of clear acrylic with a sheet of diffraction grating film underneath.

Jimmy Page brought the Dragon Telecaster to Led Zeppelin and used it as his primary guitar until late April 1969 when he bought the Gibson Les Paul 'Number One' from Joe Walsh.

In addition, the Dragon Telecaster was used onLed Zeppelin in October 1968 and used for the guitar solo on Stairway To Heaven in late 1970.

In a 1998 Guitar World interview, Jimmy Page said the following about the fate of the Dragon Telecaster.

"I still have it (referring to the Dragon Tele), but it’s a tragic story. I went on tour with the '59 Les Paul that I bought from Joe Walsh, and when I got back, a friend of mine had kindly painted over my paint job. He said, 'Ive got a present for you." He thought he had done me a real favor. As you can guess, I wasn't real happy about that. His paint job totally screwed up the sound and the wiring, so only the neck pickup worked. I salvaged the neck and put it on my brown Tele string bender that I used in the Firm. As for the body... it will never be seen again! (laughs)"

http://www.led-zeppelin.org/studio-and-live-gear/1012

[jimmie ray]

Sorry to admit that I've never seen this before. Doesn't look to hard to reproduce, though?

[Mithril46]

Yeah, that's the question. There are far less popular artist signature guitars. Surely there would be a demand. Then again there is no

Page Danelectro model, although the Dano's are not universally praised.

[Maaike Roeleveld]

The 1959 Fender Telecaster, dubbed the "Dragon Telecaster", has a pretty wild life, although it ended in tragedy.

It was originally purchased in 1961 by John Owen for £107. It soon landed in the hands of Jeff Beck, his bandmate in the pop band, The Deltones. Beck brought the guitar with him to the Yardbirds in 1965 as a backup to his Gibson Les Paul. The original white Bakelite pickguard and switchtip of the Telecaster crumbled off and Beck had replaced it with a homemade black pickguard.

When Beck abandoned the Yardbirds in August 1966, the Telecaster was left behind for Jimmy Page to use (with its original white pickguard). By March 1967, eight reflective circles appeared on the front body of the guitar, perhaps as a nod to Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd, who donned a similar Telecaster inJanuary 1967 for a recording session for the movie Let's All Make Love.

In late 1967, Jimmy Page stripped the Fender Blond paint off and handpainted a green, red and orange psychadelic dragon on the front of the ash body and replaced the pickguard with a pickguard made of clear acrylic with a sheet of diffraction grating film underneath.

Jimmy Page brought the Dragon Telecaster to Led Zeppelin and used it as his primary guitar until late April 1969 when he bought the Gibson Les Paul 'Number One' from Joe Walsh.

In addition, the Dragon Telecaster was used onLed Zeppelin in October 1968 and used for the guitar solo on Stairway To Heaven in late 1970.

In a 1998 Guitar World interview, Jimmy Page said the following about the fate of the Dragon Telecaster.

"I still have it (referring to the Dragon Tele), but it’s a tragic story. I went on tour with the '59 Les Paul that I bought from Joe Walsh, and when I got back, a friend of mine had kindly painted over my paint job. He said, 'Ive got a present for you." He thought he had done me a real favor. As you can guess, I wasn't real happy about that. His paint job totally screwed up the sound and the wiring, so only the neck pickup worked. I salvaged the neck and put it on my brown Tele string bender that I used in the Firm. As for the body... it will never be seen again! (laughs)"

http://www.led-zeppelin.org/studio-and-live-gear/1012

I remember reading this, about the dragon tele. It's a shame, as it was such a cool guitar.

I did come across a website that sells replicas of famous guitars, including JImmy's dragon tele. However, I saw a review of that replica on youtube and it seems the replica is not exactly a good quality guitar..............

It was this site: http://www.rareelectricguitar.com/Jimmy-Page-Dragon-Telecaster-with-Gloss-Finish-sale_172.html

Edited July 10, 2015 by Maaike Roeleveld

[Mook]

Imagine painting over one of Jimmy Page's guitars.

I can only imagine the bloke who done it was completely off his tits on Toilet Duck or something, what a twat.

[IpMan]

What a twat indeed. LP are a much easier guitar to play than a Tele but personally I prefer the Tele and I loved the tone on the first album. I wish Page would have kept the Tele for stage use and switched between it and the LP depending on the song. WLL is a good example of the raunchy crunch of the LP but something like SIBLY would have sounded much better on the Tele IMO.

The Dragon was my favorite Page guitar.

[Anonymous9676]

I remember reading this, about the dragon tele. It's a shame, as it was such a cool guitar.

I did come across a website that sells replicas of famous guitars, including JImmy's dragon tele. However, I saw a review of that replica on youtube and it seems the replica is not exactly a good quality guitar..............

It was this site: http://www.rareelectricguitar.com/Jimmy-Page-Dragon-Telecaster-with-Gloss-Finish-sale_172.html

I would buy but it's missing the blue line near the bottom and a lot of red paint. I don't know why it bothers me it just does. Edited July 10, 2015 by Anonymous9676

[Mithril46]

I agree with Ipman. On many songs the Tele had IMO a more even EQ across the board and better definition than the LP's. If someone

could clear up the mystery, did the Dragon have custom wiring, goddammit !?!? I do know that back then the pickups could vary

considerably in windings and output, etc.. Having Telecasters myself I can tell you some (even with single coils) work very well for hard

Rock.

[moneythumb]

I had one built awhile back.

Started life as a Fender Joe Strummer model.

Doesn't get played much but it's neat to have.

tank tele.bmp

tank tele 3.bmp

[IpMan]

Nice looking guitar Money, if I may ask, how much was the guitar in total?

[Maaike Roeleveld]

I had one built awhile back.

Started life as a Fender Joe Strummer model.

Doesn't get played much but it's neat to have.

That is a seriously cool guitar!

[mickey g]

Yeah, that's the question. There are far less popular artist signature guitars. Surely there would be a demand. Then again there is no

Page Danelectro model, although the Dano's are not universally praised.

Isn't JP under contract to Gibson, or something ? Maybe that's why there aren't any Jimmy Page Tele's or Dano's.

[Mithril46]

That's true but not all contracts bind the artist to one brand, although the mega-expensive Paul's and double necks issued 8-9 ?? years

ago may restrict Page's "issues". There have been jazz artists who have had signature guitars with Gibson AND Guild, for example. In rock

there was a Burns and Guild Brian May model as well. However usually one model is on it's way out because especially if the guitars

shared similarities it would be stupid to slit your own throat. But I really doubt Gibson would have a problem with a Page Dano....The

guitar is just not competing with Gibson in any way, unless they argued that now you could have a Page signature for let's say $700,

instead of $10,000.

[sk8rat]

What a twat indeed. LP are a much easier guitar to play than a Tele but personally I prefer the Tele and I loved the tone on the first album. I wish Page would have kept the Tele for stage use and switched between it and the LP depending on the song. WLL is a good example of the raunchy crunch of the LP but something like SIBLY would have sounded much better on the Tele IMO.

The Dragon was my favorite Page guitar.

tony Iommi has a signiture with gibson, epiphone, endorses taylor and has his custom Jaydee sg so it doesn't quite works like that. just as jimmy page has a signature hiwatt and marshall

as for the telecaster, as far as I know it was relatively stock with 59/60 pickups but I couldnt find anything definitive. maybe when the gear book comes out we'll know.

Edited July 12, 2015 by sk8rat

[IpMan]

That's true but not all contracts bind the artist to one brand, although the mega-expensive Paul's and double necks issued 8-9 ?? years

ago may restrict Page's "issues". There have been jazz artists who have had signature guitars with Gibson AND Guild, for example. In rock

there was a Burns and Guild Brian May model as well. However usually one model is on it's way out because especially if the guitars

shared similarities it would be stupid to slit your own throat. But I really doubt Gibson would have a problem with a Page Dano....The

guitar is just not competing with Gibson in any way, unless they argued that now you could have a Page signature for let's say $700,

instead of $10,000.

I don't know about the Dano for a Page signature, he only used the damn thing for three songs: WS/BMS, IMTOD, & Kashmir. Plus, I preferred the tone of the LP for Kashmir as he used the LP for the song in 75' and 95'- 2007. WS/BMS sounded much, much better on the Gibson J-200 he borrowed from Big Jim Sullivan for the Julie Felix show. Then when he used the Gibson ES-350 the tone was just stunning, this guitar was made for this type of song.

I thought Page used the Dano because Syd Barrett used one as well and Page was a big fan of Syd. I have played them and never liked them, don't know what Page saw in the guitar as it is just thin sounding to me.

I go with the OP on this, either a Page signature Dragon Tele or signature Botswana Brown B-Bender.

[Mithril46]

Page has a signature Hiwatt and Marshall ??? He may have endorsed a model(???)but unless this was some kind of super limited run

with no publicity, Iv'e NEVER heard of this. Possible, but never advertised, publicized, or promoted.

True that Page only used the Dano sparingly, but for the last 10 years or so funky pawnshop prize type guitars have grown greatly

in popularity, and many of them have greatly upgraded hardware and fretwork, and sometimes more reliable electronics, etc., .

I totally agree that Page's Dano was more of a liability live than a asset, but it did sound distinctive and which other legendary guitarist

had the balls to play a (at the time) $100 canoe paddle onstage ??? I think a Botswana Brown B-Bender Tele would be great, but actually

I don't think Page has fond memories of the Firm; I saw them 5 times and Page did not look too happy(very close seats). So because of

this reason I don't think Page wants reminders of this still IMO dark period. Others at different shows saw a different Page, so maybe.

[Anonymous9676]

I agree with Ipman. On many songs the Tele had IMO a more even EQ across the board and better definition than the LP's. If someone

could clear up the mystery, did the Dragon have custom wiring, goddammit !?!? I do know that back then the pickups could vary

considerably in windings and output, etc.. Having Telecasters myself I can tell you some (even with single coils) work very well for hard

Rock.

Jimmy is doing a live stream on the 13th of July, tomorrow, at 2:30 for the U.S and 7:30 for the U.K. The Led Zeppelin website has more info on it: http://www.ledzeppelin.com/news/2015/07/10/jimmy-page-live-stream-interview

[sk8rat]

Page has a signature Hiwatt and Marshall ??? He may have endorsed a model(???)but unless this was some kind of super limited run

with no publicity, Iv'e NEVER heard of this. Possible, but never advertised, publicized, or promoted.

[sixpense]

 

I don't know about the Dano for a Page signature, he only used the damn thing for three songs: WS/BMS, IMTOD, & Kashmir.

 The Dano was also used on studio versions of The Rain Song and Babe I'm Gonna Leave you.

[sk8rat]

 The Dano was also used on studio versions of The Rain Song and Babe I'm Gonna Leave you.

that's not true. he used jim Sullivan's gibson j-200 on babe im gonna leave you.

[sixpense]

that's not true. he used jim Sullivan's gibson j-200 on babe im gonna leave you.

The ELECTRIC parts!  (And the Gibson J-200 was borrowed from producer Mickey Most)

[IpMan]

 The Dano was also used on studio versions of The Rain Song and Babe I'm Gonna Leave you.

Can you provide a link to that info because in regard to The Rain Song, he sure sounds like he is using an acoustic until the up tempo section toward the end. That guitar (excluding the up tempo) sounds nothing like an electric much less a Dano. BIGLY I thought was a Martin acoustic for the main part and his Tele for the electric part and of course a pedal steel as well. 

Anyone know differently???

[sixpense]

Can you provide a link to that info because in regard to The Rain Song, he sure sounds like he is using an acoustic until the up tempo section toward the end. That guitar (excluding the up tempo) sounds nothing like an electric much less a Dano. BIGLY I thought was a Martin acoustic for the main part and his Tele for the electric part and of course a pedal steel as well. 

Anyone know differently???

Many many guitar interviews over the years. (I'll try to find some links if they are available on the internet) The Rain Song acoustic guitar is the Martin. You can hear clean electric which is overdubbed covering some of the rhythm parts. When it gets to the loud section, it's the dano with the supro amp. That distortion is unique. The Martin sounds very different from a Gibson J-200.

BIGLY is Jimmy with a borrowed (From Mickey Most) Gibson J-200 sunburst. (I believe he also used the same guitar on White Summer from The Yardbird's Little Games) Very rich, booming sound.

http://martind28acousticguitar.blogspot.com/2012/12/jimmy-page-and-gibson-j-200-acoustic.html

Jimmy bought the Martin sometime in late 71 or early 72. (I believe its the D-28 model) I believe it's the same guitar on the Page/Plant performance of The Rain Song from Unledded. The electric is definitely the dano with the supro amp. The Dano has lipstick tube pickups and a fiberglass (very light body) and has a unique sound. 

I own a J-200 along with three Danos plus Telecasters and Les Pauls. 

More Info from a Jimmy Page Guitar World interview

"The Harmony guitar is quite special to me. It is what I used to write all the acoustic songs and many of the electric songs on the first three albums. I also used it to record all the acoustic tracks on the third album, and it’s the guitar I played on “Stairway to Heaven.” I pretty much used it until I started playing a Martin on Houses of the Holy.

The second guitar is a mid-Sixties Gibson J-200, similar to the one I used to record all the acoustic parts on the first album. The J-200 used on Led Zeppelin I belonged to Mickey Most, the producer of the Yardbirds, and it was an amazing-sounding instrument. He graciously let me use it for the first album but didn’t let me use it for the second album, because, I think, by then he knew he wasn’t going to be the producer. [laughs]

Mickey owned the acoustic and a great Fifties Strat with a maple neck, and he kept them in his studio. Unfortunately, many years later, someone stole them—they just took a walk. He told me, and I said, “Mickey, I’m so desperately sorry to hear that.” They were his instruments, man! That’s terrible."

http://www.guitarworld.com/led-vault-jimmy-page-talks-first-three-led-zeppelin-albums-gibson-and-harmony-guitars-and-more

Edited December 19, 2015 by sixpense
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