In the 70’s the Gibson guitars artist relations office was operated out of Buck Munger’s home basement recording studio in northeast Portland, Oregon. When the first half-inch video cameras hit the market Buck grabbed one and started shooting low key back stage interviews with Gibson artists directed at the plant workers and field reps to boost morale and increase sales. This is an intro to the first Artist Relations field tape. Buck introduces a trashed Les Paul given to him backstage by Pete Townshend. The guitar was destroyed by Pete because he discovered it had a faulty neck. When he became convinced that something was wrong he bashed it against the wall and indeed the center core of the neck was rotted. So he told Alan Rogan the roadie to save it for that guy from Gibson. In this video Buck also touts the Bo Diddley “Mark Series” model acoustic. In truth, at the time, the Mark Series acoustics were the first costly boondoggle by Gibson’s new owners the Norlin Corporation, having spent thousands to develop a whole new bridge concept outside the Gibson design team. Unfortunately, also outside the design team they added a plastic ring around the guitar’s sound hole, which instantly turned off the players and killed sales. Munger picked up the little square guitar in the office of Gibson’s Kalamazoo plant while visiting the factory with John Entwistle of the Who. After walking through the factory collecting instruments Entwistle were invited into Carl’s office. A row of unfinished prototype instruments lined the wall. One instrument stood out. A little square guitar with the new Mark Series bridge. What in the heck is this. “Oh that, says Carl. The New York Norlin guys discovered Ovation guitars (with a plastic back) and they instructed us to build them a prototype so they could evaluate the acoustical properties of plastic.” “I could see Carl was not comfortable telling this story, says Buck, these were his corporate bosses he was talking about and I was the corporate Artist Relations guy.” “Carl said he looked all over for something plastic like the back of a guitar and all he could come up with was this refrigerator vegetable drawer.” So the Gibson craftsmen, who had established the baseline for excellence in the guitar building business were forced to build a guitar on a refrigerator drawer. “I asked for it, and after all the Entwistle freebies I guess Carl was glad to get rid of it.”

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

Buck Munger w/ Pete Townshend\’s Guitar 1975

I was back in The Game. Norm and Con Sundholm had asked me if I could use my “extensive contacts” in the music business to get their Sunn clinician a record deal. Buddy Fite was a Portland jazz guitarist that had been demonstrating Sunn amplifiers for a while and created a sensation at the ’67 NAMM Show in Chicago when h…e strung his guitar with two bass strings and four guitar strings and played both parts at once. Les Paul came over from the Gibson booth with his entourage and sat-in for an hour, and then spent the next two days steering people to the Sunn booth. Jazz wasn’t really my bag, but with my new friend Howard Roberts, who co-incidentally, was a big hero of Buddy’s, I thought I would broaden my game. Buddy arrived in Hollywood with neatly trimmed hair, wing-tips and a business suit. You’d never guess he had been an active member of the Hell’s Angels. He had some great stories and became an instant favorite in the office. After signing my Sinatra-lawyer management contracts, we went into the studio to cut a demo. We also recorded Buddy’s two bass, four guitar-string solo. Back in the office, the stunt solo got most of the attention. Our next-door neighbor on the fourth floor was Robert Mersey, an old school producer at Columbia and one of the first to go independent. He now produced Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin and Johnny Mathis and was setting up his own label. Our two offices shared a wall and we listened in on each other’s playback. I knew he was looking for a guitar player for Johnny Mathis, so I sent him Buddy’s tape and his reaction was positive, but he was skeptical about one person playing both parts simultaneously, so I invited him down the hall to see Buddy play it live. We had a deal before he left the office.

Here are 4 Gibson Les Paul Sunburst Guitars at “Danny’s Guitars” in Everett, Washington.  Thank You, Danny Mangold for the Great Picture !

Here are a couple pics of Led Zeppelin at the Seattle Center Coliseum taken March 17, 1975 by Richard Green.

I got these pics from Brian Brock back in the day, just after he acquired this beautiful 1959 Les Paul.  He told me he traded a Cadillac for it !

Duane Allman\’s Goldtop Les Paul For Sale

This is the 1957 goldtop Les Paul that Duane Allman purchased in early 1969,
and is the guitar on which he learned and perfected his slide style.
This was his primary instrument on the first two Allman Brothers albums,
countless concerts, and perhaps most significantly,

Duane Allman's 1957 Goldtop Les Paul

Duane’s guitar of choice for almost the entire Derek & the Dominoes “Layla” album.

Offered for sale at last, now you can own this unique piece of music history!

http://www.duaneallmansgoldtop.com/index.htm

Here is a promo picture from my old band Child (from Seattle)

Wish we had those guitars now….

Child Promo Picture

1952 Gibson Les Paul, 1st year of the Les Paul.  This one appears to be a later ‘52, as it has the binding on the neck and no diagonal screws on the pickup.

1952 Gibson Les Paul

Epiphone

Les Paul

Standard

Blue Sparkle Top

Limited Edition

This guitar was made at the
Unsung Plant, Korea
July 1996
Production Number: 1486

Great Original Condition

With very minor scuffs and dings

Plays and sounds Great

Comes with Gibson Gig Bag

Here’s a link to the trailer for the film,

“THE 1959 BURST – A Les Paul documentary”

THE 1959 BURST – A Les Paul documentary

Here’s a picture of me and my 1959 Gibson Les Paul Burst.  I bought this from Seattle guitarist Ned Neltner for $750.   Most people thought I was crazy for paying sooo much for a used electric guitar !