INFO Bob's Gibson Les Paul Special

Bombora · 14-05-11

Doing some research I came across this. Not sure how legit but nice info and story. Came from I think a Gibson or les Paul fan site.

"Has anyone seen any pics of Bob Marley playing the guitar Gibson used as the Marley model? ( Football shaped aluminium surround etc) The reason I ask is that in London (1973 ) I sold him the LP he's most often pictured with , and later added the famous enlarged round cream switch surround. as a temp repair. (The guitar fell off a stand only a week after he'd had it and punched the switch through, he never bothered bringing it back for the top repair it needed, rest is history) Most folks have only ever seen him playing that guitar,and can only wonder why it wasn't used as the "model".
Copyright?: BOBMARLEYMAGAZINE FORUM http://www.bobmarleymagazine.com/forum_bmwm/showthread.php?t=63356
( the guitar I did.. 57 special if I remember, note the big round switch plate and original pickguard))"

"A footnote..

As a wee joke we inscribed " riddum and trebull" in pencil on the new switch surround , which got a big laugh out of Bob when he came in to pick the guitar up. Aston Barrett bought a Cherry slot peghead Gibson EB3 same day.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply, I think the mystery is cleared up once and for all."

These are all post by a member on that forum. If you'd like to read the rest go to that site. One of my goals is to own one of the Gibson signatures they made. Only 200 of them are out there. If that many today.

http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=104862

Dane · 15-05-11

Thanks for sharing

joe · 16-05-11

The limited edition Marley LP that Gibson made.....where does this guitar come from? What version of Bob's guitar are did they reproduce? Where can I see a picture of Bob with a guitar that looks like this? Just the pickguard alone does not match. Bob always had the black and white pickguard and the guitar that was just loaned to the Grammy Museum had the b/w PG.

Maybe Ivan knows since he does own one.

One Love and thanks--jj

Bombora · 17-05-11

Joe,
Hope this helps.

Bob bought this

some how (damages most likely) ended with this

Gibson made this

I'm no expert but I think he used this guitar towards the end, 79' and 80' not too sure about in 78'. The Santa Barbara 79' dvd he uses it.

joe · 17-05-11

Bombora, your the man! Easy as that. So, to all of our photo guys, do we know when Bob's guitar changed that dramatically? Was it in-between the the Survival and Uprising tour or during one of the tours. If during a tour can we narrow it down to the approx. shows/cities?

Without doing one ounce of research or looking, I'm gonna guess his guitar looked like that for the Uprising tour only.

Bombora · 17-05-11

Well, he had it at Santa Barbara which was Nov 1979 for the Survival Tour. According to the guy that sold Bob the guitar, Roger Meyer did the "custom" work. Roger Meyer is from England. The last time they were in England was July 1978 for the Kaya Tour. Could it be?

marco · 17-05-11

In 2003 I interviewed Mr Roger Mayer, you can read the interview here:
http://www.bobmarleymagazine.com/int...=1151&catid=21

neeco · 27-05-11

bob bought his only one gibson in november 1973
it was a 1974 limited re-edition