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my Ex now in the arms of Jimmy Page - sweet J-200

VGNut

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Joined
Nov 4, 2007
Messages
104







I used to own this 1965 Gibson J-200 (early 65 > all 64 specs) that made the July 2014 issue of Guitar World magazine with Jimmy Page

It feels great to see it again and now in the hands of the man who I feel is the greatest - and who's music I love and through it made me a better player > thank you Jimmy

The following is an excerpt from the Magazine Article (Yea - I sold it to Perry - one of the coolest guy's on the planet)

http://www.guitarworld.com/led-vaul...in-albums-gibson-and-harmony-guitars-and-more

from the Link above - Scroll about 2/3 of the way down and look for this question >
On the photo shoot for this issue, you specifically brought two acoustic guitars with you. Could you explain the significance of each?

2nd Paragraph >
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 it 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.

So, anyway, I thought it was fair to bring the Harmony and a J-200 to the shoot. The Gibson is, of course, not the original—I wasn’t the one who stole it! But I was talking with guitar collector Perry Margouleff about Mickey’s guitar and we were able to determine the model, because the one I played had a Tune-o-matic bridge, and there weren’t many of those made. Now that I’ve said that, they’ll probably triple in price! Perry recently found one and gave it to me for my 70th birthday, and I really thank him for that.

Here are some shots of when I possessed her:









 
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moonweasel

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Jan 20, 2004
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9,427
Cant believe Im still learning stuff after having been here for so long. had no idea about ABR acoustics!
 
B

Banker

Guest
Oddities, like the plastic bridges on '63 Hummingbirds.....which sound much better.

Nice guitar and a great story.
 

VGNut

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2007
Messages
104
from your Op > All comments from all are very welcome and thank you for your comments

It's a great guitar

I'll respond in more detail >

moonweasel: ABR-1 was standard equipment on the 60's J-200 and Doves

Banker: agree 100% that Plastic Bridges do sound great, and thanks for the comment on the story and guitar

Prototype: Yes it did have the Transverse Brace - with the Bolt (screw) backed off the Top - it came to me that way and I always kept it that way (no excessive sinking of Top)
Here is more information for those interested in learning more on this engineering marvel, thanks to the UMGF >
http://theunofficialmartinguitarforum.yuku.com/topic/139842/66-J200-Cross-Brace?page=1#.VBX0Y8t0ypo

mbowen: Hey Mike B - nice to hear from you - I know I owe you a Thread on my 59 ES-335 Stop Tail Factory Black > take a look - I just got it done:
http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=190237

- I know its important to contribute - It was seeing that Vic joined up that FINALLY gave me the kick in the ass to create a Thread and share more about this J-200... and we know what a Zep fan Vic is !


Here is a little more >

This Video quality is terrible, but what a great performance - a TRUE Artist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCnQZIe-lG0

and a vintage pic >

 
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mbowen

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Mar 6, 2009
Messages
5,022
Vic will love it and be GREEN i am sure,Jimmy is his hero and main influence IMO.Thanks again for the great threads you posted.Guys check out the 59 Factory Black Stoptail 335,VG {sorry i do not know your real name}just posted.Insane guitar,really like new one in a million or more.Now i am GREEN with Vic.
 

garbeaj

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Joined
Feb 27, 2016
Messages
31
I’m really late to this party, but I have to say I’m super happy to read more about the provenance of this guitar. I’m a huge Page fan (really someone who should be put in a straight jacket) and this is really exciting!

I’ve often wondered if J-200s with the more common bridges can be modded to accommodate a bridge with the plastic saddles like these relatively few guitars had? They are so scarce and J-200s are expensive already, but the sounds that these ABR bridge equipped models had/have is from the heavens!

The original Big Jim Sullivan/Mickie Most J-200 was also used on the ‘Little Games’ album version of “White Summer”...stick a mic at the sound hole and whack up the compression and voila! Ecstasy.
 

jb_abides

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Apr 6, 2005
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5,245
Best "Throwback Thread" during the Coronavirus lockdown to date! :dude:
 

garbeaj

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Feb 27, 2016
Messages
31
In the article, Jimmy states that Most would not let him use the original J-200 to record the second album. That leads me to wonder if the J-200 seen on The Julie Felix Show was the Big Jim Sullivan/Mickie Most J-200 after all. The Julie Felix Show with Jimmy was broadcast on April 26, 1970 well after the second album sessions. I don’t know of any confirmed pictures of the original guitar. One thing that’s for sure is that the J-200 used on the Julie Felix clip is one with an ABR and the plastic saddles.

Another thing that Jimmy’s statement about Most not letting him use the guitar for the second album sessions leaves me wondering: I believe I hear a J-200 sound on “Ramble On” and the acoustic guitar on “Thank You”, the only acoustic tracks on the second album. There are photos of Jimmy in the studio using an Eko Ranger six string acoustic, but those photos are from the recording of the “La-La” track in progress only released on the deluxe edition of ‘Led Zeppelin II’ so I can’t say that the Eko Ranger was for sure used on “Ramble On” and “Thank You”. My ears tell me J-200, but my ears are certainly fallible!

But if what Jimmy says about Most not letting him use his J-200 after the first album sessions, then that would make the J-200 used on The Julie Felix Show a DIFFERENT J-200 equipped with an ABR bridge and it makes it a possibility that Jimmy scored another ABR equipped J-200 to record “Ramble On” and “Thank You”!
 

wulfthar

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Jan 16, 2020
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In the article, Jimmy states that Most would not let him use the original J-200 to record the second album. That leads me to wonder if the J-200 seen on The Julie Felix Show was the Big Jim Sullivan/Mickie Most J-200 after all. The Julie Felix Show with Jimmy was broadcast on April 26, 1970 well after the second album sessions. I don’t know of any confirmed pictures of the original guitar. One thing that’s for sure is that the J-200 used on the Julie Felix clip is one with an ABR and the plastic saddles.

Another thing that Jimmy’s statement about Most not letting him use the guitar for the second album sessions leaves me wondering: I believe I hear a J-200 sound on “Ramble On” and the acoustic guitar on “Thank You”, the only acoustic tracks on the second album. There are photos of Jimmy in the studio using an Eko Ranger six string acoustic, but those photos are from the recording of the “La-La” track in progress only released on the deluxe edition of ‘Led Zeppelin II’ so I can’t say that the Eko Ranger was for sure used on “Ramble On” and “Thank You”. My ears tell me J-200, but my ears are certainly fallible!

But if what Jimmy says about Most not letting him use his J-200 after the first album sessions, then that would make the J-200 used on The Julie Felix Show a DIFFERENT J-200 equipped with an ABR bridge and it makes it a possibility that Jimmy scored another ABR equipped J-200 to record “Ramble On” and “Thank You”!

Interesting discussion...but yes on Led Zeppelin II the main acoustics were Eko Ranger VI and XII, not the J200:

95c770bb311628036509fc1156f3245e.jpg


23302916736649_1458191904213180_161318385_n.jpg


IMO the sounds of Ramble On and Thank you definitely belong to dreads.

Rangers were popular back then especially in 12 strings format because they were heavily made and you could tune to standard pitch.

The downside is that being made of very sturdy plywood, metal bridge, bolt on neck they are not very resonant and they have a feeble sound, but in studio it doesn´t matter much.
 

garbeaj

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Feb 27, 2016
Messages
31
Hopefully the ‘Jimmy Page: Anthology’ book will shed more definitive light on the acoustic used on “Ramble On” and “Thank You”...

We can’t say that an Eko Ranger six string acoustic was or was not used on “Ramble On” or “Thank You”. The only confirmed acoustic guitar for the album came with Page’s caption for the picture of him in the studio with the Eko Ranger six string which says that the picture was taken during the recording of “La-La”. Now we could guess that the instrumentation on “Thank You” was fairly similar to that on “La-La” and it might well have been recorded at or near the same time with the same setup. But still, no confirmation on my guess.

But, if the Julie Felix Show J-200 is NOT the Mickie Most J-200 and it is a DIFFERENT guitar with the same ABR spec, then he apparently sourced another one just for that TV session. And it was relatively soon after the second album came out, so theoretically he could have used this possibly different J-200 with the same ABR spec for one or both of the two acoustic tracks on the second album, “Ramble On” and “Thank You”. I feel like I hear J-200 on that BEAUTIFUL strummed six string acoustic on “Ramble On” and possibly those lovely, simple parts on “Thank You”, including of course the solo.
I hear a startling similarity to this sound and the famous J-200 sounds from Townshend on “Pinball Wizard” and other parts of ‘Tommy’ and that still leads me to believe that a J-200 could have been used on the “Ramble On” acoustic track. Still no proof so I could absolutely be wrong!

Just to be clear, there are no acoustic twelve string guitars on the second album. The only twelve string on the album is the Vox Phantom Electric XII used on “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just A Woman)” and “Thank You”, so there was definitely no Eko Ranger XII on the album.

Also, the picture you posted with Page and an Eko acoustic twelve string is from a performance of “Tangerine” from the Australian tour in late February of 1972. This was shortly after the fourth album was released, which had no acoustic twelve string either. I reckon he could have used that Eko XII on the third album recording of “Tangerine” a few years before, but no concrete proof of that yet either. I know Jimmy got at least two different Giannini twelve string acoustics and at least one six string model around the recording of ‘Houses Of The Holy” and the resulting 1972-1973 to touring cycle behind it, but that would only be relevant to the recording of that album.
 
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TM1

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Jun 27, 2003
Messages
8,349
Back in the late `90's and early 2000's I played with Gordon Waller (of Peter & Gordon fame) he had a very lovely J-200 with a T-o-M. That guitar played great and sounded wonderful! I wonder where it is now.. Around 2006 he & his wife splitup and he moved from Glendale (Cali) to Vegas and then Connecticut, so no telling what's happened to it since he passed in mid 2009.. That and his J-160E that John Lennon use to borrow from him in the studio.
 
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