the story of the instrument is the whole
journey or the journey of
you know Jeff Beck having it and then
passing on to me with such good spirit
oh you know it's got a lot of love in
that baby that gesture of giving it to
me and the journey of it through the
yardbirds how it was used on the class
let's hope you know it's his journey all
the way through here today and obviously
it's enjoyed the experience of being
restored back to its true beauty and
that we've actually been able to sort of
clone it I think we'll see a lot of
cloning in the future but but certainly
you won't see me climb but you'll see
the guitar playing right now
[Music]
Jimmy actually invited us out to his
house of London suspected guitar oh it's
just usually the other way around when
we work on a project like this as I'm
taking the guitar apart I realize it's
kind of an oddball we're calling it a 59
1959 this date stamp on the neck is
February of 1958 which is a very early
version with the rosewood board on it so
we haven't seen very many of those but
59 they had done a top-load only without
the option to string through and this
actually had both so it's hard to say
whether it was early production guitar
of the 59 that made its way to Europe or
it was a parts caster that got assembled
after the fact with leftover parts so
and everything in the tell-tale signs in
the body had been erased or sanded away
during the stripping process the wood
grain being that it's a natural finish
on the guitar very unique and important
for me to try to nail luckily enough
because we're in the business of making
a lot of ash body Telecasters I had
access to hundreds of thousands of board
feet of ash and that I actually went
down and made a clear plastic template
with with grain pattern lines in it and
I was able to kind of line it up until
all the stars aligned properly and then
I was able to cut out the piece of wood
that I needed I felt like it really
needed to have that grain pattern to
replicate the vibe of the guitar and
what it isn't and by rights it deserves
it
[Applause]
most people are just saying why didn't
you just do the dragon that's what
everybody wants because that's not the
whole story Lord we wanted to capture
the whole story the reflection is part
of that story in the sixties sort of
mirrors were employed quite a lot you
know employed in fashion on dresses and
jackets and things like that oh I just
wanted to customize it somewhat and it
was quite fun to be able to angle the
light that's being reflected from it so
as the guitar evolved so did Jimmy's
career as the dragon is born he moves in
so it's a pivotal moment with the guitar
and the music the whole idea of it was
to bring a new an extra life in to make
sure identity into it the whole of the
dragon artwork it starts all I don't do
a sort of the pre run of it I've got a
strip guitar and I've got the paints and
I know exactly what sort of paints are
already used cuz I've already bought
them and I've got pretty good control
over my hand so I try something which is
a bit more ambitious here they're more
ambitious there if you put colour
opposites together then they sort of
vibrate I wanted to use sort of poster
paint which was which was used in the
production of those psychedelic posters
Jimi dollar hard work by taking care of
the paint samples because only he seems
to know what the actual colors were and
the vibrant hues that they were I
realized very quickly that it was
spot-on the colour respond so he made my
life really easy by doing all the
legwork with Matt
and then the use of the seventh element
that goes into it the clear pit guard
would actually make colors come from
that as well which would actually give
sort of like oil slick colors to it
rainbow colors so it becomes quite a
psychedelic guitar and and that's just
absolutely what the I do it is Jimmy had
somebody make him a clear plastic guard
that covered an additional you know 20%
of the body it extends beyond the bridge
towards the butt of the guitar the
plastic is to protect the film the film
was to reflect the light just before I
came I asked me to send back the version
they're done and it arrived and I hope
and out the thing and oh my goodness
gracious
they've really got it 110 percent right
or 150 percent right it's so absolutely
as it is as it should be and as it was
I'm really excited to be here knowing
that the body has been absolutely cloned
and the neck has been absolutely it's a
very unusual one it's quite one thing to
come to work and build guitars that you
know are gonna be loved and collected
and it's quite another thing to have
somebody legendary come in and tell you
wow what a great job it's tough to put
into words how how it makes you feel
when you know this this is my job and
yet it's still really really exciting
and kind of mind-blowing to be able to
work with somebody of this caliber I
just really appreciate the the time and
dedication of the people who put into
doing it and getting it right because I
Manny's a great project but everyone's
really pulled into it that was what my
idea was to be able to have this guitar
so that it would travel beyond what it
originally was as part of my ownership
if you like that he could then travel
and other people could have it and be it
in addition which would be more
available as well for people so yeah of
course yeah I mean the guitars more
important than I am at this point it's
true
[Music]