JIMMY PAGE’S “DRAGON” TELECASTER

THE AXE

It’s the sound that would come to define Led Zeppelin, and a guitar that immediately reflected

Jimmy Page’s cool, yet crunchy playing style. In terms of build, this was a relatively simple ’59 Telecaster – Page didn’t screw around too much with the tech, running two single coil pickups with a three-position switch. It featured a two-piece ash body and a tinted maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard.

THE STORY The original bare-wood Tele was a gift from Jeff Beck, who wanted to thank Page for scoring him a role in The Yardbirds. It was well-loved by Beck before reaching Page’s hands, but it was certainly the latter to whom the instrument truly belonged. Shortly before founding Led Zeppelin in 1968, Page decided he needed to give the guitar some personal flair. “I wanted to consecrate this guitar and really make it my own,” he told Classic Rock in 2019. “So I had it stripped, then I painted it. I wanted to use something that was going to make psychedelic patterns in it. I wanted to paint it in colour opposites to begin with. When you do colour opposites, they’ll flash when they’re close to each other.” The Dragon can be heard all over Led Zeppelin’s debut album, but its most famous appearance is arguably the timeless solo on “Stairway To Heaven”.

THE REPLICA

Fender unveiled their official recreation of the Dragon Tele in 2019, with 50 sets lovingly handcrafted in the Fender Custom Shop by acclaimed Master Builder Paul Weller (in direct collaboration with Page, no less). Each one matches the specs of Page’s original beauty to a T, and came packaged with a slew of goodies picked out by the Zeppelin shredder himself

(easily the coolest of which being a violin bow). A factory-made version soon found its way to store shelves en masse, retailing at a surprisingly inviting $2,699 for Australian players. Though it quickly sold out through the official channels, finding one second-hand isn’t as taxing as one might expect.