KEEF ‘BURST, 1959 GIBSON LES PAUL STANDARD

Years active: 1964-1967

The 1959 Les Paul Standard is the Holy Grail for Gibson aficionados – and priced accordingly in six-figures on the vintage market. The Keef Burst, which Richards took receipt of some time in ’64, was retro-fitted with a Bigsby vibrato. He sold it to Mick Taylor in 1967, only for it to return to the band when Taylor replaced Brian Jones in 1969. Its final destination is shrouded in mystery, with a collector rumoured to have paid over a million dollars for it, but we do know that ‘Burst maven Bernie Marsden owned it, telling Guitarist, “You know the famous one I let go because it wasn’t as good as The Beast? That was the Keith Richards one. It’s not that it was bad. I already had one - The Beast - and I got offered double the money I’d paid for the Keith ’Burst in 1974. I didn’t know it would become a million-dollar guitar. ”