![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/paice2.jpg)
To preserve it and play it
Joe Bonamassa recently appeared on Guitar magazine live podcast showing several axes from his collection. Among them was the American Flag Les Paul that once belonged to Tommy Bolin.
It’s my job not only as a collector, but as a player to keep the legacy going, and make this guitar make music again. It’d been dormant for almost 44 years when I got it, and it’s a working guitar – just played it the other day on stage at the Ryman [Auditorium in Nashville, TN], in front of cardboard cutouts, and the cutouts loved it.
…And the other cool thing about it is — because Tommy was hanging out with a bunch of Brits, [his guitar tech] David painted this American flag on the pickguard. This is the original pickguard, and I rarely play it live with the original pickguard because this is folk art and this is indelibly linked to the guitar.
Thanks to Jim Collins for the info and to Ultimate Guitar for the transcription.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
He’s been known to play a shortened version of Teaser at some shows.
October 11th, 2020 at 21:04Theres a good version of lazy by him too on YouTube.
October 12th, 2020 at 13:22He’s such a great player!! And, like me, a gear nerd😂
October 14th, 2020 at 06:34