So, here's the story of how Jimmy Page finally got his 1960 Gibson Les Paul Custom in 2016. Nicknamed "Black Beauty," it was stolen in 1970 after a Led Zeppelin show in Minnesota.
Page bought the guitar new in 1962 and used it on most of his session work from 1963 to 1966. After it was stolen, Page placed an ad in Rolling Stone offering a reward, but to no avail.
Nate Westgor, owner of Willie’s American Guitars in St. Paul, Minnesota, says someone came into his shop in 1992 and sold it to him for $5000. But after examining it, he didn't think it was Page's because it was missing two screw holes for Page’s two extra toggle switches. So he sold it to an employee, Paul Claesgens, a.k.a. Bleem, of the Twin Cities power-pop trio Propeller.
Claesgens brought it back to Willie's in 2014 for servicing, and Westgor noticed two indentations under black light -- the screw holes had been lacquered over. He didn't have a contact for Page, so he called someone he knew in The Rolling Stones' camp who put him in touch with Page.
Page's friend Perry Margouleff then engineered a trade, where Page gave Claesgens a comparable Les Paul Custom -- a 1959 model, valued at $45,000.
Perry says, “When I brought the guitar to his home, he was just so happy. It was an incredibly emotional moment. We sat and had a cup of tea and discussed the events of getting the guitar back for a good 20 minutes before he opened the case. He just couldn’t believe it.”
The guitar, which is valued at $3 million, was part of the Play It Loud exhibit last year at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.