As it turns out, Noel Gallagher once deliberately wiped off Peter Green’s signature from an old Gibson Les Paul, which was previously owned by the blues legend.
The former Oasis guitarist and his brother and Oasis frontman Liam have a reputation for their, let’s say, specific behavior. There’s been a lot of back and forth between the two, and, after the unfortunate cancelation of what was to be their final show in 2009, their constant bashing was the main thing we’ve known them for ever since.
However, it seems that their personalities also had some effect on the state of vintage guitars. The owner of one of Peter Green’s old Gibson Les Paul guitars, Bill Ryder-Jones, who played in the English rock band The Coral, shared a story of this black LP and how it came into his possession. Speaking to Guitar World, Bill said:
“It was given to me by Noel Gallagher in 2006 when I was 23. The Coral were making a record in Noel’s studio, Wheeler End Studios, and I’d used this Les Paul for most of it, not knowing it was Peter Green’s.”
What he also didn’t know back then is that Noel wiped off Green’s autograph from the guitar, just to spite the vintage guitar store owner. Why? Well, the said store owner didn’t know about Noel or Oasis back then.
“He didn’t know who Noel was,” Bill said. “He somehow had not heard of Oasis. But Noel saw one of the guitars at the top of the shelf, like behind the counter, and said, ‘Can I have a go with that Les Paul?'”
The story goes that the store owner, or whoever was behind the counter at the moment, was a little baffled by Noel’s pick, which is expected in a situation like that one. Ryder-Jones continued the story:
“And the guy behind the counter goes, ‘Erm, you do know that was Peter Green’s, and it’s signed by Peter Green, right?’ He reluctantly got it down and gave it to Noel.”
“Noel spat on his T-shirt and rubbed off the signature,” he added. “And then Noel said, ‘That’s alright; doesn’t matter now. I’ll take it anyway.'”
Apart from this being gross (and probably unsanitary), it’s a disrespect to the store owner and the instrument’s legacy. And it’s all, apparently, due to him feeling disrespected by the store owner’s lack of knowledge about Oasis.
“He purposefully rubbed off Peter Green’s signature to make a point to the guy in the guitar shop,” Bill continued. “He [Noel] thought he [the guitar shop employee] was being a bit rude, you know?”
Nonetheless, Noel acted unphased and still bought the instrument:
“But he said, ‘Yeah, I want that guitar,’ and the guy was like, ‘That belonged to Peter Green; he signed it,’ and Noel got it, rubbed it off, saying, ‘That’s alright; it’ll come off,’ and he took it.”
The former guitarist of The Corals is a proud owner of this magnificent Les Paul. And although he finds this to be a funny story (and, in a way, it is) about the instrument’s history, he’s still a bit bummed out that it doesn’t have the guitar legend’s signature on it:
“I woulda loved for it to have Peter Green’s signature, as I probably would have sold it by now, and had a house. [Laughs] But I’m so very thankful I didn’t do that; it’s a cracking guitar.”
Of course, we’re sure that the instrument is still pretty expensive, with or without the Green’s signature on it. Although Guitar World didn’t share the exact details behind this instrument in the shared interview segment, we can see that this is a black Gibson Les Paul Custom. It comes with golden hardware, including a Vibrola tailpiece, although it doesn’t seem to be in use.
On top of that, this gorgeous-looking instrument comes with a pair of P90 pickups. They’ll probably share more information about it once the entire interview is published. But now, you can check out what the instrument looks like in the couple of photos that they shared here.
Obviously, this instrument isn’t as nearly as famous as the “Greeny” Les Paul which was also owned by Gary Moore and is now owned by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett. But it’s still interesting that there’s not much information about this particular black Les Paul online.
Speaking of the “Greeny,” blues rock legend and one of the biggest vintage guitar collectors on the plant, Joe Bonamassa, shared his opinion on Hammett’s using this guitar live with Metallica. In an interview from earlier this year, he said:
“When Kirk bought the Peter Green guitar, some of the some of the purists were like, ‘I can’t believe, that guitar should be playing blues.'”
“In which rule book is it stated that Peter Green’s Sunburst Les Paul has to play blues its entire f***ing life? He’s up there playing ‘Enter Sandman.’ I love it. He gigs it, hard.”
“I’m like, that’s what it needs. It needs to be played and he’s the perfect guy to own it. And the same thing with the black ’59. It’s not like he’s he bought it and wrapped it in bubble wrap. He gives it to his tech and it’s on stage in stadiums.”
Photos: Sean Reynolds (Noel Gallagher (7830406468)), Zoran Veselinovic (Peter Green -Fleetwood Mac 1983)
