Joe Bonamassa says he knows the location of the guitar stolen from Eric Clapton after he’d used it to record the Bluesbreakers’ Beano album.
The Les Paul Sunburst vanished from a Cream rehearsal in 1966, soon after work had been completed on the LP officially known as Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton.
The instrument has since become something of a legend among equipment fans. The Gibson company made a Beano replica in 2010.
Bonamassa – an avid gear collector – tells Guitarist: “It’s in a collection on the East Coast of America. That’s all I can tell you and that’s all I will say.
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“It still exists. I haven’t seen it, but I have it on good authority from people who have.”
He adds: “I don’t know if Clapton would even want it back at this point. Would he even recognise it 50 years on? I guess so.
“Maybe it would be different if he’d scratched his name on the back of the headstock or recorded the serial number. But then, Jimmy Page has got back his custom three-pickup that he played in the Albert Hall in 1969.”
Clapton – whose latest album I Still Do was released in May – is the cover star of the current edition of Classic Rock. Bonamassa plays London’s Greenwich Music Time Festival tonight (July 7) and Newark Castle tomorrow. He’s gearing up to reunite with Black Country Communion for their fourth studio album.
The 50th anniversary of the Beano album is celebrated in the latest issue of The Blues magazine, which is available now in print and via TeamRock+.
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton is 50: how they made the Beano
An Interview with Joe Bonamassa: “My guitar playing has never been so good…”
