Watch Jeff Beck geek out over his favourite guitars
With over six decades of practice and performance, you could say that Jeff Beck knew a thing or two about the guitar. In fact, there is good reason to suggest that without Beck that music would look very different today. While most guitarists of his generation can claim to have affected simply rock and roll, Beck’s ability to transcend genre and style ensured that his legacy will live on for decades to come.
The legendary axe man, who sadly passed away today, had enough time with the six-string to fill a couple of different lifetimes, and the collection of instruments that he has amassed along the way was equally impressive.
While walking through his instruments in the video down below, Beck welcomes us to what looks like the dusty attic of his house to show off some of his most prized guitars. Everything from a “bastardised Telecaster” to the “big daddy of the Strat line”, a 1954 Sunburst Stratocaster.
Even though he was most fond of playing Stratocasters in the latter part of his career, Beck’s guitar collection didn’t comprise solely of Fenders. Beck took some time to show off a Gibson L5 that he used to emulate Elvis Presley’s number one picker Scotty Moore (although Beck identifies the guitar as an L5, he’s actually holding a Gibson ES-175, which is a similar semi-hollow body electric guitar).
The prize jewel of the collection may very well be Beck’s black Gretsch Duo Jet. That particular guitar had become trendy around Britain in the early 1960s due to its association with Cliff Gallup, the lead guitarist for rockabilly pioneers Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps. Everyone from George Harrison to David Gilmour has used their own models of Duo Jets, and when Beck recorded a full album of Vincent’s songs on 1993’s Crazy Legs, he used his Duo Jet to record and even propped it up for the album’s cover.
The final guitar that Beck trots out has a special connection. Although Beck admits that the Maccaferri model that he picks out is “plastic”, he reveals that the guitar is special for two reasons. The first is that it was gifted to him by an old friend: Led Zeppelin guitarist and childhood mate Jimmy Page. The second is that it is the same brand of guitar that jazz icon Django Reinhardt played during his lifetime.
Beck admits that, out of all his expensive and priceless models, the Maccaferri is the one that he picks up most often when he wants to play something while watching television or “just noodling around”, as he puts it. It just goes to show that, despite certain levels of fame and notoriety, the quality gifts from good friends are often the best.
Check out Beck run through some of his favourite guitars down below.
