While Jeff Beck’s guitars were auctioned off last January in a historic sale, the legend of this brilliant and innovative guitarist has only grown stronger. A musical genius, prodigious experimenter, and true pioneer, Jeff Beck dedicated his career to expanding the possibilities of the electric guitar. His use of vibrato placed him among the select group of musical geniuses capable of producing unique and incomparable sounds. Among the many chapters of his illustrious career, his time with the Yardbirds helped shape the contours of the British blues invasion.
If Jeff Beck’s career is as rich as the palette of sounds he mastered, it is essential to look back to his beginnings alongside the Yardbirds. At the start of 1966, this British band counted among its members two of the greatest guitarists of their generation: Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Both were then at the dawn of careers that would forever mark rock history. It was at this time that Jeff Beck acquired his first Les Paul in a London shop, before taking it to the studio and on tour. This guitar gradually became a precious instrument that settled into his playing habits and, little by little, took on the status of a historic instrument. During a Yardbirds tour in the United States in the summer of 1966, Jimmy Page replaced Jeff Beck on guitar when Beck had to step away for health reasons. With no other instruments available, Page took this 1959 Les Paul for the two-week tour. In 1968, Jimi Hendrix picked it up for a jam session one night in a New York club.
Gradually nicknamed the “Yardburst,” this guitar was played by three of the greatest guitarists in music history. Marked by the many ups and downs of touring life, it was modified at several points but always retained Jeff Beck’s favor and affection, who carefully kept it in his studio in England. The Yardburst is one of the most emblematic guitars of Jeff Beck’s career and, even more so, of English music.
Matt’s Guitar Shop is honored to welcome the legendary “Yardburst” to Paris. Aware of the rich heritage it represents, we will strive in the coming weeks and months to bring it back to life on stage and in the studio, so it can fulfill its primary purpose once again: to inspire dreams and emotions. Some of you will discover it on our social networks, others will admire it in our showroom, while a few privileged ones will have the joy of hearing it resonate in concert, in the hands of the best current musicians inspired by the incomparable Jeff Beck. We are proud to help write a new chapter in the already eventful life of this legendary guitar!
