Nicknamed “Lucy”, this 1957 Les Paul once belonged to three music legends: Rick Derringer, Eric Clapton and George Harrison.
George Harrison’s famous red Gibson Les Paul actually started life as a Gold Top — like all 1957 Les Pauls, according to its serial number (#7-8789). After visibly wearing it out, in 1966 then-owner Rick Derringer took it straight to the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo to have it refinished in a Cherry Red SG-style, a popular look at the time. The result was striking, but disappointing: “it didn’t sound the same,” Derringer later recalled. So he decided to sell it.
The guitar ended up at Dan Armstrong’s shop in New York, where it was purchased by Eric Clapton who, a few months later, in August 1968, gifted it to his friend George Harrison.
Just weeks later, on 6 September, George invited Clapton to Abbey Road. Clapton found his old Les Paul again — which George had since nicknamed "Lucy", after red-haired actress Lucille Ball — and ended up using it to record the iconic solo on While My Guitar Gently Weeps. It remains the only documented case of a guest guitarist playing a solo on a Beatles record.
George went on to use Lucy on Cry Baby Cry, Sexy Sadie and several tracks on Abbey Road and Let It Be. The guitar also appears in the promotional video for Revolution and in the Get Back documentary.
But Lucy’s story doesn’t end there: in the 1970s it was stolen and resurfaced in California. Harrison eventually recovered it after a lengthy negotiation — a story that would deserve an article of its own.
The one in our photo is a 1995 Les Paul Standard in Red Wine finish. You can also spot other Les Pauls in our videos for While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Something e Dear Prudence.
