It has played a leading role in every ZZ Top album and has made countless stage appearances. Pearly Gates instantly became Gibbons’ primary player and has been ever since. Perhaps it’s just another instance of those “divine connections.” You might like what I can do.” Some might argue that the note sounds like it could have been written by the guitar for Gibbons. It also had a love note from the original owner’s girlfriend that said, “I like what you do. When he got the six-string, Pearly Gates still had the original flat-wound strings from the Gibson factory on it and a set of Black Diamond flat wounds in the case. Since the car’s luck must have rubbed off on Gibbons to allow such a deal, he named the guitar Pearly Gates in its memory. Once the rancher pulled out the instrument, Gibbons gave him the $250 in his pocket, and the rest is history. The day he got the money in the mail, he headed out to the rancher’s house to see if he could pick up his dream guitar. They didn’t think the car would make it past El Paso, but she made it all the way to California and even got the job! They figured the car must have had divine connections, so they named it “Pearly Gates.” When the actress got the job, she sold the car and sent Gibbons $250 as payment. She needed to get from Houston to Hollywood for a screen test, so Gibbons lent her his old 1939 Packard. Rumor has it that his ’59 Gibson was just sitting in the house and might be available for purchase.Ī few years prior, Gibbons lent a car to another friend who was an aspiring actress. The rancher used to play in a band but has since turned his attention toward wrangling cattle. With this in mind, one fateful day, a friend of Gibbons told him that there was a rancher just outside of town that had the exact guitar he was looking for. He just couldn’t get over how cool he looked and how great he sounded with that model, so Gibbons just had to get one of his own. For Billy Gibbons, that guitar is none other than his iconic 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard that has become known as “Pearly Gates.”īack in the late 1960s, Gibbons was listening to other blues players like Eric Clapton, who (at the time) was paying a Sunburst Gibson Les Paul. See the full list of Billy Gibbons guitars below.Įvery player has that one special guitar that sounds better than all the rest. He’s also well known for his “Fur” guitars, SG models, and many more. Aside from his famed Les Paul, he is perhaps most associated with his set of 1959 Gretsch Jupiter Thunderbird guitars given to him by Bo Didley. What Guitars Does Billy Gibbons Play?īilly Gibbons is most known for playing his 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, aka “Pearly Gates”. So, grab your beard oil because it’s time to dive into the wide world of Billy Gibbons’ guitars and gear. He’s known for breaking all the boundaries both musically and stylistically with his wild custom creations. Over the decades, Gibbons has amassed a huge collection of guitars and gear. It doesn’t matter if he’s spinning his guitar on stage with ZZ Top or sitting for an interview, nobody can match Gibbons’ suave coolness. He’s rated #32 on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists list and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. He’s one of the most iconic and influential blues-rock guitarists of all time.
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