“Brad said, ‘I know where it is.’ I said, ‘Really? Where?’ He opened up Guitar Player and there was a spread of Slash’s guitar collection”: The story of Joe Perry’s ’59 Les Paul Standard – his lost treasure and ultimate birthday gift

Few single cuts hold as much cache as Joe Perry’s ’59 Gibson Les Paul. After all, not only did Perry brandish it during Aerosmith’s late ‘70s run to glory, but after hocking it in the early ‘80s in a period of guitar purging, Guns N’ Roses’ own six-string maestro, Slash, came upon it.

This led to Slash slinging the beloved ‘burst well into the ‘90s, before – but not after his and Perry's friendship suffered over the guitar – Slash gifted it back to Perry for his 50th birthday.

Below, Perry checks in with Guitar World to recount how he came upon the Les Paul and the story of his separation from and later reunion with it.

Let’s start off with this iconic guitar.

I bought that guitar… I guess it had been around Boston. Different people had it and sold it, and then I came across it – and for a good price! I can’t remember what I paid for it, but it was around $2,500.

It was your main Les Paul in the Seventies, but you sold it after you left Aerosmith in 1979.

Yeah – I had a few extras, but I wasn’t really into collecting guitars. If I needed a guitar, I’d just go down to the music store and buy one, usually a new one. After I left Aerosmith, I needed money for Christmas, and I remember selling it for $4,500.

Do you remember who you sold it to?

I’m not sure, but once it left my hands, I lost track of it. That had to be 1980 or so.

At some point, you tried to track it down but had trouble finding it.

After Aerosmith got back together [in 1984], we owed the record company a lot of money and had to buy our way out of our old record deal. That’s how low we’d sunk as far as the business end of things. It wasn’t until we signed to Geffen Records that we started to have a little money, and I thought, “It would be great if I could track down some of the guitars I lost.”

I started making calls and talking to some of my techs, and it seemed like every six months, the dollar signs in front of those ’59s were going up. But I really wanted to try and get back some of the guitars I’d had, and I remember calling everybody.

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It was Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford who told you that Slash had it, right?

Yes. I told Brad, and he said, “I know where it is.” I said, “Really? Where?” He opened up Guitar Player, I think, and there was a spread of Slash’s guitar collection, and right in the middle of it was my ’59 Les Paul – right there in the magazine.

Is it true that Slash wasn’t really into selling you the guitar?

Right. We’d gotten to be friends, and when I asked him, he went, “Oh, man… don’t ask me that.” I said, “I’ll buy it back and pay whatever you want.” But he said, “Don’t ask me, please!” He didn’t want to let go of it, but I’d call him every once in a while and say, “What do you think? Have you changed your mind?”

It got to the point where he wouldn’t take my calls because he knew I was gonna ask him. He hated saying no, and I realized I was potentially losing a friend over this thing. I finally said, “Listen, I’m not gonna ask you again. It’s not even an issue. It’s your guitar. This is fucking up our friendship, so no more.”

Slash did end up giving you the guitar back, years later.

A few years went by, and word got to him that it was my 50th birthday and we were having a huge blowout. My wife, Billie, was throwing this incredible party for me, which I’m not usually big on, but I figured, “Why not? I’m 50!” I asked Cheap Trick if they’d come and play and I’d sit in on a set.

When we were getting ready to go up and do the set at a restaurant that Steven [Tyler] and I owned in South Boston near the Cape, where we all lived, I got up on stage, and my guitar tech goes, “Slash wanted me to give you this,” and it was the ’59. It was dead silent in the room. I was just blown away. But that was it – I got it back.

Aside from it being a highly desirable burst, what makes it so special?

That guitar – in my hands – is special. It’s kind of an oddball, because the serial number actually says it’s a 1960, but everything about the guitar that the experts can deduce – as far as the finish, and the way the neck meets the body – says it was built in 1959.

It was probably made with parts left over from 1959, but it has a 1960 serial number. It doesn’t matter – it is what it is. It’s got the PAFs, and if ’59 or ’60 affects the value, I’m not really concerned with that. Maybe it’s an issue for the insurance company, but whatever. [Laughs]

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.