Guitarsenal: The Dragon Tele

Though most known for being a Gibson Les Paul man, one of Jimmy Page's most iconic instruments is his late 1950's Fender Telecaster.

Jimmy and the Dragon Tele

The guitar was originally owned by Jeff Beck who bought it from John Owen; a former bandmate of Beck's. Jimmy Page acquired this guitar from his Beck in 1966. Beck gave the guitar to Jimmy as a gift shortly after Page had recommended Beck for the vacant guitarists slot in the Yardbirds, and had also sent some studio session work his way. Jeff Beck would go on to buy his iconic Fender Esquire with a single pickup that was his primary instrument in the Yardbirds; he would end up trading that guitar to Seymour Duncan for a humbucker equipped telecaster.

Their is much dispute about many of the finer points of this guitar, the first being its age. Many believe it to be a 1958 Fender Telecaster, however, the presence of a rosewood fretboard gives more credence to it being manufactured in 1959. When Jimmy got the guitar it was painted completely white, and he left it that way for some time, but at some point in 1967, when the psychedelic movement began to take off he decided to throw 8 circular mirrors on the body of the guitar.

After leaving the mirrors on the guitar for a while, Jimmy decided to tear them off, strip the paint of the guitar completely and repaint it himself, with splashes of green, yellow and red, he also threw on a metallic pick-guard on; the Dragon Tele was born. Jimmy played this guitar as his main instrument in the Yardbirds, as well as the first year and a half of Led Zeppelin's existence.

Jimmy with his Dragon Tele

Jimmy used this guitar to record most of the first Led Zeppelin album, and some of the second. He retired it as his main instrument when he acquired his "#1" 1959 Gibson Les Paul from Joe Walsh in April of 1969. The guitar would make a dramatic comeback, a sort of swan song if you will on Led Zeppelin's most well known work, "Stairway to Heaven" where Page used it to record the dramatic solo near the end of the song.

Alas, the guitar would not survive the 1970's. While Jimmy was out touring America a friend of his decided to repaint the guitar and present it to Jimmy as a gift. In the process however, the friend completely runied the guitar and made it for all intents and purposes, unplayable. Jimmy talked about this incident with Guitar World in 1998: "I still have it (referring to the Dragon Tele), but it’s a tragic story. I went on tour with the ’59 Les Paul that I bought from Joe Walsh, and when I got back, a friend of mine had kindly painted over my paint job. He said, "I’ve got a present for you.” He thought he had done me a real favor. As you can guess, I wasn't real happy about that. His paint job totally screwed up the sound and the wiring, so only the neck pickup worked. I salvaged the neck and put it on my brown Tele string bender that I used in the Firm. As for the body… it will never be seen again! (laughs)"


As he stated, Jimmy would salvage the neck and place it on the body of another telecaster that would be known as his "B-Bender" Tele. He used this guitar extensively during his tenure in the band "The Firm"

Jimmy with his B-Bender Tele with the original Dragon tele neck

I have always loved Jimmy's Dragon Tele, I think it's one of the coolest guitars in all of rock and roll, certainly one of the most iconic. I've inquired about getting my tele painted in the same way Jimmy did his, it would certainly cost a small fortune, but maybe someday.