Guitarsenal: Jimmy Page Number Two 1959 Gibson Les Paul

Jimmy and his Number Two 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard in 1975

Jimmy's second 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard (Serial# 91703) is believed to have bought in England shortly after the 1973 U.S. tour concluded. The guitar didn't make an appearance until January 1975, when it was brought out on tour as a back up for his trusted Number One. Over the years, his Number One had taken quite a beating, especially for numbers like "Dazed and Confused" when he used a violin bow which banged into the strings and the bridge. The body of Number Two is distinguishable from Number One due to it's higher grade of flame.

Number two was used to play "Kashmir" in 1975, subbing in for his Danelectro (It was obviously tuned into DADGAD for this number.  It was also sometimes used for "Dazed and Confused", "Moby Dick", and "Over the Hills and Far Away" For the O2 reunion in 2007 Jimmy brought out Number Two for "Trampled Underfoot", "Since I've Been Loving You", and "Misty Moutain Hop". Additionally, Page brought Number Two out on tour for The Firm for "The Chase/Bow Solo", in the studio in 1992 for "Take Me For A Little While", for the 1995 and 1998 Page/Plant tours and for the O2 Reunion concert.
 
It is unknown if Jimmy removed it or if it had already been removed when he purchased it, but the  bridge pickup cover had been removed at some point revealing a white Patent Applied For Pickup similar to Number One during it's appearances during Zeppelin.  It's not uncommon for people think this is Number One when it's seen without the cover because of the white PAF Pickup, not realizing the white PAF Pickup in Number One was just replaced.

Page wanted his Number Two to feel and look and play as similarly to his Number One as possible to achieve this the neck was also shaved to replicate the same profile that was on Number One, and the Kluson tuners were replaced with Nickel Grovers.  According to Tim Marten, a tech of Page's in the 80's, they also tried to reshape the bridge to make it easier for bowing.

Number Two is the guitar that Jimmy had the under-pickguard switches for series/parallel and phase switching which were installed into at some point the early 80's, not during Led Zeppelin. Four push pulls were also installed to add the ability of coil splitting each pickup and the option of putting all four coils in parallel. The wiring mods were done by engineer Steve Hoyland. 

Interestingly, the bridge pickup in the 1980's was either covered or replaced, it is unknown what kind of pickup might have replaced the PAF in the bridge, but it is conceivable that it would be a T-Top as it is the same one that was put into Jimmy's Number One. At some point later on this pickup was then removed and replaced with an uncovered white bobbin humbucker. Again it is not known if this is the original PAF, or if it was some sort of other pickup. Of course then again, the pickup might never have been removed at all, and if the cover was simply removed.
 

In 2010 Gibson unveiled a custom shop re-creation of Jimmy's Number Two. 25 guitars were aged by Tom Murphy and signed by Jimmy Page, 100 guitars were simply aged, and a final 200 were released in a Vintage Original Spec model, running anywhere from $11,000 to $25,000. Interestingly, unlike the actual Number Two, Gibson elected to install a black uncovered humbucker in the bridge. All of the technical specs for this guitar can be found here:


http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-Custom/Jimmy-Page-Number-Two-Les-Paul/Specs.aspx

Gibson's Jimmy Page Number Two Re-production

Update: I've just learned that the pickup manufacturer Dimarzio has a trademark on double-white bobbin exposed humbucking pickups. Thus the reason Gibson elected to used all black exposed pickups for the bridge position in the Jimmy Page Number Two Custom Shop Les Paul.
Thanks to Karmadave from The Gear Page for clearing this up.