The Strange Case Of The THE MISSING BEANO

In the summer of 1966, as Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton hit the record shops and the guitarist himself began rehearsals with his new band Cream, Clapton’s beloved sunburst Les Paul was stolen from a church hall practice room. Gone but not forgotten, the guitar left behind a mystery that has never been solved. Here, we trace the lifetime of this legendary ’Burst and ponder the chances of it ever being discovered…

- Tony Bacon

Eric Clapton’s work on the 1966 John Mayall album Blues Breakers inspired a whole generation of would-be blues guitarists as he defined the tone and expression that a great guitarist can achieve. And this particular great player found a great instrument to make his music – an original Gibson Les Paul with a sunburst finish. The cover of the record showed Eric reading the Beano comic, so it became known as the ‘Beano’ album, and the instrument he used became known as the Beano guitar.

Many guitarists love Eric’s playing on the ‘Beano’ album. One such musician was Billy Gibbons, who was, at the time, a budding young guitar player in Texas. “The sound was just so fierce and so attractive,” he says, “and the appeal drew everyone’s curiosity to attempt to suss out where this sound was coming from. The photograph of Eric on the back cover was a clue. We said, ‘Ah, look in the background, there’s a Marshall, but it’s not very big, and ah, look at that. They don’t make those anymore – but it’s one of those Les Pauls!’”

The actual guitar Eric used has since taken on an almost mythical quality, not least because it was stolen not long afterward and has never been seen since. It was the short-lived variant known today as the ’Burst, for its sunburst finish, produced by Gibson from 1958 until discontinued in 1960 and replaced by the new double-cutaway SG design. By the mid-60s, the original single-cut Les Pauls were being called the “old model”.