GUITAR SHOPPING WITH SLASH

THAT TIME SLASH AND GW’S RICHARD BIENSTOCK SPENT A LOVELY AFTERNOON BROWSING — AND BUYING! — AT NORMAN’S RARE GUITARS IN TARZANA, CALIFORNIA

- RICHARD BIENSTOCK

WALKING INTO NORMAN’S RARE GUITARS ON A SUNNY afternoon, Slash is a man on a mission. Specifically, that mission is to find a ’59 Gibson Les Paul. And not just any ’59 Gibson Les Paul. He’s on the hunt for a tobacco burst — a rare and coveted finish on what is already a rare and coveted guitar model. “There’s only two that I know of,” Slash says.

One of the two, he used to own — it’s the famous model he uses to rip the solo outside a church in Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain” video. “But it was Joe [Perry]’s and I gave it back to him,” he says.

Slash still has three 1959 examples in his possession — “One’s basically a lemon burst, and the other two are faded cherry sunbursts,” he says. But he calls the tobacco burst his favorite finish. “So I figured I should put the word out there. Because it’s not going to just come walking up to my door.”

Which is why Slash has come walking through Norman’s door. Because if anybody in L.A. can find a rare guitar, it’s Norman Harris, who has been dealing vintage instruments for more than 50 years, and whose Tarzana, California, shop is a go-to destination for artists, collectors and everyday guitar fans alike.

Harris, who greets Slash on this day, doesn’t have a tobacco burst ’59 on hand (“That’s a tall order,” he acknowledges), but he assures Slash he’ll put some feelers out. In the meantime, he has plenty of other vintage beauties for us to look at.