Guitars
1922 Gibson L1 "Aunt Mabel" Brown Stain Archtop Acoustic Guitar - ex Pamela des Barres
17.500€
Pre-war guitars often possess a magical and captivating quality. The passage of decades has left them with a delicate patina and elevated them into a new category: instruments surrounded by a special aura. This 1922 Gibson L1 acoustic guitar is no exception. Its story intertwines with the history of rock 'n' roll and its legendary figures: Frank Zappa, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Waylon Jennings, Keith Moon, and Steve Jones.
This guitar stood the test of time in the hands of a young music enthusiast named Pamela Des Barres. Dreaming of a career in music, she had long coveted her aunt’s guitar — a 1922 Gibson L1 discovered in a Kentucky pawn shop by Mabel Virginia Miller. Her aunt played it during Sunday morning church services and even engraved her initials, MVM, on the soundboard.
It was in 1969 that Pamela Des Barres finally got her hands on this precious guitar. She allowed her lovers and friends to play it, recognizing that this lovely brown guitar was a true “musician magnet.” She recalls how many well-known figures were fascinated by it: Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, Frank Zappa. Of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, she remembers sitting between them in her Hollywood apartment as they passed the guitar back and forth, playing blues all night. Jimmy Page even offered to buy it from her for $2,500 — an offer she refused.
The guitar’s extraordinary pedigree doesn’t stop there: Waylon Jennings also played it.
Over the years, Pamela Des Barres placed this treasured 1922 guitar into the hands of her favorite musicians. When Steve Jones was her roommate, he gave guitar lessons to her son using this very guitar. It has been played many times by talented personalities, all of whom appreciated its beauty, its delicate name, and its remarkable story.
This is, without a doubt, a pre-war Gibson L1 of outstanding quality — with a sound and history as enchanting as the guitar itself!
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