Whereabouts of Clapton's 'Summerburst' guitar revealed after 60 years

Eric Clapton's 1960 Les Paul has been unearthed in Paris after being hidden from the public view for nearly 60 years.

The guitar has swapped hands with numerous collectors since it mysteriously went missing in 1967. Until now, its whereabouts were unknown, but guitar collector Matthieu Lucas has revealed himself as the owner to Guitarist magazine.

The instrument served as Eric Clapton’s primary weapon during the recording of Cream’s debut album Fresh Cream.

Just as the recording sessions for that record were set to begin, Clapton’s ‘Beano’ Les Paul was stolen from a rehearsal room in London.

Desperate for a replacement, he remembered that Police-guitarist Andy Summers owned a near-identical model.

Clapton profusely called Summers asking him to sell the guitar to him. Eventually, he caved, selling the instrument to the Cream guitarist for £200.

When Clapton bought the guitar, its bridge pickup was completely broken and non-functional. He recorded Fresh Cream relying heavily on the neck pickup, which contributed significantly to his overdriven, creamy sound.

The guitar suffered a headstock fracture shortly after the release of Cream’s first album. Clapton brought the guitar to Dan Armstrong’s repair shop who performed an unorthodox headstock and neck replacement.

Furious with the result, he left without paying his bill, leaving his guitar in the workshop. Since, the 1960 Gibson Les Paul has changed hands among private collectors with its whereabouts unknown to the public.

“I knew about it for years,” Lucas said to Guitarist. “I couldn’t tell anyone about it because that’s not how Perry is working – he wants his guitars to be top secret, if I can say.

“But then I decided to make it public for several reasons, because my theory is that guitars like this should be played, should be shared with people. I think it doesn't even belong to me, or whoever is going to buy the guitar – it belongs to, I would almost say, humanity because that guitar is a major piece of the ’60s and British music, and a major piece of guitar history, so my feeling is that all those guitars need to be shared and played.”