"Dragon" Telecaster (serial no. 50062)
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.Jimmy Page received this guitar from Jeff Beck and used it for his 1967 work with the Yardbirds, even playing it with a violin bow on experimental live versions of “Dazed and Confused.” After the Yardbirds disbanded, he used it to record all of Led Zeppelin (1968). Page hand painted the dragon design on the body and replaced the white pickguard with transparent acrylic over silver-gray diffraction film. The guitar was later stripped by a well-meaning friend, but Page restored the design in 2018.
Technical Description:
Ash body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard; 25 ½ in. scale; natural finish with dragon design; bolt-on neck with dot inlays; “spaghetti” Fender logo decal on headstock; two single-coil pickups, three-way selector switch, volume and tone controls; chrome bridge, control panel, and knobs, nickel tuning machines; psychedelic dragon design hand-painted on body and clear-coated, clear plastic pickguard with light-diffracting foil underneath
Technical Description:
Ash body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard; 25 ½ in. scale; natural finish with dragon design; bolt-on neck with dot inlays; “spaghetti” Fender logo decal on headstock; two single-coil pickups, three-way selector switch, volume and tone controls; chrome bridge, control panel, and knobs, nickel tuning machines; psychedelic dragon design hand-painted on body and clear-coated, clear plastic pickguard with light-diffracting foil underneath
Artwork Details
- Title: "Dragon" Telecaster (serial no. 50062)
- Artist: Fender
- Artist: Jimmy Page (British, Heston, born 1944)
- Date: 1959
- Medium: Ash, maple, rosewood, metal, plastic
- Dimensions: Length: 39 1/4 in. (99.7 cm)
Width: 13 in. (33 cm)
Depth: 1 3/4 in. (3.8 in.)
Weight: ~7-8 lbs. - Classification: Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted
- Credit Line: Collection of Jimmy Page
- Curatorial Department: Musical Instruments