Can’t be Muscle Shoals - these were Fender days.
The story goes that Duane moved to Gibson guitars shortly after the formation of the Allman Brothers Band in 1969. During the recording of the first album he used a Gibson ES-345. Later he acquired a 1957 Les Paul Goldtop. He is said to have exchanged the Goldtop in September 1970 – during the recording of Layla - for a plain-top 1958/59 cherry sunburst Les Paul. It’s part of the tale, that when he did that exchange, he also switched over the PAF pickups from the 57 Goldtop to the 58/9 Cherryburst. Early in 1971 he bought, in addition to the other Les Paul, a 1958 vintage tobacco sunburst Les Paul, the one with the exaggerated tiger stripe sunburst pattern you could se in last weeks Wednesday Duane picture. (Donnah has previously displayed a picture with DA and both Les Pauls in these pages).This is the guitar he used when recording "at Fillmore East" and "Eat A Peach". Late in 1971 he began to use a 68 Cherry Gibson SG
This one looks like the cherry burst – but then again it doesn’t apply the “hair-timeline”. I would say late 1970.

I don't know.. Tom sounds like he's pretty much on the money.

This would be during the time when he owned both the
plaintop and Hot Lanta (flame)..because they are both in this picture...lol

Also, speaking of hair, I'd say that's Barry's head..he seemed to always have that little crook in the part.(they didn't meet until after Muscle Shoals) I would guess this to be backstage somewhere (the clothes rack) probably .. and during the time when he owned both, but still(favored) used the cherry burst, just prior to the Fillmore invite. Who knows...that could be an imposter.
Who *really* can tell from just a profile, Donnah ?

Looks like he's in a school room of some kind- a cafeteria? Teachers' lounge? Note the table and school-type chair. And the paneling, which looks like a movable partition. Can't explain that towel rack though....

I did my homework yesterday afternoon, in anticipation of this Duane photo comment exchange today.

I pulled out "The Layla Sessions" and listened to the band version and acoustic versions of "Mean Old World". To my pleasant surprise, both Eric and Duane play there acoustic slide work on these former boots straight up. Tip of the hat to csason: your GartorNation video sounds just like Derek and 'the Domino' on "Mean Old World".

Then I switched to disc 2, "The Jams": Jam 5 is incontrovertable evidence that Duane is the greatest white electic slide guitar player the good Lord ever sent to us as a blues prophet.

As always -- I'm talking to you Tom and csason -- thanks for the history lesson.

Donnah: xoxo for, once again, getting the conversation started.

I think Tom questions my forensic methods. Can't imagine why.
Still, it's better than my original thoughts for a caption which was "Duane twiddles some knobs."

I will say that there's overlap between his session work and ABB work. Guitar history will carry the most weight in dating this, I suppose, although hair length is a close second.

Love to hear the guitar histories, btw.

Just useless information I had to share with somebody. (DA could make any guitar sound great - even mine, which I am not capable of). Donnahs "hairlength-method" is by far still the best bid on a DA-timeline.

Some nice playing csason. Blues in G in Standard tuning? Enjoyed it!

Just to stir up the pot some ....Duane did have a Les Paul at Muscle Shoals, there are a lot of pics of him with one there...as he would go play over there even after the ABB some for friends or an artist he wanted to play with. Also that Strobe Tuner makes me think this was at Muscle Shoals and the white brick ....I have heard from a very knowledgeable source that Duane had actually at had the time of his passing ..at least 4 or 5 Les Pauls a couple of strats and teles and a 335 and some dobros and acoustics and even an electric sitar!!! So who knows when this could be ...I am thinking even the Layla period ...due to his hair was really long then too ....just my 32 cents worth ...And this goes along with my reasoning .....Please tell the media I did not get my spaghetti-O's, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know"
Thomas Grasso, executed in Oklahoma 3/20/95

Greg

Holy crap, Greg. You would not believe what's in my last draft post: Spaghetti-O's and Thomas Grasso. It was my favorite from the list of the condemned's last words over at Court TV.

All I can say is Donnah ...Great minds think alike !!!!!I so appreciate this site ...and your dedication to it and sharing with us all of these great pics of DA ...and a friend of mine sent me this and it just appealed to my warped sense of humor ....are you the same Donnah that is in Full throttle magazine by the way ...they have a section call ask Dr. Donnah and I have often wandered and how did you get so connected with the ABB ?? if you dont mind me asking ...what is the phrase inquiring minds want to know ??? lol ...and thanks again for posting the video of my son and myself playing its been viewed almost 400 times thanks to you ....Greg

Also the Les Paul in the picture is probably the most magic of all of Duanes Les Pauls as it and the Gold Top were the two he used on the Layla Sessions not the hotlanta tiger LesPaul ...just for FYI

No, I'm not from a magazine and I'm not the least bit connected with the ABB. I'm just a Duane fan who collects pics.

It's an awesome video of y'all; I'm glad so many people have been able to enjoy it.

I agree with Greg entirely about this being Skydog's favorite guitar..and the GT, but the GT I heard he was sweet on was Dicky's.

I guess maybe there actually was a *pre-fame* period, at Muscle Shoals which there are a lot of
pics with Strats, etc... maybe we should at least
acknowledge that ( you know..alongside the lace period, etc.) in future reference.

All I know is I swear that is BO's head !!!
And the Lifton under the Lifton contains Hot Lanta.

As I am sure Donnah will concur ....those fingers are definitely Duane's ....Also Duane was a very white,white man ...that is definitely Duane Allman ....and who knows that very well could have been the Tiger/HotLanta guitar underneath the case ...I have been listening to more Duane lately than I think I ever have ...partially due to this site...the Stobe tuner was very expensive back then ...it was almost a grand ..and usually only studios and college/high school brass bands had them ...never saw one anywhere around the Brothers ...in any pics before ...but I dont doubt they had one ...it would just make sense that Muscle shoals would have them not for the guitars ....BUT THE HORNS!!!! Even though unless someone actually had been in that room at MuscleShoals ...we will probably never know where this pic was taken....again Donnah Thank you for sharing .....

greg..you mistake my comments for rebuttal my friend..

No one that has any even casual knowledge of Duane Allman would mistake the fella in the expensive shirt for him..

My reference to Berry is the head that is in the pic
right near Duane's cherry burst's tailpiece (btw, it doesn't appear that Twiggs ran the strings around the tailpiece..but my eyes could be decieving me) that brown head looks like Berry's hair part.

Maybe Duane had four or five Les Pauls from the fifties...I know they didn't make any real money until after he was dead..the ABB, that is.. but back to the guitars...

I have only seen his pic's ( seems like the photographers of the world knew he was gonna be killed) of the two 'grail pieces' that being Hot Lanta and the cherryburst. I know there has been a tremendous amount of tracking of those two instruments to this day..Hot Lanta is in the Hall of Fame, from what I understand, and the cherryburst is in Gladrielle's possession. But I could be all wrong.

I have a GT, and a 57 Gibson...too bad the GT isn't the 57..lol

I think *this* strobe tuner is the same one Donnah
had on the front page (with Duane's ear to the basshorn of the guitar)for a while...and he was backstage on that pic...where who knows

I wouldn't begin to actually guess *where* Duane is in this pic, but I can guess at placing the time, based on the ownership of these two guitars.. it is/was my undertanding he basically
knew where these two lesters were at all times...
once he could afford to own two at once, I would really think that he didn't lay his guitar case on top of someone else's guitar.

So just based on the acquisition of Hot Lanta (and his passion to have both guitars) in the money years, I would bet this is during that time..

What the hell..the kid only made it to 24, we sit here slicing his short life up into periods that were roadtrips to him...lol

Eat a Peach !

Almost forgot..again..

Thanks Florida Cracker !!!

Hell, I just only now noticed there was a head in the foreground! You're right, Owen, I think that's Berry Oakley's part. Heh.

btw there is a radio interview of DA and he mentions
the money they had rolling in to the DJ, it just so happens this is about the time he acquired the tobacco burst supposedly from Chris Cross and the Rev. ..I think.

oh, and Tom..if you're still there, the tune I think
you are talking about is being played to a song in D..but the guitar is tuned to open G. go figure...done on the same principle as a blues harp. The backtrack is called 'Elmore Style'

csason - no wonder i enden up a civil servant.

Thank you as usual Donnah. Nice picture no matter where Duane is. But of course any picture with Duane is a nice one! And I do concur, Berry's head in the foreground. All the guitar facts only confuse me! Until next week....

Duane takes another trip on the Conn Strobo-tuner. Wail on, Skydog!

Donnah, when was the peacock shirt, way too long hair period? maybe it's just before that.

love that sunburst with the kluson tuning pegs. he didn't put grovers on that one. must have stayed in tune. some do, i hear. :)

time for some love valley mtn jam and goldtop smiles.

oh, finished the book. pretty good for using all the extant information. a few tidbits from those who knew him helped round it out but a good presentation all in all.

reckon this is why i named my sunburst howard

dunno where he is, dunno when it is, but I do think it's the same shirt as seen in this pic of Duane with bassist Jerry Jemmot at the Aretha Franklin sessions. Not that that proves anything, I have ten-year old shirts, why wouldn't Duane?

Copy 'n paste to browser:

http://freepatriot.com/imagewarehouse/duane%20with%20bass%20player%20jerry%20jemmott%20during%20aretha%20franklin%20sessions.jpg

stray thought: he was a professional musician from age 16 on, he knew his ass from a hole in the ground. he'd have more guitars than we know about kicking around because a) they were cheap back then compared to nowadays - in 1979 a new stratocaster was 600 to 700 list, not discounted...and b) sometimes you need more than one screwdriver

As a blues and r and b musician, he'd have many arrows in his quiver.

Last time I gigged as a working guitarist, I had at least three guitars on stage. Les Paul TV model with the Jr. finish, Cherry sunburst L.P. standard and an olympic white stratocaster(Jimi!)

so you think ole D.A. is going to be caught short? ;)

My aplogies to Csason ...I have only now seen the before mentioned part ....I met a guy once who played with Bobby Whitlock named Peter something or Phillip and he said that he had Duanes old Gold Top that he had gotten from a guy in Florida for what at the time was way too much money but that now is a good investment ..or 4 years at a pretty good college ....I know its foolish for us to look at something that was just an average day for him ....but isnt that the draw ...that this is a time capsule into someones life that most of us never knew, never even met yet we feel a kinship to his spirit ....hopefully we all should be this lucky ....I asked this of some folks one time that were hanging around the graves in Macon one time drinking and leaving stuff there way back in the day ...I said ....when was the last time you drank liquor on your grandmas grave ???? Oh you never have uh ??? Consider Duane's & Berry's family and how they would feel if they saw this mess? So they called me a jerk...and I just turned and walked away...shakin my head....

good for you, Greg. atta' boy!

"the Conn Strobo-tuner" -- I didn't even know tuners existed until the mid-eithties. That was when (in '81) my perfect-pitch ex-wife screamed at me that "If you're gonna played the damn thing, learn to tune it."

My practicing at home was interrupted until I divorced her.

Just want whoever is running this site, that I've really enjoyed reading into the archives today. Did a quick search on google for Remember Duane Allman this morning, and found this site....for obvious reasons. I have my own photo of the Duane memorial on I-20 in Mississippi, and had not thought of it for many years. Listening to Mountain Jam this morning got me to do the search.
Sorry I cannot contribute to your guitar talk here as I dont know anything about it, but reading some of this stuff and seeing these photos is great.

Thanks
Hef

the best thing about Duane and his musical legacy is you don't have to be a guitar geek to enjoy it. He didn't become one of the most important American guitarists of the 20th century by only appealing to teenage guys obsessed with technique and speed. He had SOUL!

and everyone with a heart can dig that.

Richard, regarding your great comment above: Exactly!

ditto - very fun (and illuminating) reads this morning. it's weird, i'd been a duane freak since i was a young guy and never wanted to go to macon or the grave and i really never wanted to read much about duane - i just wanted to listen to filmore and and know what my soul (as richard rightouesly says) wanted me to know. then at 50, i took a trip there and was moved more than i figured. and now, like some of ya'll, i google on duane regularly (and come here every wednesday)and realize that everything i;ve ever listend to as a grown up - from coltrane to dave alvin to lucinda williams - comes from duane. thanks for the photos and thanks to ya'll for all the really neat information that gets on here.

"Wail on" must mean "Amen" in some parallel world and Duane gives me something to believe in. He is the epitome of man; for all his faults he still has the power to lift me to a mental state that is heavenly without the use of chemicals.

Soul, uplifting, 50; I'm totally with you guys.

Hey guys and gals. You probably wont believe me but I owned the Tobacco Burst Les Paul before Duane got it. I had it from the age of 16 or 17 till I was 19, a couple of years. At the time of the sell I wanted to get a Strat. A friend asked me if I wanted to sell it. I told my friend of my desires for a Strat. It was the summer after my freshman year at college '71. He wouldnt tell me who it was for, you know, to keep the price down. I met with the guy brokering the deal. The broker gave me a no finish '54 Strat and $800. I liked the no finish Strat. It was a time before the Strats started going up in price.

I originally owned the guitar with a friend, Kent. He actually found it. Said it was a friend's Dad's guitar. He said the Dad wanted $100 for it and he did not have $100, and there was no case. I came up with the money and we owned it jointly. After the sell to Duane I gave him the $800 and kept the Strat.
BTW, I did buy a case for it. They were prized guitars even then, late 60's. At a gig one day I opened the case and the headstock was cracked over, just like that, no trauma, just cracked over. Fortunately I had a much abused Telecaster backup that I had put a humbucker in. That was about 1969. Ed Fest at Caldwell Music fixed it. He had a great music store, and evidently enjoyed doing repairs because he did a great job on it.
At the time I met with the broker for the trade and sell, if I remember correctly, Led Zep was in town and John Paul Jones was going to buy a Telecaster Bass from him. I happened to be at the show that nite and there Mr Jones was playing the Telecaster Bass. What went through my head at the time was, "...why would he want a Tele bass when the Precision and Jazz are so much better"..ha,ha a youngster I was...

Thought you all might be interested in hearing about the previous and non-illustrious history of the Tobacco Burst LEs Paul. BTW, while I had it other than the headstock repair it was all stock.

Cliff

oh that was awesome, Cliff. thanks. i'm a little guitar geek at heart.

Talking about Coltrane and Duane: the climactic licks/his ending pull offs on whipping post are pure "trane" licks. When i got neck deep in jazz at age 18, it was a revelation to go neck deep in the Allman Brothers at the same time and make that connection.

If for no other reason than Duane pulled together B.B. King and John Coltrane and played it through his white boy Tennessee soul, we should fete him. Fortunately, when old D.A. is involved, we have lots of reasons for celebration. off the top of my head, another couple of white fellows that i can think of who emulated Coltrane on loud guitar are Bill Connors and John Mclaughlin. now that's some good company to be in.

Wail on, World!

I love what you wrote, Willard (^^). I completely agree.