In this issue:

• Percy's Harmonica
• Jimmy Page and His Dragon Telecaster
• From New York: Book Expo and Zep Venues

Frank Reddon here. Hope your summer’s going great so far!

Something we’ve never really done in an Enzepplozine issue before is focus on the instruments that Led Zeppelin’s musicians used. Recently, a visitor to our website asked what brand of harmonica Robert Plant used and what key it was pitched in. Good questions!

We did some digging and came up empty on the brand, although the consensus is that it was probably some type of Hohner. That was the brand of choice at the time and it remains one of the best. If anyone out there knows for sure, we’d love to hear from you.

To answer the question about pitch, we asked our friend and Sonic Boom interviewee, Steve “The Lemon” Sauer. Steve’s an awesome musician with a wicked ear. He plays keyboards in the Classic Albums Live Zeppelin tribute band based in Florida (among many other things…). He graciously supplied the following information. Thanks, Steve!

“Since Plant plays 'crossharp' style on the Led Zeppelin tracks, the key of the harmonica is a perfect fourth above the key of the song. So, for instance, the three main examples of his harmonica use in the studio with Zep -- You Shook Me, Bring It On Home and Nobody's Fault but Mine -- are in the key of E, so he is playing an A harp. On Poor Tom he uses an F harp, and on When the Levee Breaks it's a B-flat harp.”

Another instrument people want to know more about is the colourful Dragon Telecaster that Jimmy Page used from the time he was in The Yardbirds until the early days of Led Zeppelin. During the course of researching my book, I found some fascinating information that will probably be news to you, too! I think you’re gonna like this…

Jimmy Page and His Dragon Telecaster

At the age of fifteen, Jimmy Page played in a band called Neil Christian and the Crusaders. But he was often ill on the road touring, so he decided to attend art school instead and do studio session work to avoid touring. (Listen up – “art school” is important to this story!)

In 1966, The Yardbirds’ bass guitarist, Paul Samwell-Smith, left the group to pursue a career in production. Even though he’d never played bass guitar, Jimmy Page jumped into the gap and learned how until original Yardbird, Chris Dreja, felt comfortable enough to move from rhythm guitar to bass. Then, for a short but musically memorable time, Beck and Page both played lead. This dual-lead-guitar style would influence later bands like Aerosmith.

At that time, Jeff Beck gave Jimmy Page a wonderful present: a white Telecaster made by the Fender Guitar Company, reputedly a 1958 model.

Jimmy put his artistic talents to work. He created a psychedelic design of a dragon, then painted it on the white guitar using special reflective green, red and whitish grey paint. When the stage lights hit it, the painted dragon would flash/reflect back at the audience and heighten the psychedelic experience!

That “Dragon Telecaster” would follow him into The New Yardbirds/Led Zeppelin. In fact, Jimmy Page used it for the electric guitar work on the band’s self-titled debut album. Led Zeppelin was recorded in September/October 1968 at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London, England.

It could create a wide variety of tones and sounds (especially when combined with the knowledge of studio technology and equipment Page had gained during his session days): a dense, metallic wall of sound or gentle, crystalline tones and everything in between. No wonder Page loved it so much!

George Chkiantz, a sound engineer and tape operator at Olympic Studios who worked on Zeppelin’s later albums, was nevertheless on site when they recorded their first. He told me that he had never heard such all-out attack on guitar before.

He said he wasn’t sure what Led Zeppelin was trying to achieve with such a cruel and metallic sound but then conceded that Jimmy Page certainly knew what he was doing at the time!

So why did Page switch from using his Dragon Telecaster after only a year and a half with Led Zeppelin?

The axe was notorious for generating feedback – that high, shrill sound that makes you cover your ears and it still hurts!

The evidence is right there, in the live recordings that have surfaced from Led Zeppelin’s First U.S. and Canadian Tour of 1968-69. One example occurs on a recording of Zeppelin’s performance at The Boston Tea Party on January 26, 1969.

Right before Zeppelin goes into Killing Floor (a song that Jimi Hendrix also loved to play), there’s a horrible assault of unwanted feedback from Page’s Telecaster. That particular type of feedback is very unpleasant and distracting, for both performer and audience.

The late J.J. Jackson was a Boston DJ who attended that performance and all four gigs during that Tea Party run. When I interviewed him in 1999, he told me that the Telecaster’s feedback was constantly “sassing” Jimmy! He also said that it wasn’t as noticeable in the audience that evening as it was when listening to the live recording but that the band members just laughed it off when it did happen.

Led Zeppelin’s manager, the late Peter Grant, is known to have seen Jimmy Page solder parts onto that guitar when he had a chance at gigs.

When Jimmy Page retired the Dragon Telecaster as his main instrument in early May of 1969, he started using a Les Paul that he’d bought from Joe Walsh. (The Eagles’ future guitarist was in a group called The James Gang back then). Page was taken with the instrument immediately; it had everything he needed and more.

Take note, however, that Page brought his Dragon Telecaster out of retirement to lay down the most famous electric guitar solo of all time: Stairway to Heaven! This comes as news to many people who like popular music and Led Zeppelin.

Page commanded an army of guitars and had mastered them all. Yet he chose the Dragon Telecaster from his days with The Yardbirds and the early Zeppelin over the Les Paul he'd principally been using by 1970. He recorded the Stairway solo in January 1970.

Renowned Led Zeppelin author, Robert Godwin, told me that when he was researching the making of Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album (released in 1971), he discovered that Jimmy Page had been all alone at Island Studios. The main engineer on the project (Andy Johns) wasn’t there, so Page’s solo was recorded by a man named Digs who just happened to be in the right place at the right time!

One final anecdote about that famous Dragon Telecaster – courtesy of Danish rock photographer,Jørgen Angel, who captured Led Zeppelin’s first public performance on film. The band was called The New Yardbirds for that September 7, 1968 gig at Gladsaxe Teen Club, Copenhagen. But the line-up was definitely Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham.

In 2006, the prestigious Polar Music Prize was awarded to Led Zeppelin for the band’s contribution to music. Jørgen Angel attended the special ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, where there was also an exhibit of the many photos he had taken of the group over the years.

The three surviving members of Led Zeppelin came to see Jørgen’s exhibit and a pleasant time was had by all, reminiscing. Jimmy Page told Jørgen that he was going away this one time and had asked to leave his Dragon Telecaster in the care of a friend. Upon Page’s return, the friend said he had a gift for him. He had “painted something really nice” on Jimmy’s guitar!

Jørgen told me he didn’t think Jimmy had recovered from the shock yet! He asked Page if someone couldn’t restore it but Jimmy said no. His friend had done a thorough job of removing the original design from the guitar.

Jimmy Page launched Led Zeppelin – both live and in the studio – with his Dragon Telecaster. It will always be a huge part of rock’n’roll history.

From New York: Book Expo and Zep Venues

At the end of May, my sister/editor/co-owner of Enzepplopedia Publishing, Lou Anne went to New York City to check out Book Expo America. This year, Sonic Boom is on display at over 20 library shows and international book fairs. New York was the closest to home, so off she went. Here are a couple pics.

She says the Expo was great but she had a lot more fun wandering all over Manhattan taking pictures of Zep-related venues! Her favourite was the “Physical Graffiti building” at 96-98 St Mark’s Place. She got a bit lost in the rain but finally found the Fillmore East, courtesy of two very helpful guys (and total Led Heds) in a vintage record store.

We’ll be sharing all those shots with you in future. ‘Til then, check out the apartment building that lost a storey to a graphic artist in order to fit the dimensions of the Physical Graffiti album cover!

Rock on!

Want to learn about Led? Visit Learn-about-Led.com

Order Sonic Boom Volume 1 at Enzepplopedia.com.

And don't forget to tell us what's YOUR favourite Led Zeppelin album!