He embraced project after project with limitless energy and enthusiasm,” Robert Plant said in a statement. “He cooked up magic through all the passing eras, always up for the next, unknown, unlikely collision.” However, Jeff’s main Stratocasters have changed frequently over that same time period. The guitar shown here was Jeff’s main Stratocaster from the mid-2010s through his final shows with Johnny Depp in late 2022. Guild’s hollowbody electric models were never quite as popular as those made by Gibson and Gretsch, even though the quality was generally comparable. The “Stuart” X-500 was Guild’s flagship archtop electric model upon its introduction in 1953, and thanks to its popularity it remained in continuous production up until 1993. Fender Custom Shop master builder Todd Krause built this Stratocaster for Jeff in 2003. According to Krause, it is one of two guitars he made that were custom painted by Roy Brizio, the acclaimed street rod designer and builder who made several cars for Jeff. Johnny Marr called him “a pioneer and one of the all time greats”, while Whitesnake’s David Coverdale wrote, “Oh, My Heart … RIP, Jeff … I miss you already”.

First he acquired a 1963 model, which he said was “totally wrong,” but eventually he found a 1956 model that was in pieces. He rebuilt the guitar and installed a swivel-arm Bigsby on the ’56 Duo Jet, which he later used to record 1993’s Crazy Legs.While the sound of this Duo Jet was close to Gallup’s, shortly after completing the album in 1992 Jeff found another ’56 Duo Jet (pictured above) with the missing link – a factory-installed fixed-arm Bigsby identical to the one on Gallup’s guitar.