Stewart departed after Beck-Ola – an attempt to replace him with the then-unknown Elton John only got as far the rehearsal studio – taking bassist Ronnie Wood with him to form the Faces.

It’s unfortunate that his final project wound up as the torpid Depp collaboration “18 ,” but even that record felt true to Beck’s artistry. In online tributes the pair said Beck had been "on another planet" and that they had made "groundbreaking" music together. In 1968, Beck released Truth, his debut solo album, which drew on blues and hard rock to form a prototypical version of heavy metal. His last project was an album he released with Johnny Depp, a move that catapulted him into the news: 18 appeared in the wake of Depp’s defamation case against his former wife, Amber Heard. Now Jeff has gone, I feel like one of my band of brothers has left this world, and I'm going to dearly miss him," he wrote.

Songwriting didn’t come easily to him, a problem compounded by his tetchiness with lead singers, leaving him on a constant hunt for new material or writing partners. Living Colour’s Vernon Reid said there was “always space for him to grow,” while Aerosmith’s Joe Perry described him as “the Salvador Dali of guitar.

Clapton, who later performed alongside Beck on a number of occasions including co-headlining shows at The O2 in London in 2010, also paid tribute to his fellow guitar great. Fender veteran Abby Ybarra, who worked for the company since 1956, even wound the pickup for each replica guitar by hand. Beck01 features large, detailed photos of each instrument, but unfortunately for readers who would like a closer look, the limited-edition book is long sold out and plans for a general release have not been announced. You Had It Coming” (2001) and “Jeff” (2003) didn’t quite stick but his playing remained a marvel of elegance and restraint. Beck was only in the Yardbirds for 20 months, leaving the group in 1966 due to inter-band tensions that had arisen during a US tour.He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionadomagazine, and a former editor with Guitar World, Guitar for the Practicing Musicianand Maximum Guitar. But Jeff Beck, who had been recommended for the job by his friend Jimmy Page, didn’t just replace Clapton.