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Lot Essay
This 'cigar box' guitar was a gift to Jeff Beck from his old friend, ZZ Top's Billy F Gibbons, in 2015. Jeff's very first gutiar as a child was a cigar box guitar he built himself - and Gibbons is also a longtime proponent of these home-made style instruments. Beck and Gibbons shared a love of Hot Rods and have long admired each other's work and music, collaborating on multiple occasions. They played 'Foxy Lady' and ZZ Top's 'Rough Boy' (reportedly Beck's favourite ZZ Top song) together at Jeff's second induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 2009. In 2010 Beck had joined ZZ Top on stage in Lucca, Italy, for an extended version of 'La Grange'. In 2014 a joint Jeff Beck and ZZ Top Tour - billed as 'Bryant, Beards & Beck', the first name being that of their opening act, young blues virtuoso Tyler Bryant - but unfortunately most of the tour had to be postponed because ZZ's bassist Dusty Hill sustained an injury and was unable to play. The tour was reinstated in 2015 - and it was likely at the end of this stint that Gibbons and Beck reportedly visited the Bohemian Oil Can Guitar factory together.
This guitar was employed on Beck's next studio album Loud Hailer, released in 2016. Interviewing Beck for Rolling Stone on 11 July 2016, David Fricke asked: 'On the new album, in the song “O.I.L. (Can’t Get Enough of That Sticky),” you actually play a solo on an oil can. Please explain.' To which Beck replied, 'It's a guitar made out of an oil can, a metal old-style gallon can. It was standing in a dressing room when I came back from a gig. There was nothing there except a sofa, the drinks cabinet, some refreshments and right slap in the middle of the floor was this oil can with a neck on it. I went, "Oh, my God, that's gotta be Billy Gibbons [of ZZ Top]." And sure enough, the note said, "Enjoy. Love, BFG." I thought, "Is this playable?" I plugged it in, and it played like a charm.' 'The neck is braced so that when you tighten the strings, it doesn’t flex forward. It plays great. I tuned it to a regular chord, and played a regular slide on it. The song was about Texas oil – we were having a little dig there [laughs].'
Beck took the guitar on the subsequent Loud Hailer Tour, which included a sold-out show billed as '50 Years of Jeff Beck at the Hollywood Bowl', on 10 August 2016, during which Gibbons joined Beck on stage for a rendition of 'Rough Boy'.
This guitar was employed on Beck's next studio album Loud Hailer, released in 2016. Interviewing Beck for Rolling Stone on 11 July 2016, David Fricke asked: 'On the new album, in the song “O.I.L. (Can’t Get Enough of That Sticky),” you actually play a solo on an oil can. Please explain.' To which Beck replied, 'It's a guitar made out of an oil can, a metal old-style gallon can. It was standing in a dressing room when I came back from a gig. There was nothing there except a sofa, the drinks cabinet, some refreshments and right slap in the middle of the floor was this oil can with a neck on it. I went, "Oh, my God, that's gotta be Billy Gibbons [of ZZ Top]." And sure enough, the note said, "Enjoy. Love, BFG." I thought, "Is this playable?" I plugged it in, and it played like a charm.' 'The neck is braced so that when you tighten the strings, it doesn’t flex forward. It plays great. I tuned it to a regular chord, and played a regular slide on it. The song was about Texas oil – we were having a little dig there [laughs].'
Beck took the guitar on the subsequent Loud Hailer Tour, which included a sold-out show billed as '50 Years of Jeff Beck at the Hollywood Bowl', on 10 August 2016, during which Gibbons joined Beck on stage for a rendition of 'Rough Boy'.