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Lot Essay
Modified to Neal Schon’s specifications, this 1977 Gibson Les Paul Pro Deluxe was used to record many of the hit tracks on Journey’s 1981 album Escape, including the feelgood power ballad ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’, a beloved rock anthem which has become the band’s signature song and continues to endure as one of the most streamed songs of the 20th Century. Used extensively as one of Schon’s main stage guitars on Journey’s early 1980s tours, the Les Paul would continue to serve as one of Schon’s favorite studio guitars throughout the 1980s and 90s.
Schon claims that this was the first Les Paul to have a Floyd Rose tremolo and locking nut installed. It’s well known that Eddie Van Halen received one of the first Floyd Rose systems in 1979. Eddie was a good friend of mine and he’d shown me the new Floyd that was put on his guitar, Schon explained to Patrick Prince on the Goldmine podcast in 2021. I contacted Floyd and got one of the first three or four and stuck it on my ‘63 Strat, and then I wanted to experiment and try one on a Les Paul, so that Les Paul was the first Les Paul ever to have a Floyd put on it. It was an experimental thing I did with a Pro and it turned out to be a great sounding guitar. Floyd Rose himself has credited Schon as one of the key early adopters whose endorsement helped to popularize the Floyd Rose tremolo system. Neal saw it and wanted one put on his Les Paul, Rose told MusicRadar in 2010. He gave me one [Les Paul] that he said he'd never liked the sound of. I brought it back to him and it became one of his favorites as I'd taken so much wood out of it the sound had changed. At some point before the guitar was seen on stage, Schon also replaced the factory P90 at the bridge with a double-coil humbucking pickup.
According to Schon, the modified Les Paul was first used during the recording of Dream, After Dream, Journey’s 1980 soundtrack album to the Japanese romantic fantasy film Yume, Yume No Ato. Schon most famously used this guitar to record several tracks on Journey’s seventh studio album Escape at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley from April to June 1981, including hit singles ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ and ‘Who’s Crying Now’, plus ‘Keep on Runnin’’ and rock radio staple ‘Stone in Love’. When I heard the final mix of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’, I turned around to everybody, and I go, “Man, you know what? This song has something else”, recounted Schon when he auctioned the guitar in 2021. Honestly, that song has the weirdest and most unique arrangement ever. It goes verse, then into the guitar solo – the little breakdown that’s more like a symphony. I actually learned it by listening to symphonies, that triplet that speeds up. It sounded like a train. And that pushed [Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain] to write the lyrics, because it reminded them of a train. So the guitar solo actually came before the lyrics did. Released in July 1981 at the height of the band’s commercial success, Escape topped the US Billboard 200 chart and was certified diamond for at least ten million US sales by 1990.
A modest top ten hit at the time, ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ enjoyed a sensational revival when it was featured in the finale of acclaimed television series The Sopranos in 2007 and the pilot episode of Glee in 2009, which introduced a new generation to the classic 80s power ballad and sparked a surge in popularity that shows no sign of waning. At last count, ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ is the fifth most streamed song of the 20th Century on Spotify with over 2.7 billion streams. Schon was seen playing this Les Paul throughout Journey’s Escape Tour from July 1981 to July 1982 for performances of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’, ‘Stone in Love’, ‘Keep on Running’, and ‘Wheel in the Sky’. Their show at The Summit in Houston, Texas, on 6 November 1981, was recorded for broadcast on MTV and later released as the live concert CD/DVD Live in Houston 1981: The Escape Tour in 2005. Uploaded to Journey’s YouTube channel in 2010, the band’s electric performance of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ from that 1981 Houston show has been viewed more than 435 million times to date. Schon took his trusty Les Paul back on the road for The Frontiers Tour from February to September 1981 for performances of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’, ‘Stone in Love’, and ‘Keep on Running’.
Schon told Prince that he played this Les Paul on the two albums he made as part of rock duo Schon & Hammer with composer and keyboardist Jan Hammer – Untold Passion in 1981 and Here to Stay in 1982. The guitar can be seen in the duo’s music video for their 1982 single ‘No More Lies’, including a flash of the Ferrari sticker Schon had stuck on the back of the body at some time, which remains on the guitar today. Schon went on to use the guitar on his first solo album Late Nite in 1989, on the 1992 album Double Eclipse with hard rock band Hardline, and on the 1997 album Abraxas Pool with fellow ex-Santana members Mike Shrieve, Gregg Rolie, José "Chepito" Areas, Alphonso Johnson, and Mike Carabello. Photographs of Schon playing the Les Paul on Hardline’s 1992 US tour show that he had by that time replaced the guitar’s factory P90 in the neck position with the Fernandez Sustainer/DiMarzio rail combo seen on the guitar today. Schon told Prince that this gave him a thick, nice, clean Strat neck pickup tone. When Schon spoke to Vintage Guitar magazine ahead of auctioning part of his prized collection in 2021, he said of the modified Les Paul: That guitar has been on many, many famous records, songs and tours… What’s interesting about that guitar is the fretboard is ebony and the neck is maple, so it’s got some snap with the mahogany body – it speaks really well.
Schon claims that this was the first Les Paul to have a Floyd Rose tremolo and locking nut installed. It’s well known that Eddie Van Halen received one of the first Floyd Rose systems in 1979. Eddie was a good friend of mine and he’d shown me the new Floyd that was put on his guitar, Schon explained to Patrick Prince on the Goldmine podcast in 2021. I contacted Floyd and got one of the first three or four and stuck it on my ‘63 Strat, and then I wanted to experiment and try one on a Les Paul, so that Les Paul was the first Les Paul ever to have a Floyd put on it. It was an experimental thing I did with a Pro and it turned out to be a great sounding guitar. Floyd Rose himself has credited Schon as one of the key early adopters whose endorsement helped to popularize the Floyd Rose tremolo system. Neal saw it and wanted one put on his Les Paul, Rose told MusicRadar in 2010. He gave me one [Les Paul] that he said he'd never liked the sound of. I brought it back to him and it became one of his favorites as I'd taken so much wood out of it the sound had changed. At some point before the guitar was seen on stage, Schon also replaced the factory P90 at the bridge with a double-coil humbucking pickup.
According to Schon, the modified Les Paul was first used during the recording of Dream, After Dream, Journey’s 1980 soundtrack album to the Japanese romantic fantasy film Yume, Yume No Ato. Schon most famously used this guitar to record several tracks on Journey’s seventh studio album Escape at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley from April to June 1981, including hit singles ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ and ‘Who’s Crying Now’, plus ‘Keep on Runnin’’ and rock radio staple ‘Stone in Love’. When I heard the final mix of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’, I turned around to everybody, and I go, “Man, you know what? This song has something else”, recounted Schon when he auctioned the guitar in 2021. Honestly, that song has the weirdest and most unique arrangement ever. It goes verse, then into the guitar solo – the little breakdown that’s more like a symphony. I actually learned it by listening to symphonies, that triplet that speeds up. It sounded like a train. And that pushed [Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain] to write the lyrics, because it reminded them of a train. So the guitar solo actually came before the lyrics did. Released in July 1981 at the height of the band’s commercial success, Escape topped the US Billboard 200 chart and was certified diamond for at least ten million US sales by 1990.
A modest top ten hit at the time, ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ enjoyed a sensational revival when it was featured in the finale of acclaimed television series The Sopranos in 2007 and the pilot episode of Glee in 2009, which introduced a new generation to the classic 80s power ballad and sparked a surge in popularity that shows no sign of waning. At last count, ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ is the fifth most streamed song of the 20th Century on Spotify with over 2.7 billion streams. Schon was seen playing this Les Paul throughout Journey’s Escape Tour from July 1981 to July 1982 for performances of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’, ‘Stone in Love’, ‘Keep on Running’, and ‘Wheel in the Sky’. Their show at The Summit in Houston, Texas, on 6 November 1981, was recorded for broadcast on MTV and later released as the live concert CD/DVD Live in Houston 1981: The Escape Tour in 2005. Uploaded to Journey’s YouTube channel in 2010, the band’s electric performance of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ from that 1981 Houston show has been viewed more than 435 million times to date. Schon took his trusty Les Paul back on the road for The Frontiers Tour from February to September 1981 for performances of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’, ‘Stone in Love’, and ‘Keep on Running’.
Schon told Prince that he played this Les Paul on the two albums he made as part of rock duo Schon & Hammer with composer and keyboardist Jan Hammer – Untold Passion in 1981 and Here to Stay in 1982. The guitar can be seen in the duo’s music video for their 1982 single ‘No More Lies’, including a flash of the Ferrari sticker Schon had stuck on the back of the body at some time, which remains on the guitar today. Schon went on to use the guitar on his first solo album Late Nite in 1989, on the 1992 album Double Eclipse with hard rock band Hardline, and on the 1997 album Abraxas Pool with fellow ex-Santana members Mike Shrieve, Gregg Rolie, José "Chepito" Areas, Alphonso Johnson, and Mike Carabello. Photographs of Schon playing the Les Paul on Hardline’s 1992 US tour show that he had by that time replaced the guitar’s factory P90 in the neck position with the Fernandez Sustainer/DiMarzio rail combo seen on the guitar today. Schon told Prince that this gave him a thick, nice, clean Strat neck pickup tone. When Schon spoke to Vintage Guitar magazine ahead of auctioning part of his prized collection in 2021, he said of the modified Les Paul: That guitar has been on many, many famous records, songs and tours… What’s interesting about that guitar is the fretboard is ebony and the neck is maple, so it’s got some snap with the mahogany body – it speaks really well.