When John McLaughlin’s prized double-neck guitar split in two on tour, Jeff Beck stepped in with a loaner. By the end of the run, McLaughlin repaid him with a white Stratocaster — one that would change Beck’s playing forever.
It was 1974 when McLaughlin and Beck decided to tour together with their quartets. Beck was riding high on the success of his album Blow by Blow, while McLaughlin was enjoying fame for his pioneering jazz-rock fusion group the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
He was also well known for playing an impressively elaborate guitar: a Gibson EDS-1275. Already a striking guitar, it was further customized by luthier Rex Bogue with intricate tree-of-life inlays running the full length of both fingerboards.
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Unfortunately, shortly into the tour, the guitar was destroyed.
“I was alone with it when it fell over,” McLaughlin recalls. “It was laying flat on a table. There must have been a tremor that caused it to fall. It hit the floor on its face, but it was so heavy that the body split down the middle!”
Beck stepped in to help.
“I didn’t have a second guitar, but Jeff did,” McLaughlin continues. “He was playing Gibson Les Pauls at that time, and he loaned me that Oxblood Les Paul that later sold for something like $1.3 million.”
Indeed, the modified 1954 Les Paul — which Beck acquired for $300 in 1972 to replace his damaged 1959 “Yardburst” Gibson Les Paul — became the most expensive Les Paul sold at auction when it went on the block at Christies on January 22, 2025 as part of the Jeff Beck Collection auction.
He loaned me that Oxblood Les Paul. I played it for the rest of the tour. And just to say thanks, at the end I gave him a white ’60s Strat.”
— John McLaughlin
“So I played it for the rest of the tour,” McLaughlin continues. “And just to say thanks, at the end I gave him a white ’60s Strat.
“He’s played them ever since. Isn’t that nice!”
It wasn’t Beck’s first Strat — he had begun experimenting with the model around 1969 — but the gift marked the moment he fully committed to it.
“The Strat changed the way he played,” McLaughlin says. “From that point, he dropped the pick and started working with his fingers, and the tone he got was unbelievable. It was like butter. It was beautiful.”
Beck put the Strat to immediate use on his next album, Wired, where it also appeared on the cover. That particular guitar was later stolen, and Beck went on to experiment with other finishes — including a “Graffiti Yellow” prototype in 1986 — before ultimately settling on Olympic White as his signature look.
From that point, he dropped the pick and started working with his fingers, and the tone he got was unbelievable. It was like butter. It was beautiful.”
— John McLaughlin
For the final decades of his career, his main stage instrument was typically a Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster in Olympic White, most often paired with a rosewood fingerboard — the version most closely associated with him today.
Reflecting on the 1974 tour, McLaughlin recalls the musical chemistry the two guitarists shared.
“The thing I enjoyed about Jeff on that tour was that we both played a 45-minute set each night, and we both had a quartet,” he says. “After that, we’d come together for a one-hour jam with both bands. We did that every night.”
Sadly, McLaughlin’s EDS-1275 wasn’t the only casualty of the tour. As he explains, those performances from his tour with Beck are gone forever.
“I don’t have a single recording from those shows,” McLaughlin says with regret. “Unlike now, people didn’t walk around with portable recording devices then. But you never know —maybe something will surface.”
He does have his memories, however.
“And so did Jeff. We used to talk about those days whenever we met. He was a beautiful guy. I really do miss him.”
He also misses his old guitars. McLaughlin attended Christie's Beck auction and was struck by how much of his gear Beck had preserved over the years.
“I really should have kept all the guitars I’ve had, like Jeff did!”
