Gibson Les Paul Jr. 1990 - Yellow

This is your chance to get your hands on a guitar played and destroyed in concert by Paul Westerberg of The Replacements. It is a 1990 Gibson Les Paul Jr. Serial number 92550395.

 All proceeds from the sale of this guitar will go to Bob and Chrissie Dunlap (less Reverb costs ).

 A Brief History of the Paul Westerberg’s Les Paul Jr written by E. Scott Esbeck. 

 “My name is Scott Esbeck and I served as the Replacements backline/guitar tech for the last leg of their 1991 tour culminating in the 4th of July show at Grant Park in Chicago which was simulcast on WXRT.

             On this final leg of the All Shook Down tour, Paul played two reissue, TV yellow, double cutaway les Paul Juniors as his principal guitars.  We swapped them out as needed for tuning purposes. He preferred one of them over the other and that guitar got a cut out “A” pasted on the back to designate it as #1. He also had a vintage early 60s, cherry finished, SG style, Les Paul Junior that was kept in various open tunings that I’d change throughout the set.On May 21, the day of the first gig in Atlanta, Paul had let me know he wanted me to find him a Stratocaster.  I headed out on the town and found a few that he played at soundcheck. He chose a black American Vintage Reissue which was added to the arsenal.

             The band was doing a two-night stand in Atlanta at a Venue called Centre stage. On the second night of the Atlanta stand, after the very last song of the night, Paul turned around and smashed the headstock of his #1 Les Paul Jr. down onto the drum riser of the #1 LP jr. breaking the headstock cleanly off the neck. I collected the pieces and put them in the work box. This is the guitar presented here.

             Shortly thereafter, we received another LP jr reissue from Gibson to replace the smashed one. This one was the older single cutaway style. Paul didn’t like the pickup so much on it and asked me to switch the pickup from the smashed LP into the new replacement, which I did. The pickup that currently accompanies this Les Paul Jr. was removed from the new single cutaway guitar.

             After the Grant Park set on the 4th of July, the band left on the bus as the crew was still loading out from the stage (we may have actually still been playing Hootenanny for all I know). I recall that for some reason Slim hadn’t ridden with them. As I said goodbye and wished him well, I asked him if he thought Paul would mind if I took the smashed LP jr. as a souvenir. He kinda chuckled and said he didn’t think Paul would give a shit. So, I held on to it for 30 years. When I heard that efforts were underway to raise some cash for Slim, I let it be known that I’d like to donate the guitar to benefit Slim if possible. Things can get a bit hazy after 30 years, but this is how I remember it.

             I highly recommend Bob Mehr’s book Trouble Boys for the real skinny, but then I’d guess everybody knows that. Happy to answer any questions I can about the guitar should anyone have any questions.

E.S. Esbeck   Oct. 2022”

 The Cause

 Bob "Slim" Dunlap (born August 14, 1951) is a Minnesota guitarist and songwriter who in 1987 became the lead guitarist for The Replacements replacing Bob Stinson. He was with The Replacements until 1991 when the band called it quits. Slim then toured with Dan Baird lead vocalist for the Georgia Satellites to promote Dan’s Solo album Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired.

 Prior to The Replacements gig he was in two other bands Thumbs Up and Spooks fronted by Curtis A. Slim also recorded two solos albums The Old New Me and Times Like This.

On Sunday morning, February 19, 2012 Bob suffered a severe stroke, hitting his head when he fell. His stroke was difficult to treat because he was bleeding internally from the blow to his head from the fall. Doctors did what they could to save as much brain tissue as possible, but the damage was significant. Slim is currently at home being cared for by his wife Chrissie and has frequent visits from family and friends.

If you live outside of the Continental US contact me and we can discuss shipping options.