John Lennon didn't care about vintage purity. To him, a guitar was a tool, sometimes a weapon, and often a canvas. If it didn't do what he wanted, he changed it. Simple as that.
While most people picture John with his Rickenbacker 325 or the stripped-down Epiphone Casino from the rooftop concert, there is another instrument that captures his post-Beatles "New York" energy perfectly. I'm talking about the John Lennon Les Paul Junior.
This wasn't some off-the-shelf signature model he endorsed for a check. It started as a humble, mid-1950s Gibson Les Paul Junior in Tobacco Sunburst. At the time, these were "student" guitars—basically the cheap seats of the Gibson catalog. But Lennon saw something in it. Or rather, he heard something.
The Ron DeMarino Mods: Turning a Student Guitar into a Beast
Sometime in the early 1970s, John met a luthier named Ron DeMarino in Long Island. John wasn't a gear nerd in the modern sense. He reportedly told DeMarino he wanted "humberdinker" pickups (yes, his word for humbuckers). He was looking for a thicker, beefier sound for his solo work, something that could handle the raw, distorted rock he was moving toward.
DeMarino knew better.
Instead of slapping in a standard humbucker, he suggested a Charlie Christian pickup for the neck position. This was a legendary jazz pickup from the 1930s, known for a very specific, clear-but-warm fidelity. It was a weird choice for a rock guitar, but that’s exactly why it worked.
What actually happened to the wood
The modifications were pretty invasive. You've got to understand that 1950s Juniors only had one pickup (a bridge P-90). To fit the Charlie Christian pickup, DeMarino had to:
- Route a massive chunk out of the mahogany body.
- Add a three-way toggle switch.
- Wire in a separate volume and tone circuit (though Lennon eventually kept the controls pretty sparse).
The back of the guitar actually has a large mahogany plate covering the extensive routing work needed to fit the Charlie Christian's oversized magnets. It’s not "clean" by modern custom shop standards. It’s a hack job in the best possible way.
From Sunburst to Raw Wood to Cherry Red
Lennon had a habit of stripping finishes. He did it to his J-160E and his Casino, believing that the wood "breathed" better without the heavy nitrocellulose or poly finish. He asked DeMarino to sand the sunburst off the Les Paul Junior, leaving it in a raw, natural mahogany state.
This is the version of the guitar that became iconic.
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If you look at photos from the One to One benefit concert at Madison Square Garden on August 30, 1972, you’ll see it. John is wearing the olive drab army shirt, his hair is long, and he’s hammering away at this pale, naked Gibson. It looked rebellious. It sounded like a chainsaw through a velvet curtain.
Interestingly, the guitar didn't stay "naked" forever. Later on, it was refinished in a transparent Cherry Red, which is how it sits today in the John Lennon Museum in Saitama, Japan.
The Hardware Swap: Goodbye Wraparound
The original 1950s Junior featured a "wraparound" bridge. It’s great for resonance but a nightmare for intonation. If you wanted to play perfectly in tune across the whole neck, you were out of luck.
Lennon (or DeMarino) decided to ditch it. They plugged the original holes and installed a Tune-O-Matic bridge with a separate stopbar tailpiece. This gave John the stability he needed for the aggressive rhythm playing that defined his style. He once called himself a "rhythmer," and this guitar was built to be hit hard.
Why collectors obsess over the 2007 Reissue
In 2007, the Gibson Custom Shop released an "Inspired By" series of this guitar. They only made 300 of them. Honestly, they are some of the most detailed replicas Gibson has ever produced.
They didn't just copy the specs; they copied the soul of the modded original.
- Aged Finish: They replicated the look of the sanded mahogany, even including "cigarette burns" on the headstock.
- The Pickup Combo: It features a Dog Ear P-90 in the bridge and that specific Charlie Christian blade pickup in the neck.
- The Oddities: It even has the two thumbwheels on the treble side of the bridge, just like Lennon’s had.
These reissues now command five-figure prices on the used market. Why? Because it represents Lennon at his most "New York." It's the sound of Instant Karma! and Cold Turkey.
Real-World Insights for Players
If you’re trying to chase this tone without spending $15,000 on a collector's piece, you can actually get close. The magic isn't in the mahogany—it's in the pickup mismatch.
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The P-90 is mid-heavy and growly. The Charlie Christian neck pickup is hi-fi and percussive. When you toggle to the middle position, you get a "cluck" that you just can't get from a Strat or a standard Les Paul.
If you're modding your own Junior:
- Don't be afraid to route. But maybe have a pro do it. The Charlie Christian pickup requires a deep, specific cavity.
- Check your strings. Lennon famously used light gauges (likely .009s or .010s) despite his heavy right hand. This contributed to that "jangly-but-dirty" rhythm sound.
- The "Aged" factor. Don't worry about keeping it pristine. This guitar was born from a desire to make an old tool work better.
The John Lennon Les Paul Junior stands as a testament to a specific moment in music history. It was the bridge between the mop-top era and the gritty, political, solo-artist era. It’s a weird, beautiful, modified mess. Just like the man himself.
To truly understand this guitar, go back and watch the footage of the Madison Square Garden show. Watch how John attacks the strings during "Mother" or "Well Well Well." You aren't just hearing a Gibson; you're hearing a luthier's experiment being pushed to its absolute limit by a man who had nothing left to prove to the world.
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Next Steps for Your Tone Search
If you want to replicate this setup, look into Lollar Pickups. They make a Charlie Christian model specifically designed to fit into a P-90 route with minimal wood removal, which might save you the headache Ron DeMarino faced back in '72. You'll get that clarity without having to carve a hole through the back of your favorite guitar.