Pete Townshend’s 1973 Gibson Les Paul Custom

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Pete Townshend’s 1973 Les Paul Custom that was demolished on stage at the Newcastle Odeon on November 7th 1973, in Newcastle England on the “Quadrophenia” tour. Pete’s guitar tech at that time kept the destroyed guitar and took it home. This is the exact same guitar that can be seen on the famous “The Kids Are Alright” promo poster “This guitar has seconds to live”.  There are also frame by frame photos of Pete smashing this guitar on November 7th in Newcastle and all breaks on the guitar can be matched up perfectly. The Who played November 5th,6th, and 7th in 1973 at the Newcastle Odeon and Dave Brewis (owner of Rock Stars Guitars) was at the show on November 5th. Dave remembers the guitar shop in Newcastle (Rock City Guitar Shop) that sold this Les Paul Custom to Pete on November 6th, due to his need for another Les Paul. And unfortunately, this Les Paul custom had a very short life. Greg Dorsett, owner of Rock Stars Guitars, is seen here in 1998 holding this 1973 Les Paul Custom and Pete’s Schecter Telecaster that was used to record “Eminence Front”.

We think that this is by far the greatest smashed Les Paul in the history of The Who.

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