Guitars

Goldtop Les Paul (The fish guitar): R.I.P.

Gibson reissue 1960 Les Paul Gold Top

Johnny originally bought this guitar as an onstage back up for Lucky Number Seven during the recording sessions for "The Golden Age" but then ended up using it extensively, until its untimely death onstage at the Fillmore in San Francisco in 2000 (best left unsolved). He had the Gold Top customized to approximate the sound and playability of Lucky Number Seven with identical pickups and locking tremelo system. To give it a unique appearance, he added the school of trout swimming across the front of the body which gave it its nickname among Cracker fans. It was also used in the studio on several Golden Age tracks, including the haunting guitar intro and solo in "Big Dipper," the anthem-like guitar solo in "Useless Stuff," and at least one track on the completely mad "100 Flower Power Maximum" (the music for which was originally written on the Strat).