When the Rolling Stones played The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Keith Richards played a 1959 Gibson Les Paul guitar with a sunburst finish — hence the instrument's eventual nickname, the Keithburst. The appearance helped to popularize the Les Paul, and that specific guitar has since taken on legendary status. In the '60s, Jimmy Page was photographed with the Keithburst at a recording session for Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, and Eric Clapton borrowed it for Cream's set at the 1966 Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival. Its trajectory since then is under dispute.
Mick Taylor, who played guitar for the Stones between 1969 and 1974, has long asserted that he bought the Keithburst from a road manager for the Stones in 1967, when he was still a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and that he brought the guitar back into Stones world when he joined the band. Taylor was photographed playing the guitar with the Stones, including in his 1969 debut with the band at London's Hyde Park. Per Taylor's account — which was repeated in Stones historian Andy Babiuk's 2013 book Rolling Stones Gear — the Keithburst was among the eight guitars stolen in 1971 while the Stones were staying at the Villa Nellcôte mansion on the French Rivera working on Exile On Main St.
The Keithburst was one of 500 vintage guitars donated to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art this year in what the Met called a "landmark gift" from collector Dirk Ziff. It's now on display at the Met. Three weeks ago Taylor's manager, Marlies Damming, told the New York Post that the Keithburst had "disappeared" in the 1971 theft and should be returned to Taylor, its rightful owner. He now tells the New York Times, "We would like the Metropolitan Museum to make the guitar available so that we can inspect it, and confirm its provenance one way or the other." But the Met disputes Taylor's version of the story. "This guitar has a long and well-documented history of ownership," a rep for the museum tells the NYT.
No one disputes that Taylor played the Keithburst during his tenure with the Stones. But according to the Met, Richards never sold the guitar to Taylor, instead holding onto it until 1971. Per the museum's provenance, ownership transferred to Adrian Miller in 1971, but there's no record of how Miller, who died in 2006, obtained it. Miller later sold the instrument to Cosmo Verrico, a guitarist for Heavy Metal Kids; Verrico told the Times he doesn't know how Miller got ahold of the guitar. The Keithburst went up for auction at Christie’s in 2004 but was not sold when it did not fetch the intended price. In 2006, the Swedish producer Peter Svensson bought it. Then, a decade later, it made it to Ziff.
Ziff loaned the Keithburst to the Met for the 2019 exhibit "Play It Loud," which later went on display at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Richards, who has not been reached by comment for anyone regarding this controversy, was involved in promotions for that exhibit, and according to the Met, he was aware that his old Les Paul guitar was featured. Taylor has also not spoken about this controversy, instead allowing Damming to represent him.
And Keith had the coolest 59 Les Paul, the "Keithburst". The color dyes fade with UV. pic.twitter.com/tmQv1pLfMo
— Thiago ⚡ (@HODL_MFER) May 31, 2025
