John Lennon - Les Paul Junior

John Lennon purchased a new Gibson Les Paul Junior with a tobacco sunburst finish sometime in the early 1970’s.

Lennon took his Les Paul to New York luthier Ron DeMarino to be modified. Lennon suggested that he would like DeMarino to install a humbucker pickup.

Instead of the requested humbucker, DeMarino installed a "Charlie Christian" pickup, which had a narrow string-sensing blade and produced a clear sound. 

Lennon later returned the instrument to DeMarino and asked him to sand off the sunburst finish to a bare mahogany wood finish.

Early 1970's Gibson Les Paul Junior - Mahogany

Leslie West - Les Paul Junior

Introduced by Gibson in 1954 as a no frills student model, the Les Paul Junior roared into rock consciousness when Leslie West of Mountain picked one up.

From an interview on "The Gear Page":

“The Les Paul Junior is a tree with a pickup on it,” says West.

“I was in the studio with Felix Pappalardi and the guitar I had wouldn’t stay in tune. Felix handed me a Junior and said, ‘Play this. It’ll stay in tune.’ It did, and from then on, I was hooked on Juniors."

"I never understood why people complained that it had only one pickup. I could roll off the treble and get that nice “woman tone” out of it, or I could play it full on. It’s just a basic guitar that plays great."

Les Paul Junior - Sunburst

Billie Joe Armstrong - "Floyd"

"Floyd" is a 1956 Les Paul Junior. Armstrong bought this guitar in 2000 just before recording the Green Day album Warning.

Armstrong also has his own signature line of Les Paul Junior guitars from Gibson which he has often used in more of the recent Green Day tours.

1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior - White