Led Zeppelin Guitarist Jimmy Page’s ’59 Telecaster Animated Short Wins Annie Award For Best Commercial
Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Press
Writing via his official Instagram, Led Zeppelin‘s Jimmy Page has revealed that his The Mystical Journey of Jimmy Page’s ’59 Telecaster animated short has won a prestigious Annie Award.
Produced in conjunction with Fender and animation studio Nexus, the footage debuted in 2019.
Originally it accompanied a Fender advertisement for a 50th-anniversary remake of the notable guitar.
It was also used for a short documentary where Page recounted the instrument’s history.
“Over the moon to be going home with a prestigious Annie Award tonight,” Nexus writes via its Instagram. “Smith & Foulkes’ 2D animated short ‘The Mystical Journey of Jimmy Page’s ’59 Telecaster’ was awarded in the ‘Best Commercial’ category. Congratulations to the team, the Nexus studio and all fellow winners!”
While the guitarist’s Gibson Les Paul Sunburst guitar and double-headed Gibson model are more frequently associated with his work, it is the ’59 Telecaster he used to record many of Zeppelin’s most iconic songs.
Page originally acquired the guitar from fellow Yardbirds bandmember Jeff Beck.
After this, Page would have it decorated with its eye-catching dragon motif, something he would incorporate into his Zeppelin stage dress.
Jim would also employ the guitar to record Led Zeppelin’s most famous of all guitar solos on ‘Stairway to Heaven‘ in 1970.
The instrument would subsequently fall out of Page’s favor and was unfortunately destroyed when an overly eager artist friend decided to give it an unrequested paint job in the 1980s.
“I still have it,” Led Zeppelin‘s guitarist told Guitar World in 1998. “But it’s a tragic story. I went on tour with [a] ’59 Les Paul that I bought from Joe Walsh, and when I got back, a friend of mine had kindly painted over my paint job. He said, ‘I’ve got a present for you.’ He thought he had done me a real favor. As you can guess, I wasn’t real happy about that. His paint job totally screwed up the sound and the wiring, so only the neck pickup worked. I salvaged the neck and put it on my brown Tele string bender that I used in the Firm [in 1985 and 1986]. As for the body, it will never be seen again!”
It is believed that what is left of the guitar remains in Page’s possession.
