This is my latest electric guitar, an Epiphone Les Paul Black Beauty. It's based around the famous Gibson Les Paul Standard design, but technically it's a custom model, because it's got three humbuckers. To show off the Black Beauty's capabilities, I recorded the opening riff to "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" by The Darkness. You can hear it here (80kb MP3; not great quality, turn your volume up first). Thanks to Zoogy for hosting.

     

I was originally after the Epiphone Les Paul Standard in ebony, but after Spectre failed to procure one for me, they offered to cut me a deal on this more expensive model - I could have it for only a few pounds more than I had already paid for the Standard. Aesthetically speaking, I prefer the white pick-guard on the Standard, but all the gold on the Black Beauty makes up for missing out on that.

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't the likes of Jimmy Page and Slash who first attracted me to the Les Paul Standard design. Which is one reason I avoided the cliched sunburst design. Though the main reason was because ebony just looked so much better. Black Beauty indeed...

And this is my new amp (next to the old one). It is a Marshall MG30DFX.