Billy Gibbons
Latest Billy Gibbons news, guitars, gear, music, performances, and collaborations covered by Guitar Radar.
Guitar Radar has 2 stories about Billy Gibbons, tracking new music, tours, collaborations and gear. Most of it sits under gear and players. The most recent story, from Sep 3, 2026, is “Gibson Custom builds 30 forensic replicas of Billy Gibbons' “Pearly Gates” Les Paul, sold only through a private Nashville event”. Coverage here goes back to Aug 29, 2026.
About Billy Gibbons
Billy Gibbons is the guitarist and singer of ZZ Top and one of rock's best-known gear collectors, with a technician reportedly counting around 450 guitars. His best-known instrument is the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard "Pearly Gates", which he bought for $250 and played through a 100-watt Marshall; Gibson has made a Custom Shop Collector's Edition replica of it.
He played a Gibson Melody Maker as a teenager, owns a pink Stratocaster given to him by Jimi Hendrix, and has worked with builder John Bolin on Telecaster-style guitars. His live tone comes from modified Marshall heads, and Seymour Duncan makes signature pickups for him, including the Hades Gates humbucker set and the Red Devil Telecaster bridge pickup.
Sources: Ground Guitar: Billy Gibbons' guitars and gear · Guitar Player: Billy Gibbons Seymour Duncan Red Devil and Hades Gates
Stories
Gibson Custom builds 30 forensic replicas of Billy Gibbons' “Pearly Gates” Les Paul, sold only through a private Nashville event
A 3D-scanned, Murphy Lab-aged recreation of the ZZ Top frontman's 1959 Les Paul Standard, priced at $39,999 and hand-signed by Gibbons.
Sep 3, 2026
Frank Beard, ZZ Top's drummer for more than five decades, dies at 77
Beard died on 17 August at his Texas ranch; Billy Gibbons says ZZ Top will keep performing, and the band played its first show without him five days later.
Aug 29, 2026