Old Black is a 1953 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop that has been customized extensively over the years. The instrument was traded for a '58 Gretsch 6120 with Jim Messina, the acting bassist and engineer for the Buffalo Springfield (and Neil's first solo album in 1968). Aside from replacing the (non-standard as of 1953) stop-tailpiece with a Bigsby B-3 vibrato tailpiece, by 1969 the guitar had changed little from what Messina handed him. It was featured prominently on a host of Springfield demos and was the sole electric guitar used on Neil Young's first solo LP. According to personal hands-on testimony, acquired during the Crazy Horse gig at the Troubadour, Sunday, April 22, 1969, (w/sit-in by Stephen Stills) the guitar sported a Rowe-De Armond M5-A bridge coil, Bigsby B-3 vibrato tailpiece, a (shaved, non-standard) ABR-1 Tune-o-matic bridge, chromed brass pickguard, truss rod cover plate and aluminum cover on the neck P-90 coil, Grover C-102 'Roto-matic tuners, an added 1/8" ebony headstock facia with thin crème binding, pearl inlays of the Gibson logo, the 335 'wheat-stack' and a lustrous black lacquer over-spray on the entire neck and body.