The “Number One” guitar, the earliest approved production model of the famed Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, is being sold by his son Gene.

Also known as Black Beauty, it is estimated to be worth between US$100,000 (RM418,000) and US$150,000, Christie’s says.

“I’d have to say, what’s the Wright brother’s first plane worth? What’s Thomas Edison’s first light bulb worth? The Paul guitar, the Les Paul Number One, was his crowning achievement,” Gene said yesterday.

As acoustic guitars were losing their dominance, Gibson and Les Paul got together in the early 1950s to come up with a solid-body electric guitar.

The instrument he produced became one of the most iconic electric guitars, played by the likes of Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck and Duane Allman.

“And what rock ‘n’ roll guitarists in the early ’60s realised is that this is a perfect machine,” Gene added.

“It’s an instrument that can be turned up to its full volume, plugged into a 100W amp stack amplifier, with the ability to create a distortion when it’s turned up that loud that is controllable.”