Editing Neil Young (section)

===Guitars===
[[File:NeilYgretsch.jpg|thumb|250px|Young playing a [[Gretsch White Falcon]] in Cologne, June 19, 2009]]

In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' listed Young as eighty-third in its ranking of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" (although in a more recent version of the list, he has been moved up to seventeenth place), describing him as a "restless experimenter&nbsp;... who transform[s] the most obvious music into something revelatory".<ref>{{cite magazine|title=100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time – Neil Young|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-guitarists-of-all-time-19691231/neil-young-19691231|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=December 18, 2015|access-date=January 27, 2011}}</ref> Young is a collector of second-hand guitars, but in recording and performing, he uses frequently just a few instruments, as is explained by his longtime guitar technician Larry Cragg in the film ''[[Neil Young: Heart of Gold]]''. They include:
* a 1953 [[Gibson Les Paul]] named "[[Old Black]]" acquired in early 1968 in a trade with then [[Buffalo Springfield]] bassist, arranger and engineer [[Jim Messina (musician)|Jim Messina]]. It began as a Goldtop that has been customized extensively over the years. Aside from replacing the (non-standard as of 1953) stop-tailpiece with a [[Bigsby vibrato tailpiece|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 Young's first solo LP. According to personal hands-on testimony, acquired during the Crazy Horse gig at the Troubadour on 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) [[Tune-o-matic|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The story of Neil Young's "Old Black" |url=https://guitar.com/features/opinion-analysis/story-of-neil-young-old-black/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Guitar.com {{!}} All Things Guitar |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=published |first=Rod Brakes |date=2021-11-12 |title=Listen to the Exemplary Firebird Pickup Tones of Neil Young’s ‘Old Black’ Gibson Les Paul |url=https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/listen-to-the-exemplary-firebird-pickup-tones-of-neil-youngs-old-black-gibson-les-paul |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=GuitarPlayer |language=en}}</ref>
* a late 1950s [[Gretsch White Falcon]] purchased by Young near the end of the [[Buffalo Springfield]] era. In 1969, he bought a version of the same vintage guitar from Stephen Stills, and this instrument is featured prominently during Young's early 1970s period, and can be heard on tracks like "[[Ohio (CSNY song)|Ohio]]", "[[Southern Man (song)|Southern Man]]", "Alabama", "Words (Between the Lines of Age)", and "L.A.". It was Young's primary electric guitar during the ''[[Harvest (Neil Young album)|Harvest]]'' (1972) era, since Young's deteriorating back condition (eventually fixed with surgery) made playing the much heavier Les Paul (a favorite of his named [[Old Black]]) difficult.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=David|last=Simons|title=Recording Harvest: The Making of Neil Young's Classic 1972 Album|magazine=Acoustic Guitar|issue=103|date=July 2001|pages=38–40}}</ref>
[[File:Neil_Young_in_Nottingham_2009_(k).jpg|thumb|250px|Neil playing Old Black in Nottingham, 2009]]