The Blessing Burst

The Blessing Burst, a 1960 sunburst Les Paul on a fundraising mission for Homes for Our Troops!

The guitar has been touring with Bonamassa since February 2022, and will be sold through CVG. 100% of proceeds will go to Homes For Our Troops

The Blessing was named by Richard Head, who was a teenager with rock star aspirations when he found the guitar at Elyria Music in Elyria, OH in 1967. It already had a faded cherry sunburst finish from being displayed in store windows, and it had a repaired neck break. Head thought the sound of the PAF humbuckers and the comfortable neck profile would be a blessing to his music, and he bought the guitar for $350.

Head played the Blessing Burst through several decades of musical adventures, including the regionally popular band Square Orange, an audition with Edgar Winter, opening-act concerts with the Cleveland group Reign, and eventually to Head’s Songbird Studio in Atlanta.

In the 1990s, Head became marketing director for Gibson, with the responsibility of launching Gibson’s Historic Collection. He loaned the Blessing Burst to Gibson to be spec’d for the Les Paul Reissues, and the Blessing was pictured in the Historic Collection catalog of 1994.

Head continued to play Blessing after his retirement from the guitar business in 1996. In February 2022, he said, “I decided it was time to let Blessing do what it does best again… inspire people with music.” Blues-rock star Joe Bonamassa took Blessing on worldwide tour dates. In a video, Bonamassa recalled being offered the guitar. “I get to play a cool guitar for a year and a lot of people benefit from it?” he said. “Sold!”

Richard and Joe have agreed to locate Blessing at Carter Vintage presently in order to be put to work by others. Marcus King has agreed to perform with Blessing at the Ryman on September 29-30. And Blessing is to be put in the hands of many other great players soon. Updates will be posted on Carter Vintages Web Page as well as Blessings Instagram page @Blessingburst.

The blessings provided by this guitar will continue to grow, Head says. “For 55 years now Blessing and I have gone down many roads in the music business and Blessing has always worked hard and performed. Blessing is certain to provide more goodwill going forward.”

Homes For Our Troops (HFOT) is a publicly funded 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that builds and donates specially adapted custom homes nationwide for severely injured post-9/11 Veterans, to enable them to rebuild their lives. HFOT has built more than 345 homes to date, with another 65+ projects underway nationwide.