LONDON (AP) \u2014 It\u2019s only rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, but it\u2019s messy.<\/p>\n
A guitar once played by two members of the Rolling Stones<\/a> is at the center of a dispute between the band\u2019s former guitarist Mick Taylor and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.<\/p>\n The 1959 Gibson Les Paul was donated to the Met as part of what the New York museum calls \u201ca landmark gift of more than 500 of the finest guitars from the golden age of American guitar making.\u201d The donor is Dirk Ziff, a billionaire investor and guitar collector.<\/p>\n When the Met announced the gift in May, Taylor thought he recognized the guitar, with its distinctive \u201cstarburst\u201d finish, as an instrument he last saw in 1971, when the Stones were recording the album \u201cExile on Main St.\u201d at Keith Richards\u2019 rented villa in the south of France.<\/p>\n In the haze of drugs and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll that pervaded the sessions, a number of instruments went missing, believed stolen.<\/p>\n Now, Taylor and his team believe it has reappeared. The Met says provenance records show no evidence the guitar ever belonged to Taylor.<\/p>\n \u201cThis guitar has a long and well-documented history of ownership,\u201d museum spokesperson Ann Bailis said.<\/p>\n Taylor\u2019s partner and business manager, Marlies Damming, said the Met should make the guitar \u201cavailable for inspection.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAn independent guitar expert should be able to ascertain the guitar\u2019s provenance one way or the other,\u201d she said in a statement Tuesday to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n While its ownership is contested, there\u2019s no disputing the instrument\u2019s starring role in rock history. It was owned in the early 1960s by Keith Richards, who played it during the Rolling Stones\u2019 first appearance on \u201cThe Ed Sullivan Show\u201d in 1964. The Met says that performance \u201cignited interest in this legendary model.\u201d<\/p>\n The guitar \u2013 nicknamed the \u201cKeithburst\u201d \u2013 was also played by guitar legends Eric Clapton<\/a> and Jimmy Page<\/a>. Taylor says he got it from Richards in 1967, two years before he joined the Stones, replacing original member Brian Jones. Jones died in 1969. <\/p>\n Taylor left the band in 1974, reuniting with them for the Stones\u2019 50th anniversary tour<\/a> in 2012-2013.<\/p>\n Jeff Allen, who was Taylor\u2019s manager and publicist for decades from the 1990s, said Taylor \u201ctold me he got it as a present from Keith,\u201d and also mentioned the theft.<\/p>\n \u201cMick did tell me that the guitar solo that he became quite famous for, on \u2018Can\u2019t You Hear Me Knocking,\u2019 was with the Les Paul that got stolen,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n