Dave Hunter wrote a fine piece about the guitar in 2008 on the Gibson Lifestyle site. The article is from the series "Get That Tone" and while the article on Neil's heavily modified 1953 goldtop (apparently crudely painted with black matte paint) is informative to the extent that the guitar's provenance and modification history is known, the promised instructions for getting that tone are disappointing:
Short of modifying two pieces of prized vintage gear and building your own Whizzer, run a bright but powerful guitar into a simple, low-output tube amp and give it all the gusto and emotion you can muster. That, in the end, is what’s at the heart of the Neil Young guitar solo after all.I think that a microphonic Firebird pickup and a Bigsby help a lot too, along with a handwired, hot-biased low-wattage tube amp.
From an interview with Neil Young roadie (or is it roadeye?) Larry Cragg:
Cradled in a stand in front of the amps is the fuse for the dynamite, Young's trademark ax Old Black, a '53 Gold Top Les Paul some knothead daubed with black paint eons ago. Old Black's features include a Bigsby wang bar, which pulls strings and bends notes, and a Firebird pickup so sensitive you can talk through it. It's a demonic instrument. "Old Black doesn't sound like any other guitar," said Cragg, shaking his head.
Link:
And here's Neil himself speaking at length about his gear, including the famous Whizzer.
Gibson has no doubt taken note of the sales potential of a Neil Young model Les Paul, perhaps an exact copy of Old Black, relic'ed. And no doubt that Neil won't let it happen in his lifetime.
Of course, one-offs by individual builders can fly under the radar, like this beautiful replica of Old Black built by Juha Mäntymaa of Finland.
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