boozeball Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 Incredible story! A true piece of rock and roll history has been returned to its rightful owner.
BigKahune Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 . Good for Peter. And kudos to those fans and other's that tracked the guitar down and returned. Thanks for pointing out a great story. . B) .
cjmwrx Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 That is awesome! The Custom shop will have that looking good as new in no time flat.
Geert1976 Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 I posted this story a month ago, on this forum (in the lounge), but it was removed from this forum. I think Gibson did'nt want it in the news then. here is de thread on the Dutch guitarforum, started on 1 december 2011: http://www.gitaarnet.nl/forum/showthread.php?151005-Primeur-voor-Gitaarnet-..Gibson-Les-Paul-custom-1954-van-Peter-Frampton....
pippy Posted January 3, 2012 Posted January 3, 2012 Don't worry Geert1976, some of us older-hands appreciated your original thread! I certainly did! P.
Bender 4 Life Posted January 4, 2012 Posted January 4, 2012 i'm wondering now if that guitar perhaps never made it onto the plane, or if it was in a land-crash and wasn't destroyed. I can certainly understand being glad to have it back, but OMG i'd want blood from whoever grabbed it back in '80. I can't wait to hear that geet again.......his replacements "just ain't the same" !!
RowdyMoon Posted January 4, 2012 Posted January 4, 2012 Still a crazy story ....hmm Could us forum peeps make a hollywood movie here? Who wants to play Peter?..hehe
djroge1 Posted January 4, 2012 Posted January 4, 2012 Excellent story. Too bad it's not in the lounge. I agree and disagree with you guitarest. Yes it is a guitar that may have a similar sound to others but you know as well as I do that guitars feel a certain way which can cause a player to play a certain way. Sure one can adapt to a new instrument but there will always be a comfort level for certain instruments. Frampton mentioning those who passed away in the crash and keeping things in perspective is a class act.
LOSTVENTURE Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 Am I the only one that read the article? The press is calling that guitar a 1954. Does this not present a problem to any of you? Like the fact that those humbuckers were not available untill 1957. Don
Spot Posted January 8, 2012 Posted January 8, 2012 Incredible story! A true piece of rock and roll history has been returned to its rightful owner. Great post, thanks!
Marshall Paul Posted November 3, 2014 Posted November 3, 2014 Am I the only one that read the article? The press is calling that guitar a 1954. Does this not present a problem to any of you? Like the fact that those humbuckers were not available untill 1957. Don G'day Don, Very astute! I'll post for your gratification a reply I posted in another area recently, it clears up a lot of questions. The issue of the specs on the original FCA guitar can (finally) be cleared up if anyone is interested. The guitar is a '54 Custom....and that's where the similarity ends. What happened was this. It obviously survived throughout the '50s and most of the '60s, through many hands, primarily intact as is, until...someone(?) decided he wanted to convert it to a Black Beauty. So the router came out and, bingo, a third pup was installed. Now, remember if you can, the hot item pups back then making the end of '60s and early '70s rock sound were the 490R and 498T's (the original hot alnico sisters). Comming on the tail of these, early '70s, were the 496R and 500T hot ceramic sisters. All the hot axe men of the time were playing around with these pups. So, when the third route was done.....(wait for it!)....installed were brand new pups from the factory, and they were as follows. 496R neck, 498T mid, and a thumping 500T bridge. Although the pole pieces on the 498 didn't exactly line up, it still worked. The 498, although a bridge pup, was simply bumped over to the mid position. The reason for the line up like that was the resistance and the power (keep in mind, this was all they had to play around with output power wise at the time, so these four pups were the hottest ticket out). Now, by this time Steve aquires the instrument (when exactly, no-one knows but the point is he's got it now). He gives it to Pete (very generous fellow!) and pete falls in love. Plugged through Pete's chain and then the amps and cabs and you had that very distinctive Frampton sound. Then the axe dies ( a moments silence please). But Pete and Gibson don't know what the pups were except for the bridge (500T). This was because at one time Pete had the 500T re-soldered at the factory (keep in mind, it's an old instrument and wiring does degrade). So, they knew what the bridge was but not what the other two were. When Gibson re-built a new guitar for Pete, every one assumed that because of the age of the guitar that it would have had '57s in it (remember the age...big clue). So, the next one had the "57, '57+, 500T configuration, and everything following including everything everyone else is getting now is that way. Who out there has aquired one of the signiture models, played it and thought, "Yeah, close,......but?" This is why. I have. Reason for the true identity of the other two? Shortly after Pete was given it, it wound up in the factory having some unrelated work done on it (re-fretting actually). The guy who worked on it peeked at everything else in it just to be thorough. He shortly after left Gibson for other work. But, HE knew.So, if you and anyone else want's to REALLY replicate Pete's FCA sound, buy a nice ebony Custom, a set of 496, 498 and 500 pups, find a good lutier, and have him do what the original went through. Then you'll have a real Frampton guitar. Trust me, it's worth it, I have two converted myself, and I know what the real sound was. I was around when Pete was in Humble Pie, Camel and when he went solo and I was around when FCA came out. Oh, and by the way, the newer models don't have the original period vol/tone knobs that were on the FCA guitar. Speed knobs didn't come out until after then. Speculation and arguments cleared up guys, it's now up to you. p.s. By the way, closely related. Anyone wanting to replicate the real rock sound of the '70s, it's quite simple and straight forward. Buy a Les Paul Standard, rip the new pups out (and sell them to some wood duck on ebay!) and put in either the 490R/498T alnico sisters or the 496R/500T ceramic sisters. Easy! Don't mess around with trying to replicate the sound with these tweaked modern variations that only come close, go straight to the source. Gibson still make them, and for a very good reason! Just stop for a moment and think why that is. Sorry for the tome, nuff said. Good to see Pete has it back. Just meant to be......
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