The consensus among aspiring rock guitarists today is that older instruments particularly the late "50s Les Pauls, Firebirds, Flying V's, and Stratocasters, were somehow "made better" and thus are more likely to produce that sound —the sound of Clapton, Page, Allman or some other such gunslinger of yesteryear. There's an unwritten wanted poster in every hip music store in Rockdom that reads: "Wanted, Dead or Alive 1958 Les Paul, alias Sunn Burst, last seen cruisin" for burgers in a Buick 6." Or a "59 maple neck Strat, veterah of countless high school sock hops at the mercy of Danny and the Invaders... Somehow the "feel" is there in that old beat up neck; something righteous about those cigarette burns in the headstoek. "Bet it was a Lucky Strike. Oh, Christ! I gotta have this one!! It's just like his!!!"

This peculiar totem-worship that permeates the free world and parts of New York owes much to the intrigue of antiquity but precious little to the intrinsic qualities of the original instruments themselves, not because there is no difference but because by the time a rock "n" roller gets through with a vintage guitar, the guitar's not a kid anymore. Jeff Beck's Les Paul (the dark burgundy one pictured on Blow by Blow) is one good example. Originally equipped with standard pickups, she was too noisy and not quite hot enough, so he had her routed out for big humbuckings (in a Swedish hospital) to accomodate his relentless assault. And although they haven't ended as lovers yet, Jeff has managed to break the neck of his beloved no less than three times. In fact, the Gibson neck was replaced long ago by a custom hand-made one. The white maple necked Strat that Jeff wielded on the cover of Wired is a relatively new one, an odious modern assembly-line zombie of an instrument in anyone else's hands, but a lethal weapon in Beck's. He not only uses the vibrato tailpiece better than any other rock guitarist on the scene today, he does it with very light gauge strings which he bends further than most players. It's surprising that he can play with such ferocity and finesse at the same time.

Compared to Beck, Peter Frampton is much more the gentleman who wouldn't dream of ramming his guitar's neck through a crackling speaker. Peter and his ebony mistress, a "54 Les Paul Custom (originally equipped with standard pickups; converted to humbuckings; third pickup added later to simulate the factory original triple pickup Custom built by Gibson in the late "50s) come alive together via stereo wiring and special effects. The wiring enables the sound men to create a very deep spatial effect by spreading out the bass and treble pickup signals, which enlarges the texture of Frampton's relatively small rock ensemble. And just as Clapton parlayed the wah-wah pedal to great.success, Frampton has embraced the latest (and easily the most exotic) special effects gadget since the fuzz box: the talk box. Shipped to you in a plain brown package complete with six-foot plastic tube, the talk box, or voice box, is nothing more than a high-frequency horn driver which takes the amplified signal and drives it through a plastic tube taped to the mike stand, The mouth cavity acts as a flexible resonant chamber in which the guitar's sounds ca'n be manipulated, offering the musician the ultimate in oral stimulation. It's to Peter's credit that he doesn't over-indulge in it, at least not in public. Anyway, howfarcan you go with an Earth shoe crowd?

Down the street at the Orpheum, the tennis shoe clad punk rock audience doesn't concern itself with such matters of discretion as the tasteful use of one's jowls; they're there to get off even if they have to suffer through some glimpse of musical talent in between the smoke bombs, flash paper and sideprops. Ace Frehley wears his guns lower than Cole Younger and fires from the hip with anything he can conjure up... (snake oil, John the Conqueror root, Dr. Tichenon's Antiseptic, Hadacol, Purple-Bark Sarsaparilla—he's tried "em all). Ace's approach to guitar owes more to Darby's Daredevils and Big Daddy Roth than to Leo Fender or Les Paul, and Frehley occupies himself on the road by searching out the local rock shops and junkyards for bizarre paraphernalia with which to modify his street rods. Among Kiss" arsenal are two identical black Gibson Flying V's used by Paul Stanley; an old Gibson EB-0 bass, also black; and several Frehley freak-outs: A cherry sunburst three pickup Les Paul Custom; a double cutaway Les Paul Standard equipped with two DiMarzio Super Distortion pickups and painted silver. The back of the body has been sculptured and contoured for easier upper register access; and finally Ace's own little monster, the smoking guitar. The front pickup of Frehley's showstopper is actually a piece of wood that has been painted to look like a humbucking which, when struck sharply with Ace's hand, swings away into the hollowed-out body and joins two wires connected to a battery pack mounted on the back of the guitar, thus creating the spark which ignites the smoke bombs lurking inside. The intense bright light is a projection lamp which is also driven by the battery. Not exactly a purist approach Ace, but I gotta hand it to ya—P.T. Barnum woulda been proud!!