The tale of Peter Frampton's 1954 Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty is nothing but miraculous.
There are few things worse to a guitar player than having your trusty guitar taken from you, but that is exactly what happened to Peter Frampton almost 40 years ago. Back in 1980, the band was flying to Panama and the gear went on a cargo plane that crashed on takeoff. The entire plane crew perished in the unfortunate accident, consuming the plane in a fire that burned for 6 hours. Only the tail section survived.
For almost 35 years Peter mourned the lost of his guitar, believing no other Gibson Les Paul could ever sound the same. He's probably correct.
Well.. It turns out that 5 guitars did survive the crash, the ones that were luckily stored near the tail in the cargo plane. Allegedly, the security guard at the crash site had taken the guitars and sold them for quick cash. For years, his beloved guitar was playing cover songs around Caracas until a luthier recognized the rare guitar and reach out to Mr. Frampton. It still took several years for negotiations to get the guitar back to him here in the states. As you can imagine, the owners were nervous about the implications of owning an obviously stolen iconic guitar.
Music City, is the nickname for many who visit the wonderful city of Nashville. It is one of my favorite places to visit, and I have to be honest, there is magic in the very air the hovers over that place. The owners of his 1954 Gibson Les Paul arrived at the hotel and presented to Peter this priceless guitar in the crap gig bag it had lived in for it's poor unfortunate stint in Caracas. Sitting on the usual ugly orange couch in the hotel room, Peter once again held the guitar that had catapulted him to fame.
Most guitarists who have lost their guitar in an accident or to thieves will never see that instrument again. The end up in pawn shops, or more likely painted and sold on the black market for a fraction of their worth, kidnaped and sold into a life of music slavery, with no hope of a rock and roll Liam Neeson to come and pluck them from their bleak existence. It is a sad end for any guitar.
But in this case, luck intervened, and a wise and honorable luthier from far away reach out to the owner and saved the day.
The 1954 Gibson Les Paul is back in it's owners loving arms, and there was much rejoicing.
Written by Patrick Capone