Gibson Peter Frampton "Phenix" 1954 Les Paul Custom Ebony Aged and Signed #23

Phoenix from the ashes

With the Phenix, he Gibson Custom Shop presents an authentic replica of the legendary 1954 Les Paul Custom , which Peter Frampton accompanied for many years and was considered lost for 30 years after a plane crash over Venezuela.

Originally Peter Frampton received the Humbucker from 1954, modified Les Paul Custom with three Humbuckers, as a present from a fan during the Humble Pie USA tour in 1970. Until then Frampton played mainly Hollow Body instruments, which tended to give strong feedback especially with solos. During a performance at the legendary Club Fillmore West Mark Mariana left him the Les Paul Custom one that was insensitive to feedback due to its construction. Peter Frampton immediately fell in love with this Instrument and its unique sound. In the following ten years, the 1954 Les Paul Custom became his trademark and became the Cover best-selling live album of all time, "Frampton Comes Alive!", an absolute icon of rock history.

In November 1980, the paths of Peter Frampton and his 1954 Les Paul Custom brother separated tragically: The cargo plane, which was supposed to Panama bring its equipment from Venezuela to South America for the tour, crashed shortly after take-off and was completely destroyed. The guitar had been lost ever since. Until she appeared surprisingly at the end of 2011.

After the crash, the guitar, which had survived the accident in a relatively undamaged condition, was salvaged from the wreck by unknowns and found its way via detours into the hands of a guitarist from Curacao. He used it Les Paul Custom as his main instrument and had it repaired in 2010 by a customs officer and amateur guitarist, who, as an enthusiastic Frampton Fan , recognised what a treasure lay on his workbench and first contacted other experts to unambiguously identify the guitar.

After it became clear that they were indeed Frampton's legendary 1954 Les Paul Custom , which had risen from the ashes like a phoenix, two years of tough negotiations followed, at the end of which Frampton was reunited with his guitar.

Together with him, Frampton Gibson Custom Shop decided to put the guitar back into a playing condition, but to preserve its appearance with burn marks, scratches, and sometimes chipped bindings that should remind us of its history forever.

At the same time it was decided to make this unique guitar available to all guitarists in the form of a special edition limited to 35 copies, signed by Peter Frampton and artificially aged by Tom Murphy. So the replica bears all the traces that it collected Original during its 30-year odyssey, including the burned paint on the headstock.

In order to capture the sound of the legend as authentically as possible, three Tom Holmes Humbucker personally selected by Peter Frampton are used on each Phenix to sing every lick with their transparent PAF sound.

Functional Hardware in the form of the classic Tune -O-Matic/Stop Bar combination, indestructible Grover Rotomatics and Schaller Security Locks makes the Gibson Peter Frampton "Phenix" 1954 Les Paul Custom a true Player's Guitar that doesn't shy away from use on stage.