hennemusic

Last Saturday night at New York’s Beacon Theatre was a magical one for Peter Frampton.

The guitarist was reunited on stage - for the first time in more than three decades – with his prized Gibson Les Paul guitar, originally lost in a cargo plane crash in 1980.

It’s a remarkable story to behold: Peter rode his favorite guitar to the heights of solo stardom in the mid-70s with “Frampton Comes Alive,” the biggest selling album in music to that point. Some dicey career moves brought the guitarist back down to earth, and he was forced to rebuild his profile one step at a time.

Along the way, a 1980 cargo plane crash in Caracas, Venezuela took his beloved guitar away, and Frampton pressed on.

Two years ago, Peter was contacted about the lost guitar, finally reuniting with it in person.

After some repairs by the Gibson Custom Shop in Nashville, he unveiled his treasured instrument in New York as part of the “Frampton Comes Alive 35” road trip.

Frampton explains some of the story – and history – when he sat down with correspondent Anthony Mason on CBS Sunday Morning.

The guitar hero remains philosophical about the experience.

“If you think about it,” says Peter, “My career started to ebb and the guitar went away; things have been going remarkably well over the last few years…and I get my guitar back. It’s almost like the guitar said, ‘Ok, you’re worthy again.’”

Check the links at the end of the story for more background details on the Frampton guitar mystery.