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.