Guitar

Peter Frampton is performing a new composition with the Cincinnati Ballet, so the idea was to bring these two very different art forms together visually. But we couldn’t just use any guitar—any fan would’ve called out a fake. The custom Les Paul guitar Frampton plays is legendary, and the original (as used and seen on the album, Frampton Comes Alive!) was recently returned to him after being lost for decades and believed destroyed in a plane crash. (Here’s the NPR story: http://n.pr/zmAok1) Now that he got it back, he wasn’t letting it out of his sight. So the AD and photographer actually went to Peter Frampton’s house, pre-lit a dummy until Frampton brought the long lost guitar from his bedroom, set the dials to exactly how he plays it on stage, and nervously placed it in the rig. When it was over, the guitar was returned unharmed and Frampton’s one request upon seeing the roughs was that no retouching be done to the guitar in the final art. Which, of course, we honored. The result is a striking image, steeped in an authentic rock story. Hope you like it.