Some time during the summer of 1976 Ace got one of his longest-tenured guitars: a 1974 Cherryburst Les Paul Custom. According to Ace himself he got it "from Manny's Music in Manhattan, in the summer of 1976. It was originally a two-pickup and I added the middle pickup because I liked the look of the three-pickup Les Paul Custom". We should note, however, that at various times Ace has been less detailed in his remembrances. In 1996 he only recalled that "I think I bought it used, in good condition, in 1976 or 1977". Since we know that he started using the Cherry Custom in time for the 1976-77 Winter Tour, he definitely bought it in summer 1976.
And it wasn't just the fake middle pickup that was added to the Cherry Custom. As you can see below, the Cherryburst Les Paul Custom came with black plastic details and knobs, and Ace switched all those to creme. The two proper pickups became DiMarzio Super Distorsion and the Kluson waffle back tuners were changed to Grover Rotomatics with the "banjo-style" square pearloid knobs as was Ace's wont.
This new number one made its debut in the promo clip for "I Want You" that was filmed during rehearsals in Reading, Massachusetts in early November 1976. Unfortunately I don't have any stills from that particular taping, but the video is widely available on YouTube. Once the 1976-77 Winter Tour began, this Cherry Custom was the overwhelming favorite.
The fact that the Cherry Custom was such an overwhelming favorite makes the story of it one of the least interesting ones. Because after that initial modification to make it a (fake) three-pickup with creme plastic parts, nothing more really happened. Ace just used it for the majority of the show night after night. The Smoker did its part and the two-pickup black Custom was brought out here and there for the encores, but the Cherry Custom appears in so many photos from this period that it boggles the mind.
And this domination didn't change when the band got brand-spanking-new costumes for the CanAm Tour. The Cherry Custom was everywhere. Even though it appears to have had some minor issue along the way, it was the workhorse during the entire tour with the black Custom coming off the bench in select spots. So even though the photos I've chosen to illustrate this are comparatively few, just keep in mind that roughly 90% of every show was played using the Cherry Custom.
And it will probably be no great surprise that this trend continued into the Show of Shows/1977-78 Winter Tour. The Cherry Custom was part of the promo photos shot before the show, and then it just continued churning out riff after riff, and solo after solo for another couple of months.
Our Cherry Custom friend obviously made the 1978 trip to Japan, and then it ended the spring by getting ready for its closeup in that most excellent of all celluloid: KISS Meets the Phantom.
Under construction...
