Reading, Massachusetts November 1976Photographer unknown
By 1976 the fast-growing level of fame brought with it a special perk, it was easier to find good guitars. Not only did the band suddenly have money to burn, people brought them guitars to buy. "When we would tour, the word was out that I was looking for guitars and people would be waiting at the backstage area when we would pull in with guitars cases." (Metal Edge Presents KISS Alive, 1996) The only problem could be that the prices sometimes got pushed a little high. Paul has claimed that he used the Gibson double-neck EDS-1275 shown here while recording "King of the Night Time World" during the Destroyer sessions which means he bought it in January of 1976 at the latest.
"The Gibson double-neck was from my guitar collection. It was a fairly rare 1967 factory Sunburst I got on the road for about $700 from a guy in Indiana who collected double-necks." (Metal Edge Presents KISS Alive, 1996) KISS made their way through Indiana twice during November and December of 1975 so perhaps that's when Paul bought this beauty. Whether or not it could be considered a "factory" guitar is a bit of a matter of opinion since the range of double-necks Gibson offered in the late 60's were explicitly mentioned in the 1964 and '66 catalogs as being custom-built by the Gibson Custom Shop. Shown here is said double-neck during the filming of "Hard Luck Woman" for Don Kirschner's Rock Concert. Note the really long head of the 12-string neck.
The EDS-1275 disappeared from the Gibson catalog after 1966 and didn't return until 1978. But they were custom-built anyway so for the Winter Tour of 1976 Paul got himself a new double-neck (presumably to not have to bring out his rare sunburst on the road). This one was black, which was one of the available colors of the 1966 catalog listing of the EDS-1275, but this instrument was definitely made in the 70's as we shall see in a minute. As was Paul's wont there have been a few changes to the guitar from the get-go. The pickguard has been replaced with a mirror one and the bridge pickup for both necks have been replaced with his favored DiMarzios. Although it hardly qualifies as a modification it's interesting to note that the top neck—although it had a 12-string headstock—looks to only have been strung with six strings.
For the Winter Tour the EDS-1275 didn't really get much action. KISS Alive Forever has "Hard Luck Woman" as part of the set for the show in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 4 so that's most probably what the double-neck was used for. Since we know that "Hard Luck Woman" was only played a handful of times the double-neck was probably only part of proceedings in December, and to date these are the only two photos of the EDS-1275 from this particular tour. (Interested parties can quickly verify that the double-neck was not part of the show in Detroit, Michigan on January 29, 1977, nor was it used on February 18 at Madison Square Garden either.
Once the band hit the road in support of Love Gun on the Can-Am Tour there were two songs in the setlist which required a capo: "Hooligan" and "Makin' Love". For the first half of the tour the Gibson Explorer handled both duties and Paul's guitar tech just moved the capo as there were more than a couple of songs between the two. Some time in August the setlist changed a little—the first confirmed setlist like this in KISS Alive Forever is from August 16—and the songs ended up closer to each other and then finally ending up being played back-to-back by late August. (First setlist in KISS Alive Forever that have the songs back-to-back is actually August 26 but based on the pic shown here I will assume that this change happened by August 22 at the latest.)
This appears to be the same EDS-1275 that made a few brief appearances during the Winter Tour—still strung with only six strings on the top neck—but with a capo at the first fret for "Makin' Love" on one neck and a capo at the 7th fret for "Hooligan" on the other neck. For the first show in Los Angeles the 1st fret capo was on the top neck but for subsequent shows it appears to have been on the lower neck. Chances are that Paul initially didn't have a preference but soon figured out that having the 1st fret capo on the lower neck was more comfortable.
These photos give us good look at the headstock of the 12-string neck which tells us that this undoubtedly was a 70's EDS-1275. The 1966 catalog version—and the 1967 one used for "Hard Luck Woman" video as shown above—had individual full-size Kluson tuners with plastic tulip-style heads which necessitated the impossibly long headstock. Although I don't know for sure what year the move happened, by 1975 Gibson had moved to inline Gibson Deluxe tuners with oval heads which allowed for a much shorter head, the kind that's on Paul's EDS-1275 here.
"Hooligan" didn't stay in the setlist past the Can-Am Tour. When only one song required a capo there was no need for a double-neck on stage and the black EDS-1275 was retired from stage duty.
