Munich, West Germany September 1, 1980Photo by Didi Zill
Munich, West Germany September 1, 1980
Photo by Didi Zill
Having been introduced to the band via an apprentice of his that had become Ace's guitar tech, Steve Carr built some truly memorable instruments for KISS. He built a whole stable of Axes for Gene in 1979 and he then worked on Ace's first flasher for the Return of KISS tour. In 1980 he built the Carr Star guitar for Paul. The star-shaped guitar had a rhinestone-covered top, a relief logo overlend EMG pickup, star inlays, a custom star/sword inlay on the headstock, and, according to some sources, an attachment on the back that allowed for the guitar to be spun overhead. The headstock also features an inlay of Steve Carr's "logo".
Despite being a good idea—extending Paul's character to the instrument he played—the guitar itself obviously didn't gain any appeal. It was only used for a scant few playback TV appearances. The most wellknown was the Rockpop taping as seen in the photos below. (There were photographers from several German rock magazines present, hence the photos.)
Despite seemingly never making it on stage the gutar was still part of the rotation when the band traveled to Australia in November. Since it was evidently part of the backstage lineup of guitars it appears to have had at least a role as a backup. Once again it was brought out for a TV appearance, the lip-synched version of "Is That You?" for Countdown that was filmed in Perth in early November.
Before it was relegated to the warehouse to collect dust, the Carr Star was brought on the short trip to Mexico in September 1981. It was used for the taping of "I Was Made For Lovin' You" for Aplausos on September 25 which is a little odd as Paul had also brought the white Hamer Vector which he used for "Charisma". Since they were only lip-synching it seems a little excessive that he brought two guitars.
The Carr Star was in the Butterfields auction (Lot 1610) and it has been auctioned several times since then. In auction photos it becomes clear that the guitar actually was prepared for stage use. First of all, one of the screw-in loops that Paul used to secure his guitar strap had been moved so that it wouldn't protrude from the back of the guitar. In the auction photo below you can see the hole where it used to be. Secondly, the control cavity has been taped over. This was done to protect the cover for the 9 volt battery compartment.
