Instruments of Creativity

INSTRUMENTS OF CREATIVITY

BEAUTY IS BEAUTY, AN aesthetic ideal toward which creative people

all strive. When your mode is essentially sculptural—in the case of motorcycles, for example—it makes perfect sense for a guitar company such as Gibson to turn toward three of the most accomplished custom motorcycle builders of our time for inspiration. And so the "Three Kings of Custom"

guitars were born. Arlen Ness, Dave Perewitz and Donnie Smith worked with (libson's Cus tom Shop to create electric guitars to accompany special custom Harleys con structed by each builder. The Ness piece echoes

his prolific stylized "A" logo, while Smith's is shaped like a gas tank, complete with filler cap. Perewitz, meanwhile, heeded the advice of his friend and customer Brad Whitford of Aerosmith and stuck with a classic Les Paul shape.

“Dave and I talked about doing some crazy things, using a lot of metal, chrome, maybe skulls for tuning keys,” said Whitford who plans to play Perewitz’s creation on his band’s current “Honkin’ on Bobo” tour. “But the more I thought about it, the more I thought he should stay with a traditional guitar shape and give it one of his signature flame paint jobs. I think the things Arlen and Donnie came up with are cool, but they’re not going to appeal to real guitar players.”

While there were no Aerosmith sightings at the Daytona Bike Week unveiling, Lynryd Skynyrd was on hand. Sadly, not one lighter was raised and no one shouted “Freebird.”

Mark Hoyer