FREE SPIRIT
As well as being an author, authenticator of vintage guitars for Bonham’s auction house and a highly experienced repair and restoration specialist, Steve Clarke is also the man entrusted with the maintenance of Paul Kossoff’s iconic ‘Stripped Top’ 1959 Les Paul Standard, the instrument Koss used to play the Isle of Wight Festival and that he almost certainly used to cut Free’s enduring classic, All Right Now.
“I’m grateful that the guy who owns it today trusts me to be the only guy that will service it and keep it in good order,” Steve says. “So I’ve been lucky enough to be able to take the guitar apart and check it over in detail.”
As such, Steve was uniquely well placed to cut through the fog of myth that often swirls around such iconic guitars, driven by plausible – yet inaccurate – theories based on hearsay and speculation.
“The guitar was known to have a very, very slim neck so people on forums would say that Paul Kossoff had shaved the neck down,” Steve recalls. “And you’d think, ‘Wow, that’s interesting.’ You’d also
