Book excerpt: Initially created to add new colors and flavors to the sound of the electric guitar, effects pedals are so much more than just mere tools of the trade. Many stompboxes have become collectible, valuable, highly-fetishized objets d'art, often prized as much for their looks, quirks and history as for their basic sonic properties.Photographer Eilon Paz and writer/editor Dan Epstein-the creative team behind Stompbox: 100 Pedals of the World's Greatest Guitarists-have scoured the globe in search of some of the rarest, weirdest and most iconic stompboxes in existence, and Vintage & Rarities: 333 Cool, Crazy and Hard to Find Guitar Pedals is the eye-popping result. From primitive fuzzboxes and one-off prototypes to whimsical boutique creations and elaborate multi-effects units, Vintage & Rarities presents these incredible pedals in lustrous, exquisitely-detailed photographs, along with informative captions about their origins, construction and use.Vintage & Rarities also features profiles of 25 pedal collectors from the USA, England, France, Belgium, Portugal, Russia and Japan-including legendary musicians Adrian Belew, Henry Kaiser and David Torn, Beastie Boys producer Mario Caldato Jr., and celebrated pedal builders Oliver Ackermann (Death By Audio), Mike Piera (Analog Man) and Josh Scott (JHS)-all of whom share their personal tales of stompbox addiction, while offering additional insight into these fascinating devices.Vintage & Rarities will amaze, amuse and delight anyone who digs cool stompboxes-many pedals here have never been seen before, even by the most hardcore collectors-and it may even inspire an obsessive search for some vintage treasures of your own!