My Instruments

Fender Telecaster

My ‘tele’ was one of the first to come out of the Fender Mexican plant after it was opened in October 1995. I had it fitted with an extra ‘tele‘ bridge pickup and a 5-way switch which gives you that nice ‘in-between’ tone and still ‘cuts’ like a ‘tele’ should but has more ‘body’. It’s a superb instrument for country and rock & roll sounds.

Gibson Les Paul gold top

I bought this guitar second-hand to replace my first Les Paul which was stolen! Apart from being a great playing and sounding instrument, I was attracted to its crazed antique greeny-gold finish. It seems all original except that the pickup covers and pickguard had been removed when I got it. Identifying and dating old Gibsons with absolute certainty can often be difficult. The serial no. is 623025 which (according to Bacon & Day in ‘The Gibson Les Paul Book’) means it is either a ‘gold top standard’ from 1968/1969 when it was reintroduced into the Gibson catalogue after a ten year absence or a ‘gold top deluxe’ from 1969 which has had its original ‘mini humbuckers’ replaced.

Yamaha RGX612A

Like many other guitar players, I had always fluctuated between the merits of the Fender and Gibson approaches to solid-bodied instruments. ‘Strats’ have always had the more distinctive tone and a better tremolo but on my early ones the pickups lacked power, the necks weren’t designed for easy bending and anything more than a gentle use of the tremolo arm could invoke tuning problems. And even with the 5-way switch you can’t use all three pickups together or combine pickups one and three! On the other hand, a good SG had the power, a shorter scale and a flatter fingerboard but you couldn’t get anywhere near a Fender sound out of them and the tremolos were dreadful. I used to doodle pictures of my ideal solid body guitar which would combine the best of both worlds. I was contemplating having something made and then I came across the RGX612A. Three pickups, two single coil and one humbuckers, with individual switching, a locking nut to keep it in tune, a 24 ¾” scale with a flattish fingerboard and best of all a mid-boost control and coil-tap switch which could totally change the tonal character. I reckon Yamaha had been taking a sneaky look at my drawings! OK, I’m not too keen on the pointy headstock and it doesn’t sound exactly like either a ‘strat’ or an SG but it gets dammed close, it’s a delight to play and it saved me a fortune! Without doubt the most versatile instrument I’ve ever owned.

Kay Galaxie

A friend of mine rescued this guitar from a skip! He saw what he thought was an empty case being dumped and, remembering that I’d once said you can never have too many cases, grabbed it for me. The case turned out to contain a late ‘fifties US-made Galaxie in quite good condition. The Galaxie was often described in its day as a ‘poor man’s Gibson ES125’ which is about right. However, despite being a cheaply made instrument it has a lovely old DeArmond pickup which gives it that authentic ‘fifties jazz tone which can be difficult to get from more modern guitars and is a useful addition to any guitarist’s armoury.

Gould GS155

One of many Chinese-made hollow-body jazz arch tops that have appeared on the market in recent times. Just about everybody (Ibanez, Aria, Tokai) has something of this sort in their catalogue nowadays mostly based on long established and well proven designs such as Gibsons’ ES175 or Johnny Smith models or the D’Aquisto New Yorker etc. This one is a very playable instrument but in all honesty probably no better or worse than most of the other offerings. What is remarkable about all of them is the price. Whilst they may not stand up to rigorous comparison with the US-made originals, which generally cost around eight to ten times as much, they represent extraordinary value for money - so unless you’ve got pots of it or feel an overwhelming need to give Joe Pass a run for his money in the tone department they’re worth serious consideration.

Aria LW12

Sometimes you can’t claim that there’s anything special about a guitar but you just wouldn’t want to be without it and for me this is one of them. I bought it about twenty-five years ago because I’d more or less given up playing acoustic guitar years before and wanted to try and recapture the way I had felt when I got my first instrument. The moment I picked it up I knew it ticked all the boxes. As a bonus, Aria’s blurb about its ‘fine tonal qualities’ that would ‘mature as the timber ages’ has turned out to be true - it sounds even better now than when I first bought it.

Stratovarious

If ever a guitar made me question the necessity of having to have a ‘big name’ on the headstock this is it! I had just sold an old Fender ‘strat’ for £1,200 which, despite being highly sought after, had all the usual problems (see earlier rant under Yamaha RGX612A!) A few days later, I was offered this instrument for £75! I honestly have no idea what it started life as but it knocks any of my earlier ‘genuine‘ strats into the proverbial cocked hat. I didn’t need to change anything except the strings! It has a Warmoth neck with a great profile, which makes string bending a delight, and Gotoh machine heads. The pickups have a warm and powerful tone and , wonder of wonders, it stays pretty much in tune!

Ibanez AW200CE

Along with the Yamaha RGX, the Ibanez shares my award for the most versatile of the bunch. In fact under pressure, I’d go so far as to say that if you had to cover all styles and sounds with only two guitars (perish the thought!) it would have to be those two. From folk club to hot club, Barney Kessel to Chet Atkins, the Ibanez never complains and it’s also an incredibly ‘easy’ instrument to play.

Of course, just as the Yamaha can only approximate the sound of a ‘tele’ or a Les Paul so the Ibanez can only evoke visions of its more specialised brethren - there’s always a price to be paid for versatility - but sometimes it’s worth paying. Apart from anything else, it saved me drilling holes in the Aria!