My Previous Instruments
In this section you'll see some of the instruments I've owned and played over the years but don't have any longer. Some of them broke, some I swapped and one was stolen. Mostly though, they went in part-exchange for upgrades to 'better' instruments. Where I got it right, I have no regrets - I'm not a trader and despite appearances I'm not really a collector either - but with the benefit of hindsight, letting go of one or two of them were bad mistakes of the sort I'm sure we've all made from time to time!
When I get around to it, I plan to let you have my thoughts on the search for the ideal guitar on these pages!
Unknown flat-top acoustic (1957 - 1958)
The picture on the right shows my very first guitar. My dad bought it for £2 from a guy he worked with and gave it to me at Easter 1957. It had no name on or even a label inside so I’ve no idea what it was but it was well made and played nicely. It’s the guitar I taught myself to play on and used in my first group THE ASTEROIDS
Selmer ‘Rex’ arch-top (1958 - 1961)
The second picture shows my Selmer ‘Rex’. It was bought at Selmers’ shop in Charing Cross road early in 1958 and soon after was fitted with a Hofner pick-up and tailpiece-mounted control unit. It was the instrument I played during my time with the MELODY MAKERS dance band and other early and anonymous rock and roll groups. I still had it when I joined the ROLLING STONES in January 1961. It was a very nice instrument but it suffered from feedback even at the volumes we played at then so when a few months later, the neck joint was damaged I didn’t bother to get it repaired!
1959 Fender Stratocaster (1975 - 1990)
Funny thing, me and strats! When I’ve got one it’s only a matter of time before I start to feel discontent with it. But when I haven’t got one, it’s never long before I get to feel strangely undressed! Weird or what? On this occasion, I was in The Louis Armstrong jamming with my friend (and superb guitarist) Pete Bocking. Listening to Pete playing his old Fender Esquire I knew I’d have to get another Fender and told him so.
A few days later Pete rang me and put me on to a really nice old strat he’d come across in his travels. By coincidence, it was the same age and colour as the very first strat ever to reach the UK (Hank Marvin had taken possession of a Flamingo Pink strat in May 1959). It seemed all original apart from having had what looked like a rather poor re-spray job in black. It played superbly so I bought it. I was right about the re-spray though and in one or two places the old Flamingo Pink finish started to show through. I gradually rubbed it back to reveal the original colour (much distressed but much nicer!). Then the usual thing happened. I started to get fed up with it. When the Les Paul was stolen I had the bridge pick-up changed for a more powerful one which helped for a while but when ICEBREAKER got going in the late 80’s it started to play second fiddle more and more often to one or other of my pointy-headstock instruments. Finally I accepted a very good offer and it was gone. And guess what - I want it back!
Burns Sonic (1961 - 1962)
One of Jim Burns’ earliest efforts! Later there were to be NuSonics, DuoSonics and TriSonics but this was just a Sonic!
I bought it for 50 guineas in Goulden & Winds’ a music shop in Dover in April or May 1961. It had a much better action than either of my first two instruments, it solved the feedback problem completely and the tremolo worked well enough but Jim hadn’t got the balance right yet and its long neck and small body meant that it was neck heavy.
Harmony H75 (1963 - 1969)
This was a really lovely instrument, much better than anyone will ever tell you and one that I seriously regret ever letting go. Based loosely on the Gibson ES 330/335 models and like them incredibly versatile. It’s hard to find anything bad to say about it. The pick-ups were DeArmond and I loved the sound of them. The switching was ideal - any of the three in any combination. It looked good and it sounded good. It was perfect for the Beatles era and great for jazz and was my main instrument throughout the PLAYBOYS and TAKE 5 days.
Fender Strat (1969 - 1972) (sorry - no photo available)
I finally got me a ‘strat’. It was a 1963 model in Lake Placid blue. I used it for the last year or so of TAKE 5 and still had it when we formed MIRKWOOD in 1971. It played well enough but I decided that its rather ‘thin’ tone wasn’t right for the band
Gibson SG Deluxe (1972 - 1975)
I’ve always liked SGs. They were Gibsons’ idea of a replacement for the Les Paul series in the early 60’s when the LP was seriously out of fashion. Apart from losing the arch top of the original LPs which made them a lot lighter nothing much really changed so how come they were regarded as second best (see full rant under MICK’s MUSINGS). The Deluxe in particular didn’t get very good press but most of the criticism concerned the cosmetics of having fitted the controls to a front-mounted plate. Whatever, it was a superb instrument to play and within the limits of its two humbuckers had some good tones. Just don’t mention the Bigsby!
Epiphone Sorrento (1974 - 1978) & Hofner Senator (1978 - 1982)
Just like I’m never happy without a strat in the house, so I’ve never felt that any solid-bodied instrument could ever take the place of a good arch-top. My Epiphone was a particularly nice one made in the 1960’s when Gibson USA were still making them. The story of how we came to be parted is both amusing and tragic! I’ll write something soon under ‘STORIES’.
What can I say about the Hofner. It just came along and I couldn’t say no! But it was a nice one (they mostly were). I used it mainly for recording at home but it did get a few jazz outings. I swapped it for a German archtop of unknown parentage (although probably Selmer/Hofner).
Gibson Les Paul Custom (1975 - 1985)
One of the most beautiful instruments I’ve ever owned. The combination of the black finish and gold hardware is simply stunning. As regards playing, the Les Paul is one of that small elite group of guitars that got it right first time! And I’d still be playing it now if some felon with nerves of steel hadn’t thrown a brick through the window of my car and stolen it in a busy road on a warm, sunny day in July 1985. That’s real daylight robbery!
