Over the years I've probably bought and sold about 40 guitars and round about 15 amps. From classic Marshall Superleads in the 70's thru to the new digital modelling amps such as the Line6 Flextone. Here is a breakdown of gear I use today and also some of the stuff from yesteryear that I wish I hadn't sold!

 

EARLY STUFF!

Here are some of the guitars from 20-30 years ago that I wish I still had!

Nice perm! This wasn't actually my goldtop, it was a mate called Thommo who was in a great band who did an awful lot of Rush covers...can't remember their name tho'! I 'cammandeered it for about 6 months once and didn't wanna give it back! This was taken in about 1978 at the Billingham 6th Form. A beaut of a Les Paul and if Keith still has it today, I reckon it's worth a bomb!

A rare Ibanez Iceman in white. I was forever customising this guitar with black stickyback plastic! Blue Peter eat ya heart out!

Having one Iceman wasn't enough...so I got this Paul Stanley autograph! God knows why...I didn't think anything of Paul Stanley...but the guitar was a cracker. Where is it now? No idea!

At the old Marquee Club, Wardour Street, London, W1 in 1983 with my trusty Gibson Melody Maker (or rackety maker as my good mate Pete Skerritt used to say!)

The ONLY shot you'll ever see of me with a Flying Vee...I PROMISE. I detest the bloody things! This one went down the stairs a few times until I got shot of it!

Playing a gig in London about 1986 with a Ibanez Roadstar...nice guitar but the trem was diabolical!!

Gibson Les Paul custom loaded with EMG's...Hammersmith, London in 1993

...and again in studio with Jone$ville in 1993. From left to right: Dave Duncan (bass), Barry Palmer (vox), George ? (drums), Nik Chutorilo (guitar, vox) and me. Nik was a big star in Yugoslavia in a band that translated into English as 'Fish Soup' (something like 'chorba'?). Great, great blues player but lost touch with these guys when I moved out of London. Where are they now!

On stage at the (no longer) Brentford Red Lion with Jone$ville in about 1993. This one was definitely during 'Waiting For An Alibi' by Thin Lizzy! Same Les Paul custom (thanks Curtis!)

This pic was taken at an Alike Cooper gig in London. The three amigos! This is my Squier Strat from 1986 that cost me £50 at a party. I've had it fitted with a Seymour Duncan Hotrails and it sings! The only problem is it's noisy in some of the switch positions so I'm gonna get that sorted and maybe a refret at the same time. You can also see a Peavey Wolfgang QT which I only recently got rid of as I bought an American one and didn't see the point in having two. These guitars have amazing necks and really powerful pickups. Lovely! Also, another guitar I sold but wish I hadn't...a Jackson PC3 'Phil Collen'. Beautiful maple top and neck but very bright sounding because of it. This was fitted with a Di Marzio Tone Zone but I always felt that it didn't have the bottom end of the other guitars...even the strat! I reckon it was easily the most beautiful guitar I've owned tho'.

Here's a pic from the studio of the Squier and my two most recent guitars. The middle is a Peavey Wolfgang Special Goldtop that I got off eBay. What attracted me to it was that it's one of the early ones when Eddie Van Halen was trying different stuff and so this is pre patent. It's a lot more vintage sounding than the QT one I owned. That was more Les Paul bass heavy whereas this could be heard as a strat on the middle switch position. The neck is less 'treated' as well making it feel older. Finally on the right is the Jackson DK2s Sustainiac guitar. I got this one from a mate in the North West in exchange for the QT Peavey. The Sustainiac is a bit like the old E-Bow effect except it's all built-in. The strings vibrate giving you sustain on any note for any length of time! You can also regulate the amount and also whether you want the exact note, a harmonic note or even a harmonic 5th of the note. Only just getting the hang of it as it's best used sparingly and without too much gain or it starts to get a bit wild. I used it for the first time on my song 'Breeze' which you can listen to in the MP3 section. (note: I've since sold the Jackson as I just didn't use it enough).

This is a very old pic from 1983. It shows the following guitars...1973 Gibson Melody Maker...I loved this guitar! So light it was untrue with the tiniest of necks and a Bigsby tremelo that I heated up on the cooker ring and bend up so it would divebomb!!! I swopped it for an Ibanez Roadstar (like a mug!) Ibanez Iceman...these were designed with Ibanez and KISS's Paul Stanley. I'm not a big fan of Kiss or Mr Stanley but I thought this guitar was the bizz! As far as I'm aware, the white model was very rare in the UK at the time. It fell off the stage at a gig in South Yorkshire somewhere. The neck hit the stage and the fretboard started to seperate from the neck! Someone in the audience offered me £300 (if I remember rightly) and that was a fair bit of money in 1983 on the dole! I snapped his hand off but would love to know what ever happened to it. I would also like to know what happened to this custom-built Cairnes Explorer. I was mad on Gary Moore at the time and he had a Charvel or Mighty Mite explorer made with telecaster parts. I liked the lookof it and hadn't seen anyone do a sunburst blue guitar before. I could never get to grips with the guitar though once it was completed. I can't blame the builder, Jimmy Cairnes. I didn't really know what I wanted in terms of playability etc so it ended up sounding like a tele as well because of it's ash body and maple neck. It used to feedback like mad becuase of the high gain amps I was using. I sold it to a guy after a coupla years and regretted it seeing as it was made for me and cost me a fair whack.

This is an old pic of a Ibanez Destroyer I used about 1981. Fun guitar to play but the coating was like egg-shell and cracked easily. Not good for throwing around!

This is a pretty rare pic of me actually playing my custom built Explorer. I loved the look of the sunburst blue and it felt right...but I just couldn't play the bloody thing!

This was my very first Strat. A 1979 Fender with the typical big headstock of that era. There is a Di Marzio pickup in the neck you can just make out but God knows which model! You can also see the only pic of my Washburn I had. Again the model escapes me but I bought it in 1980.

This was an old Kramer Baretta with a Pacer neck...I got this off eBay for about £90, did the paint job myself and added a Di Marzio Tone Zone. I used this in the Van Halen tribute (obviously!) but sold it when I packed it in.

Here's another pic of the VH trib guitars...

This was my white Iceman that I used to muck about with. This was sticky back plastic that I cut into squares to try and make my own Rick Neilson (Cheap Trick) guitar. The pic was taken in Durham in 1983 supporting Raven.

Levinson Blade Texas Deluxe and Japanese Squier strat. Two guitars I still have!

Snot-green Wesley Bass. Cheap as chips but excellent sound and neck! Also Yamaha classical. Not sure of model but had for years and years.

Nearly all of the guitars I own at the moment. Carvin Bass to right of pic and Ovation type acoustic to left.

My latest buy. A Mexican 50th Anniversary Fender Stratocaster bought for peanuts off eBay!

a closeup of my Peavey Wolfgang Goldtop. You can't have enough gold guitars!!!