...... Gibson RD Artist. Basically, a nice sales assistant at Peter Cook Guitars (Nev) showed me this instrument and intoned "Open your wallet and repeat after me -  "Help Yourself, Help Yourself"" A beautifully padded hard case enclosed a guitar with a superb Maple body, flawless block inlaid ebony fingerboard, inlaid headstock, fine-tuning at the bridge and to top it off, built-in audio expander and compressor courtesy of none other than Robert Moog. There was, of course, one problem...... This was an expensive and unusual guitar but I recall that my attempts to sell or part-exchange it met with almost insulting indifference. I don’t remember what happened to it but I suspect that today it would be worth a great deal of money.

You may well, at this point, wonder what sort of idiot would keep buying and trading Gibson guitars when he wanted to sound like Hank Marvin? Well, first off, Gibson guitars were, in almost any respect much better built than Fender and I appreciated this. Let's be honest, Gibson guitars came from a lineage of musical instrument craftsmanship culminating in the lovely carved maple top Jazz models and the superb, maple on mahogany bodied Les Paul range. Fender guitars, on the other hand were simple and cheap - well, not in Britain but that's another story - a simple slab body of alder or ash, a one-piece, bolt-on maple neck sometimes with a rosewood fingerboard, I could go on. However, there was a good reason why Steve Cropper played a Fender Telecaster and Hank played a Stratocaster; that wonderful incisive sound, helped by light woods and single coil pickups which could cut through the music like nothing else. I know that I am generalising furiously here but... .......anyway, in 1981 Gibson introduced "The Victory" which they claimed and hoped would fit into both camps, hence the name. With a maple body and glued-in maple neck as well as switchable humbucking pickups it certainly straddled the two camps. There was also a three-pick-up version. It was, I believe, a commercial failure. I remember it as a very well made and versatile instrument and of course I bought one and used it quite happily for some time. (Left)  The Gibson Victory in action; a gig at the Swan in Fulham with a guest-spot vocalist, Gerry, who was short in stature - hence the beer crate. (ps  I note that this guitar has been re-issued, 2025) (pps I’ve just bought one)

It was at this point that I very nearly bought a Fender Strat, however, as I said previously, American guitars were expensive in Britain and there were dark mutterings about the quality of Fender instruments since the company was sold to CBS in1965. So I bought a Tokai "Breezy Sound" Stratocaster. These Japanese imports were about half the price of an American import Stratocaster and a bit of a leap in the dark; there was much mockery from "real Strat" owners but it would seem that Tokai were very good replicas of vintage guitars and compared favourably with the genuine article, particularly now that the CBS Fenders seemed to have lost quality. I changed the pickups and used this guitar quite happily for some years. For what it is worth I do recall that Fender Stratocasters in the 1960’s seemed to have a very variable feel and sound; individuality perhaps. Everything was much more hand-made in those days which can work both ways. My friend and fellow guitarist, Bob bought a pre- CBS strat from George Gruhn in the States and it did sound good but I always prefered to play my Tokai.

Now, here's an oddity. This Telecaster was one of two built by the guitar repair man at the Ealing Music Centre. He has a Polish name which I cannot recall and all his guitars were "Poleax" instruments. The body is, I guess, mahogany with white binding and is covered in a strangely patterned wooden veneer; (It's sister guitar, I was told, was a grey herringbone pattern). The neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard. Schaller hardware and pickups produce a clean but solid sound. This guitar is well built and plays and sounds beautiful. Also, get this, it is the only one! no one else in the world has one of these. I used it for years and it still hangs on my wall to be picked up and played.

Another Fender guitar, a Thinline Telecaster seen here in action as I accompany the incomparable Jacky Smith. By now I was becoming a confirmed Telecaster player but I have no idea why I bought this style of Telecaster. I was playing lots of social clubs and perhaps thought it would be a bit smoother than the usual. It was a good, easy playing guitar. I recall that at some point I changed the pickups in an attempt to get a bit more attitude to the sound.

I must mention a couple of guitars that also passed through my hands at this time. One was a Fender Stratocaster in Frost White with two humbucking pickups and a lockable trem arm. I first saw one of these models in the very capable hands of Graeme Taylor (Gryphon, Home Service guitarist) It looked and sounded great; as well it would being played by Mr Taylor. I saw one of these in Peter Cook guitars and bought and used it for a while. Funnily enough I cannot find reference to this guitar today; Here are some photos to show that it did exist:

On stage with brother  playing his thru-neck Aria bass

I also owned a Paul Reed Smith Classic Electric for a short time. These are classy (and expensive) guitars......I bought my PRS from Chandler Guitars in Kew  (Guitars to the Gentry) This guitar had two octave fingerboard with a strange, for me, scale-length. By now I was used to a Telecaster neck and could generally find the 12th fret without looking down, but this did cause me problems with the PRS. After an embarrasing incident on a dark stage at a pub in Islington, Mr Smith and I parted company by mutual consent. I also owned a guitar built by Paul Reed’s brother, Gordon, a very nice solid 12 string which was reviewed very favourably in Guitarist magazine. I was able to buy the review guitar at a good price and it was very nice and unusual. I wish I had kept it.