YAKETY AXE!

YAKETY AXE!

Unfortunately I didn't keep all the guitars I ever bought, I guess the cheap ones

were over shadowed by the good ones and left in the corner. Here are the good ones!
I had a white Marlin Sidewinder in 1988, the biggest selling guitar in the UK in '86 and '87 believe it or not, a Yamaha SA-15 semi-acoustic from the early 70s.

GORDON - SMITH G60 SLIMLINE (Made in England 1995)

In late 1995 I wanted a Les Paul Studio in Cherry red. I played one and hated the baseball bat like neck. I checked out this guitar and instantly loved it. Gordon-Smith guitars are handmade in Manchester, England and are superb guitars. I contacted them last year and they told me judging by the serial number it was made in May 1995 from Brazilian Mahogany. It is a superb axe indeed and one of my most prized possessions.

Nickname: Nadine

FENDER CABRONITA TELECASTER (MIM 2013)

A few years ago when I saw these on the Fender website I thought it was a bit of a joke, and an ugly one at that. Recently I was mysteriously drawn in after seeing one for sale in an online adverts site. The price was pretty good too so I watched most of the videos on YouTube about it. I fell in love and contacted the seller who was a 40 minute drive from my location. He said come view it by all means but if you're into vintage Teles then don't expect too much from it. I decided to buy it based on all the videos I had seen and all the highly praised reviews it garnered. I got to the sellers house and he had it plugged into a small amp and the first thing I noticed when I picked it up was how heavy it was. I played it, the neck was chunky but still quite comfortable. It had .8s strings on it so it was a little lifeless. He said he bought it online from Thomann and after a week decided he didn't like it. It was left to gather dust in a bedroom so it is a more of less new guitar as it was in mint condition with no major marks or dings. As I had my mind made up before I even saw it, I just said I'll take it, here's the money. I drove away with the Cabronita, paperwork all in a Fender gigbag and a big grin. I got home and ripped off the light strings and put on D'Addario .10s. Once tuned I set up the bridge and did the intonation, adjusted the humbuckers and off I went. This guitar is a beast. It sounds fantastic and I love it even more now. I did a gig with it that night and rocked the room. The Cabronita is a hidden gem in Fenders legacy! Did you know Cabronita is Spanish slang for 'Little Bastard',

now that's a great name for a great guitar.

Nickname: The Hog

FENDER '72 CUSTOM TELECASTER (MIM 2009)

After the bite of the Cabronita, I got looking at Customs and as it happened a friend was selling this one. I enquired and he told me to take it away and try it out. I did and oh boy, it's a killer. Now I have to be truthful here first. The amount of scratchplate area on these guitars is absurd, and the big mirror like humbucker looks to big, along with the cluster of Gibson style dials and toggle switch. It's got that Frankenstien thing going on no doubt. The burst is gorgeous and this guitar is in pretty mint condition for a 2009. Anyway, the sound. Well the bridge is dynamite. It sings, it bites, it howls and it's one of the best I've heard. Now the bucker in neck only position is deep and jazzy but when you select both with overdrive it's a bloody animal. Keith Richards wasn't wrong when he picked one up way back when. Question. Do I need another Tele? No. But do I need a '72 Custom Tele? Of course I do!

Nickname: Dynamo

FENDER STANDARD TELECASTER (MIM 2007)

I spotted this online and I made an enquiry. The seller was pretty adamant to stick to the asking price. I let it go but a month later I was drawn back to it and other people were making lowball offers but he still wasn't biting. I soon discovered it's a 2006-2008 era Mexican in Chrome Red which I prefer to Candy Apple. These have the Alder body and hotter ceramic pickups. Chrome red was discontinued in late 2008 as far as I know and it's a hot looking Tele. I made another offer nearer the asking price and now I'm the owner! It came in pretty dirty condition with the strings rotting away and the fingerboard caked in grime. I stripped it down and cleaned it thoroughly, strung it with Rotosound Yellows in 10-46 and it's a great sounding guitar. There are no scratches or dings on the body I must add and the red is something else.

Nickname: Red Ryder

FENDER STANDARD TELECASTER (MIM 2001)

I've been after a Sage Green Metallic Tele or Strat for some time now and this one is a beauty. The pre-upgraded Mex's are nicer than the posts in many ways. The frets are not as chunky and the output not as hot as they have AlNiCo pickups. All I would change is the bridge to a three saddle but it's a dinger as it is!

Nickname: Avalon

SQUIRE STRATOCASTER (MIJ 1986)

(after the pickguard change, July 2018!)

A friend gave me this guitar to clean as it was in an attic for a long time, and at first glance I thought a run of the mill Squire. Then I saw made in Japan, I saw an E6 serial number. I spent a day freeing up the pots with E.C.S., put on new Slinky 10s and ridded the jack plug from buzz. When I plugged it into my Marshall TSL 602 I was blown away. This is a superb Strat from the heyday of Fender Japan production and I absolutely love it! Anyway, it became mine after I made a music video for the guy so lucky for me I'm good behind a camera. It has had a new high quality 5 way selector installed and it's far better than the plastic stock switch which crackled. If I'm honest I never really liked white pickguard on black especially with rosewood as it looks very common so I swopped out this and put on a single ply black guard and now it's 100% more sexier and a little demonic too!  

Nickname: Dark Horse

SQUIRE STRATOCASTER (MIK 1988)

This guitar has the E1+6 digit serial number and is made in Korea around 1987. While there is a ton of right and not so right info on the MIK guitars I love the Torino red body and shallow V neck with it's large radius. It also sports Gotoh sealed machine heads with Fender in red on them. It's a heavy guitar too, rumoured to me made of solid Alder with a maple veneer back and front. Korean Squiers were famously made from plywood from 1988 to 1995. I dismantled it, scraped off some of the rock hard resin in the tremblock cavity and could not find evidence of ply. The electrics are the poor point and new pups and pots would be good. It's still a lovely axe that is very easy to play,

with it beautiful neck and sounds very nice to my ears.

Nickname: Fireball

FENDER STRATOCASTER (MIM 2006)

This one is a bit of a strange one for me to say the least. The fact is I'm not really into rosewood fingerboards at the moment but I have to admit in a blindfold test it is probably very hard to tell the difference. Now I love the colour 'Electron Blue' or is it 'Cobalt Blue', I'm not sure what it's called, but it's dark with a metallic flake in it. I had my eye on a MIM with this colour so when one did pop up I had to pounce. I did think about the fingerboard, but I must admit but this was a good price and I'm pretty glad I pulled the trigger as it's a fine guitar the the board is great. I don't want to be a guitar neck snob and if it sounds good it must be good. It has the 60th badge on the back of the headstock and it's the revamped Mexican Standard with the hotter ceramics and med jumbo frets from 2006. It was pretty grimy but had no major dings or cracks at all. Just a few small scratches on the back but you don't see them do you. So, I'm sure I'm going to have a nice relationship with this fine Stratocaster and a change from maple to rosewood can old give you variety and variety is the spice of life!

Nickname: Blue Velvet

FENDER HIGHWAY ONE TELECASTER (USA 2005)

I didn't know much about Fender HWY-1 guitars until I saw this online. It was a 2 hour drive away and I thought I should view it. Damn, when the guy opened the case my jaw dropped and when I played it I fell in love with it there and then. All I can say is this is the real deal and everyone should own a USA Fender at some point. You won't look back! With thin Nitro satin finish, 3 steel saddle ashtray bridge, 22 jumbo fret rosewood fingerboard, greasebucket tone control and Alnico 3 pickups, you're gonna rock!

Nickname: Crimson

FENDER HIGHWAY ONE TELECASTER (USA 2007)

After really liking the red HWY-1 I decided to buy another and this one came from London. Dull black nitro and Seventies black logo. It's a lovely Tele that sounds great. 

Nickname: Black Jack

FENDER HIGHWAY ONE STRATOCASTER (USA 2004)

After playing the Highway One Teles I had to get my paws on a Strat. I did and this is a Crimson beauty. I love the way the finish is easily shed making it look like something from 50 years ago. It plays and sounds great and is a surefire keeper.

Nickname: Ruby

FENDER VINTERA 50s TELECASTER (Mexico 2019)

The Vintera range raises the bar for vintage Fenders at an affordable price and when I saw the Fiesta Red Tele I just knew I had to have one. Out of the box it sounds superb even with the crappy cheap 0.9 guage strings. It's a beauty to play and stunning to look at.

Nickname: Janette

FENDER STRATOCASTER (MIJ 1989)

This gorgeous metallic teal vintage style '57 popped up on a local advertising site and I knew there and then it had to be mine. The Japanese made Fenders are always a good bet and this one is class. With a E serial number (which denotes manufacture from 1984 - 1987), the build and finish is superb. This came in superb condition for it's age and is definitely a keeper. The pickups are ceramic, but it still has that glassy strat chime and when driver sounds powerful and clear.

Nickname: Blue Bird

FENDER CLASSIC SERIES 50s STRATOCASTER (Mexico 2003)

The Classic Series was launched in 2000, offering vintage style instruments for a good price. This Strat in Fiesta Red is a knockout with Alder body, 7.25 Maple fingerboard, vintage voiced alnico pickups and a whole lotta vintage mojo! While the new 2019 Vintera

series has replaced this series, the Vintera range does not offer Fiesta Red for the 50s Strat! That's could all change with a FSR but who cares!

  Nickname: Rebekah

FENDER "BLACKIE" ERIC CLAPTON SIGNATURE STRATOCASTER (USA 1997)

This popped up from a private seller and I just had to have a peek at it. The seller told me take it away and have a look at it! I did and I'm glad I did, very glad indeed. Now while it was neglected and left in an attic, eeek! yes that dreaded, neverplace to put a guitar especially a good one like this, but while the lacquer had chips and cracks on the neck once I cleaned it off I was left with an excellent guitar that I can't seem to put down now. There are lots of incarnations of Mr Clapton's famous 50s buddy and this is one of them and although it is certainly not a vintage specced instrument it is in fact a hybrid of sorts.

Alder body, maple neck with 22 frets and soft V with medium frets or less I'd say. The neck is chunky and I love chunky necks especially this one. The machine heads are Kluson style and good quality ones at that, the bridge is the vintage type with bent steel saddles, the block is full thickness along with 5 springs and a little slab of wood to lock it down just like Eric did! Now, the pickups which are Fender Lace Sensors are the least vintage thing here along with the TBX tone control which boosts treble in the neck positions giving a kind of clarity a normal strat can only dream of here. There is an onboard PCB under the plate which is a mini amp, making this puppy an active circuit powered by a 9v cell in the spring cavity. This is always on and adds bass boost when you roll up the bottom tone pot. Sounds complex and while I am a bit shy to active circuits in a guitar this is discreet and gives a versatility unmatched by a lot of guitars. The sound is typical Strat, Les Paul and a Gibson semi when you're in the neck. Certainly one of the best sounding and enjoyable guitars I've ever played plus I always wanted a Strat with Lace pickups but don't really fancy the Strat plus with the 2 point bridge, locking tuners and weird metal rollernut which is over-engineering to say the least. And finally while not a Clapton nut and certainly one for signatures on a guitar, this "Blackie" has made me sound more like me than I've ever sounded, and that can't be bad!

Nickname: "Blackie" Duh! 

FENDER LEAD III (MIM 2019)

The Lead was originally produced by Fender in 1979 to be a no frills USA made guitar sold for less than a Strat to combat the ever increasing flood of cheap Asian made copies and the excellent quality Japanese clones that were ourselling Fenders worldwide. It was a high quality instrument with a slightly smaller body, string thru hardtail bridge, and a single humbucker in the bridge. The Lead II followed in 1980, this had two single coil pickups and the Lead III was the last of the bunch appearing in 1982 before being discontinued in 1983. Out of Fender's panic and the Squier JVs had appeared in 1982 and you know the rest I guess, if not, just look up the fascinating Squier JV story. Forward to the 2019 Winter NAMM Fender showcased a lot of new guitars and excitement was high when updated versions of the Lead II and III were added to the Player Series. While the bodies are more or less cut to the same shape, curves may vary on vintage models, the necks are the moden C Strat necks from the Player Strats that boast 22 jumbo frets, but have unique Lead II and Lead III logos on the headstocks along with F style vintage machine heads just like you'd find on a '72 Custom Tele. You can have either Maple or Pau Ferro fingerboards, but the latter feels and looks awful to me. The string thru bridge is a hardtail with six block saddles, which I'm really happy about as Fender have been putting vintage bent steel types on the Player Strats and Teles and trust me they just don't look right on the modern 2 point Strat bridge, and a Tele should never, ever have them, I don't care what they say! Now the controls are a little confusing looking initially, all in a little cluster and while you have Master Volume and Master Tone, the output socket is on the board, you also have two chunky toggles, the top one selects the neck, bridge or both, while the bottom one taps the coils so you have single bridge or single neck, or double neck and single bridge or vise versa, but you cannot tap both at once. I guess you'll have to buy a Lead II if you want that! The fit and finish of the model I bought is superb with nothing to complain about, the sound is great and the humbuckers crisp and articulate. Out of the box the instrument was good but the .9 strings it came with were poor quality and I replaced them with Fender Pure Nickel .10 s, my prefered gauge. After setting up the action and intonation I was left with a tone machine that's a lot of fun and handles anything you throw at it very well indeed. There is no bag included with these but it will fit in any hardcase a Strat or Tele will fit in. So that's about it really, and finally this thing is a very cool and unique instrument with a fantastic looking finish. While they might be a niche item in the Fender catalog, the Lead III will make a nice backup and alternative tone machine for live gigs when you want a bit more

grit than your Strat has under the bonnet.

Nickname: Sienna

TELECASTER ESQUIRE (D.I.Y. 2020)

This is "The Brute" a heavy monster I made myself. I wanted to buy a Fender Classic Esquire but all that popped up were TCB models so I decided to try my hand at making an Esquire type model myself. The weighty Ash body was €60 used on a local adverts site and the neck is an old Schecter one I had on another guitar from way back. I bought a Wilkinson bridge with 3 compensated brass saddles, Esquire type 3 paper in oil cap harness, with Oak 3 way and CTS pots. The scrateplate is cut from adhesive material but I may not keep it there as I don't use a pick and won't scratch the wood. I put Chinese locking tuners on that came from eBay and it's strung with .11s for a change from the .10s I normally use. The pickup is a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder with oversized magnetic slugs, and this gives it a big sound with lots of sustain. It's a rocker and a roller!

The inlay dots are coloured over with a dark marker to give the effect there are none!

This guitar is pretty heavy and it would be a backbreaker to gig with but I love it and it sounds and plays great for a DIY job.

Nickname: The Brute

HOHNER G3T (MIK 1992)

I bought this in October 1992 as I was watching too much Genesis Invisible Touch Tour concerts! It is a great guitar for practice and it can go anywhere. These are still being made under license of Steinberger of course and they are pretty expensive too.

Nickname: The Bat

GIBSON SG COPY (Unknown)

This guitar has been in my orbit for over 20 years, and while I don't actually own it, I can't remember who does. Anyway, don't get too excited, it's a piece of junk! It looks good though!

Nickname: Satin's Buzzsaw

HOHNER TWP CLASSIC N (MIK late 80s)

I bought this one on eBay, Germany in late 2012 for a very good price. These are pretty hard to find now. You will have to really look. They do not sound good through a conventional guitar amp be it valve or solid state, they only sound good through an acoustic amp. I bought a Marshall AS50D and it sounds great. I like the piezo sound so I don't care when people say it does not sound like a real nylon string. Funny after I bought this a real Chet Atkins came up for sale in a local cash converters shop, it was the first time I ever saw one, I played it, the neck was like a plank, it was pretty badly dinged but still a superb guitar, the asking price was pretty steep considering the condition but mint they can cost a fortune. Epiphone did a similar one but they are now discontinued.
Nickname: Amber

HOHNER TWP WESTERN (MIK late 80s)

I originally bought one of these in April 1990, and I traded it in 1995 against another axe.  I didn't have an acoustic amp back then so it never sounded great through a regular amp. I saw this on an advertising site in early 2013 and bought it simply because I had the nylon one again and I was a little nostalgic I guess. Again through the Marshall AS50D it only sounds good. I love the quality of the build and I love the raspy piezo sound. I don't really like acoustic guitars as I find them too bulky. I had a Takamine dreadnought but sold it.
Nickname: Sunrise 

YAMAHA FG (1984)

This is an 1984 acoustic that has been in the family since then. The built quality of Yamaha guitars has always been great, the sound is big and the playability great. 

Guitars that I loved before...

The axes that got axed!

FENDER TELECASTER (MIM 1994)

I was given this in late 2013 by a friend to repair. It had snap, crackle and pop syndrome from neglect, otherwise it was perfect. A can of Electrical Contact Spray and a new set of strings brought it back to life. I never had a Tele and fell in love with it and I rang him up and asked him would he be willing to part with it for cash. He said yes and now I'm a proud owner of a 1994 Mexican Tele! Recently I had the pups replaced with a Seymour Duncan Vintage Broadcaster set! Wow! Sounds amazing! It's a good old workhorse but I'm slightly annoyed that it's a toploader. I know I could have work done on it to make it a string thru but it's an inexpensive axe so best kept the way it is.

Nickname: Tequila

(Sold June 2019)

FENDER STRATOCASTER (MIM 2009)

This is a standard from the revamped era in 2009. Alder bodies, hotter ceramic pickups and medium jumbo frets were part of the features. The 'Midnight Wine' is not a colour I'd pick in a shop but it is classy and really grows on you. This guitar was as low a price as you're going to pay for a MIM in this condition. There are no dings on the body and the frets are hardly used. It cleaned up quite nicely after a strip down and it is a nice player

with good tone.

Nickname: Lucky Lady

(Sold June 2019)

SQUIRE CLASSIC VIBE STRATOCASTER (MIC 2010)

I've heard a lot of good things about these 'Crafted in China' CV Strats and when a co-worker was selling one I decided to view it. I was so impressed with the build quality and the sound I decided to take it. After a quick clean, new strings and set up this guitar plays and feels pretty damn good. The tones is smooth and warm and one the most Strat-like guitars I've heard. Obviously the cutting edge CNC machines are knocking out these babies by the squillion but in all fairness they are hard to beat especially used as they don't hold their value like a MIM would. It's bright, easy to play and sounds just as a Strat should. It's 'Vintage' vibe is '62 with CAR on an Alder body, a modern C yellow tinted maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, with medium-jumbo frets and a 9.5 radius. The pick ups are Alnico 3, the bridge is a Fender vintage type with thin block. Vintage style tuners complete the picture and what you get is a fine budget axe that's hard to put down.

Nickname: Ruby

(Sold December 2018)

SQUIER STANDARD TELECASTER (MII 2008)

Another online bargain, this Indonesian Tele is a stunning CAR and it also sounds pretty good. With Alnico pickups and tasty rosewood board is a winner for the price. There was no dings or scratches of note and the neck was in good shape too. The sound is sweet and the string thru body makes it really sing. A few niggles I will admit, the knobs are pretty slippy and cheap, the three way switch has a switch that bends pretty easily so a replacement is on the cards. A great guitar for taking out of the house to pick in the garden or do a pub gig with and that flawless finish will attract the filles!

Nickname: Hot Dog

(Sold December 2018)

SQUIRE STRATOCASTER (MIC 1997)

This is one from the early years of Chinese production. Basewood body, 22 fret rosewood board with a 9.5 radius on maple neck, bar magnet pickups, cast metal bridge saddles and cheap and nasty tuning heads! The frets are a notch above vintage bit still skinny. I think the 22 fret looks weird as it's almost touching the neck pickup, a pity really as the guitar is a nice Torino red and I only paid €39.00 for it in a pawn shop!

Nickname: Oscar Mike

(Sold September 2019)

FENDER STRATOCASTER (MIM 2006)

This one is a FSR in a Satin finish. These were around for a few years from 2004 - 2006 and came in a few more colours all with satin poly. I think this one is Satin Crimson. I had it for a while on loan from a friend, so I never actually owned it, and then he asked me to sell it. So I did. Funnily enough I saw it recently in a second hand store and checking the serial number confirmed it is the exact same guitar. So maybe I should buy it back and get rid of the ceramics and black guard and turn it into a dream machine!

Nickname: Blue Thunder

(Sold May 2020)

PEAVEY TRACER (1989 Made in U.S.A.)

I saw this axe and thought to myself that you don't see guitars like this that often. With it's single humbucker and flat fingerboard it has 'shed machine' written all over it. Peavey USA guitars were very well made and high quality instruments, and the Tracer was produced from 1988 to 1994. I love the simplicity of it. It has that 80s sickle style headstock which screams Jackson. The colour is very cool too. It comes with a Peavey plastic case with built in 50w amp! While the bridge is not going to give you those Floyd Rose acrobatics, I decided to block it down and it holds tuning very, very well indeed. It's a great guitar in superb condition with zero fret wear, perfect neck and ding free body. Nothing like it for leaving off a bit of steam from time to time through a molten Marshall amp!

Nickname: Blue Thunder

(Sold May 2020)

TELECASTER (Unknown)

I saw this body only on an adverts site and bought it. It came fully loaded with a Seymour Duncan 1/4 Pounder in the bridge and stock pup in the neck. The caveties are copper screened and when I bolded my own neck on and strung it up the noise level was very low. The overdriven growl from the Quarter Pounder is awesome while the neck is pretty bluesy. The body is string thru and the wood possibly alder, it's thinner than the standard Tele body by 8mm and not as heavy. It's a nice axe and an new addition to the family.

Nickname: Black Jack

(Dismantled 28/11/2018)

SCHECTER STRAT (late 80s)

I bought this in November 1990. It had a Floyd Rose locking system until recently when I swapped it out with a Schaller Vintage Tremolo. I also changed the scratchplate from silver mother of pearl to red. It has a rich warm sound and I replaced the pickups with a set of Fender vintage ones in 2013. There was a considerable amount of woodwork done under the bridge too. The neck is in fact a Schecter neck. When I scrope off the black it was red with large Schecter in gold letters.

Nickname: Apollo

(This guitar was dismantled in November 2016)

CRAFTSMAN NYLON STRING (mid 90s)

A very cheap guitar I dragged all the way from Australia in 1999! I'd only play it in the garden to be honest as it is worthless. I like the cutaway though.

(SOLD 2018)

UNKNOWN MAKE

An old friend game me this last May. It's well made and sounds nice.
(SOLD 2018)

NYLON STRING

The first guitar I ever, ever, ever put my paws on. This was lying around the family home and you know the rest. It was left to rot in a garden shed!

ROCKSON

The first electric I ever bought in September 1987. I remember bumping into some friends parked outside the music shop and getting a lift 20 miles back home, a stroke of luck  indeed but unfortunately I didn't own an amp at the time. It would be another 2 months until I bought a crappy Jennings amp but when I plugged this baby into my Arion Overdrive I was blasting 'Tie Your other Down' out and annoying my whole family, thanks to this pretty cheap but nice sounding axe I was now on the bottom rung of the rock ladder! In 1992, I painstakingly sanded this down, finished it in brown wood stain and enough varnish for a sailboat. I sold it in 1994.
  

MARLIN SIDEWINDER

Bought this in 1988 and the body is cheap 'n' nasty plywood! It was a great value for money axe in it's day but that damn ugly fish at the 12th fret is super nasty! This guitar was a masterclass in Korean value for money mass production. I sold it to a relative in 1989 I think and if he still has it I will try get it back for a laugh and keep it as a museum piece! Oh, this actually had a stacked humbucker in the bridge pickup! Note! I was going to crop myself out of this photo but what the hell, I looked cool in '88!

YAMAHA SA-15

This I bought from a friend pretty cheaply c. 1990 but I never really liked it and I can't for the life of me remember what I did with it. I didn't smash it up or anything like that, I sold it obviously!

HOHNER TWP WESTERN

A very well made solid body acoustic that is also very beautiful. I bought this in 1990 and traded it in against the Gordon - Smith G-60 in 1995. I bought another identical one in early 2013 for a very low price.

HOHNER TWP CLASSIC N

I loved this nylon string solid body as it was the closest I could get to a Chet Atkins guitar original. In all fairness Hohner did produce a great guitar, or should I say they got a Korean manufacturer to do so! This I bought in 1991 and it was stolen in 1994. I bought a mint one on eBay in late 2012. (Jumper, models own!).

IBANEZ BLAZER/CIMAR

I was living in Oz for a year in 1997 and I got fed up of having no guitar, so one day I went out and bought this cheap Ibanez or a Cimar I think it may have been, and a small amp. The amp sounded really cool but this axe would not stay in tune. It needed new heads I guess but what do you expect for one hundred Aussie dollars! I'm pretty sure the strings went through the body like a Tele! I could be wrong!

WILSON RANGER #2

This was in fact the first electric guitar I ever laid eyes on back in the early 70s when I was a kid. It was belong to my uncle and I remember staring in awe at it. When I was told it was an electric guitar I was very confused but intrigued. Fast forward to 1986 and I borrowed it for a few months and played it through a tiny Vox amp that I also borrowed. The Wilson Ranger was Britain's answer to the Fender Strat, believe it or not. The Strat won the race and the Wilson is now a relic of 60s England Rock N Roll. I borrowed it again in 2010 with the aim of restoring it. The bridge is missing and the tuning heads suck. If I restore it I will make a video and post it on YouTube! Watch out!