www.ianedmundson.uk

www.ianedmundson.uk

BAND GEAR | BASSES AND GUITARS

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Aria ZZB deluxe bass At one time, I wanted to be John Entwistle. How would you ever have guessed? I got this around 1981 and still use it occasionally today. I should take it out more. I'd still like to be able to play bass a bit like John Entwistle, by the way.
Artisan acoustic bass I know very little about this one. It was pointed out to me as 'a possible' just before we had a theatre date supporting The Quireboys in 2010 and we were obliged to do it as 'an acoustic show'. As it turned out, I didn't have the time to go check it out. So I just used a normal Rickenbacker electric bass. Later on, I went and had a look anyway. I got it 'for a song' (a bargain, considering how I sing!!) and it sounds very good. Thank you, John.
Avon EB-0 bass My very first bass guitar, bought in 1976 or thereabouts. A basic entry-level copy of a Gibson EB-0. I wanted to play something a bit more like Jim Lea of Slade did in 1973. A couple of minor upgrades were made to it along to make it more playable. Someone stuck a Gibson logo on this bass - the main reason I don't take it out nowadays. I learned to play bass on this instrument and so did my daughter, 25 or so years later.
Chord acoustic guitar This one was bought in late November 2012 from a guitar shop in Ripley, Surrey, not far from a certain Mr Clapton's house. I - honestly - only went in there for a nosey at where he would probably get some of his gear from and to buy some strings. But the action is perfect, so you can barre your chords all the way right up to the top of the neck and the guitar just spoke to me... Records beautifully when mic'd up. Not stupidly expensive either.
Cort Violin bass I saw it standing there. A lovely present from my wife. My over-loud Beatles homages are that little bit more convincing, now. I don't get on with Hofner violin basses for two main reasons: The build quality of the Hofner violin bass is said to be generally crap. They are fragile, sound 'boxy' and go out of tune if you look at them. This bass has none of these problems. Just because Paul McCartney used one in The Beatles doesn't make it worth what they started charging for them.
Danelectro Longhorn (reissue): Steve Priest from The Sweet had one of these and so I always fancied one when I first started off playing. After all, I am a pure, undiluted product of early 1970's Top Of The Pops. The company stopped instrument production for many years, making them quite hard to find and then did a brief spell of production again. This has to have the most primitive bass bridge in the bass world, using a piece of cork! .... and it also has quite cheap looking tuners. Despite these indisputable low-budget style production values, this bass has a great, solid, growling sound. Its short scale makes it very easy to play. The action is nice and low without having to fiddle with it. It also weighs nothing at all!
Dean stage acoustic guitar The 'zingiest' clearest recording sound imaginable, thanks to the piezo pickup. Quite a difficult model to find, too.
Eastwood Classic 4 bass I tracked down this marvelous double cutaway Eastwood Classic 4 bass with an original black-fronted headstock and bought it in a private sale from a chap in in Derbyshire. It's a lovely match for my white Gretsch White Falcon guitar.
Epiphone Firebird guitar: I went out looking for a Flying V and came across this. The action was a bit high when I got it, so I did a quick basic set-up at home and found the frets buzzed everywhere when the strings were set at a playable height. So... I marched back into the shop that I bought it from and they said they'd get their luthier to go over it. A week later, I got the call to come over and collect it. The luthier told me that he had "imposed his will on it" and that what was a piece of sh*t was now a totally excellent guitar. He loftily said the shop that sold it to me as it was should be quite ashamed of themselves and handed me his bill for the work. I promptly handed it to the baffled store manager who was just passing (as the guitar was brand new and obviously inside its warranty period) and waltzed off home delighted. The action is now to die for and it sounds superb.
Epiphone '1958' Flying V bass I bought this because I either watched too many Marc Bolan videos one day, or possibly because I have a rather stupid and almost-sexual attraction towards pointy guitars. Perhaps both. The very best thing about this bass is that it once literally gave a wuss of a guitarist that I was playing in a cabaret band with a migraine, as the look of it didn't fit in with the 60's look of the band, according to him. It's based on a 1958 Gibson Flying V, which dates it from around the earliest period of that old group's music. The arrival of the V bass heralded and definitely speeded up the end of my playing career with the be-suited merchants of 60's cheese, so I now have even more of an extra-special fondness for it. They also objected to a 5-string Fender Jazz Bass... because it had 5 extra notes on it. Dullards. When liberated from silent serfdom and abject misery with the 60's band, I bought as many basses that I considered that they would have found repellent as I could find! All part of my slow rehabilitation to the real world and real music. Cheaper than therapy. And pointier, too.
Epiphone Thunderbird Pro IV bass guitar I totally blame Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick and also John Entwistle from The Who for my desire to own one of these basses.
Epiphone Thunderbird Classic IV bass guitar Along with the sunburst T-bird above, I treated myself to this lovely bass as a reward for going through with my cancer operation.
Fender Precision Lyte Bass (Toffeeburst): I bought this bass from the now-gone Doctor Rock in Bury, for an excellent price in 1995. It was my main bass for a long time since then, although a couple of other basses have overtaken it (use-wise) more recently. Anyone who I have handed it to has been impressed with it, even though it's not the most obviously eye-catching bass I own. If a musical instrument can be said to be anybody's 'soulmate' then this one is quite possibly mine.
Fender '08 USA Jazz Bass in Candy Cola Red: Bought in Boston, USA and thoughtfully 'lost' by those 'great' and (in)famous baggage handlers at British Airways whilst in transit between London Heathrow's Terminal 5 and Manchester on the way home. Fortunately, it turned up, or I would maybe have killed someone. Affectionately nicknamed 'AJ', after our lovely relative Audrey in Boston, who helped us to get hold of this bass. A black scratchplate replaced the original stock white one, before I moved on to putting a mirror scratchplate on it. It really looks The Business now.
Fender '60th Anniversary' Precision bass: With an S1 switch to cut / boost tone. Originally, I waltzed into Sound Control in Salford looking for the cheaper Mexican version of the 60th Anniversary P bass in a lovely 'blizzard pearl' finish - advertised on their site but not in stock - but they very cunningly flew this gorgeous (and stunningly more expensive) USA sunburst model in from elsewhere in the country the very same day and fed me lots of very strange drugs that made me buy it. Thank you, Sound Control. It's had its white scratch plate replaced with a nicer red-ish tortoiseshell and I think that makes it look even more attractive. My main go-to recording bass.
Fender Precision Deluxe Bass: I bought this brand new in September 2017. A bit of a techno set of switches for sound. Lovely chunky bridge and nice noiseless pickups. Interesting. Has become a go-to bass, as the sound is so rich and consistent.
Fender Deluxe Jazz Bass This matches the Precision above. Just as techno as far as switching goes. I still have to look up what the controls do occasionally.
2018 Fender Precision Bass Buttercream finish. Pearloid scratchplate added. In 2021 / 2022, this was my main stage bass most of the time. I love it.
Fender Player Series Jazz Bass Buttercream finish. Pearloid scratchplate added. I was so pleased with the Player P Bass that I had to have one of these.
Fender Squier 50's style Classic Vibe Precision Bass: Fantastic value for the asking price. It's just gorgeous. A lovely eye-catching finish, marvelous smooth maple neck and a great sound. Cool as f***.
2017 Fender HSS Stratocaster in Arctic White I bought this Fender on 9th Feb 2017. I have always wanted a white Strat with a maple neck and trem arm, but - seeing as I am primarily a bassist - I have just never bought one. The nearest I ever got was the Tokai, which I got as a clever trade in the late 80's - which I assure you is very very CLOSE to the real thing. When I first started off playing, my dream guitar was on display in my local guitar shop. That white USA Fender Strat with a maple neck and a trem arm..... Each of those features, including the white colour, was a custom option at that point and added 10% extra above the usual cost of the guitar, pushing it up to an astronomical £424 in 1975. That was WAY beyond what I could afford, or deserved - according to the level of my ability at that point. 42 years later, I sprang for the HSS model with the Humbucker, which is ferocious. I tried it out in PMT in Manchester and paid £536.00 for it, plus my customary checker strap. Did I need it? No. But even though I was at the point where I should really stop buying guitars now, I just decided I deserved it.
Fender FSR 2019 Player Series Bass: Oceanic Turquoise I saw this colour and had to have it. The scratchplate is original. The same as the buttercream one above, but it feels quite a bit heavier and has a slightly deeper tone..
Fender Vintera Precision Bass in Dakota Red OK, I weakened in July 2023 from the 'no more guitars' rule. So shoot me...
Framus Nashville Deluxe bass I had been looking for one of these - to replace the dearly loved one I originally owned in the late 70's / early 80's - for some years. I bought my original from a shop in Blackpool just because Dave Hill from Slade used the guitar version. After a long time searching, two turned up in rapid succession on EBay. This one dates from about 1974, like my first one. The deluxe model I've got now has edge binding, whereas my original didn't.
Gibson SGII guitar (1972) My first decent guitar, bought brand new in 1975. It's just been refinished professionally at Jack's Instrument Services, Manchester. I couldn't be happier with how she has turned out. All of the parts on the guitar have been kept as original, except for the new and improved re-wiring of the electrics and also the new replacement brass nut that I specifically asked for. LEFT: As she was originally (except for replacement machine heads) and RIGHT: again in 2016.
Gibson Les Paul Traditional guitar: New - made in 2012. A lovely worn brown mahogany finish. I'm very pleased with it. It has actually made me take my guitar playing a lot more seriously after all these years.
Gibson Les Paul Traditional guitar: I bought this from one of my friends. A beautiful guitar, made in 2016, with a different feel to the guitar above.
Gibson SG standard 2010
Gibson SG Supreme Bass: I lusted after a Gibson bass when I first started to play. 30+ years later, I got one. One of only 400 made in one particular month with this unique finish and it's simply gorgeous to play. More toppy than the normal SG or EB-style bass, due to the maple top. Nice, nice, nice. All the deluxe Gibson features you'd want. The only Gibson bass I've ever played and liked.
Gordy XR Custom fretless bass: I spotted this one-off bass at the now-closed A1 Music shop in Manchester and I couldn't resist it. It has the lowest string action in all of the known Universe. Effortless to play. It's not used very often on stage, as the case was bigger than the group van (it now lives in a gig bag) but I took it into the studio for use on The Kerbcrawlers version of 'Need your love so bad' and it was just the right bass for the job.
Gretsch White Falcon guitar: I decided at one point to round off my collection of 6 string guitars with the one I had always dreamed of - a single cutaway Gretsch White Falcon - so I did. This has only seen a stage on a few rare occasions, when I have cheerfully let Ian Hutchings and John Rushworth use it, but I do intend to take it out and use it more often. The Eastwood Classic 4 bass is styled after the White Falcon bass and is a lovely match to it. It is nice to see how the Gretsches have shot up in price since I bought one.
Hamer B12 12-string bass Pretty much my 'trademark' bass, though I don't use it at every show that I do. These basses have a sound that has to be heard to be believed. More about them here.
Ibanez SR1305 5-string bass. I was tipped off about this one, as I mentioned one of my goals for 2019 was to improve my 5-string bass playing.
MadDog Sunburst Telecaster: This is the second one of these that I have owned. I took my first one to a jam night and someone else fell in love with it and asked me to sell it to him. I got seller's regret shortly afterwards and managed to find another one.
Mahalo Ukelele: A lovely present from my lovely daughter Rachel.
Peerless Standard Smoked Bass: I'd been watching this one in a local shop for quite some time. They hadn't sold it at the original asking price and as time went by, they reduced it a few times. I finally got it at an excellent price. The controls take a bit of getting used to (Blend / Vol / Tone), as does the 10lb weight. Too tall for a normal guitar stand, too. Very distinctive looking.
Radiotone 335 style guitar: A bit of a dilemma. For years, I have always thought of Dave Edmunds as my favourite guitarist. That's never really changed. How to get his look and style, if not his playing technique - yup, buy a blonde 335! The trouble is that Gibson 335's with blonde bodies and dot necks were only made in 1958 or thereabouts. They cost more than some houses these days. Gibson attempted to solve that problem for me by reissuing that most desirable model, in a limited edition, at a mere £3500. I could just about afford one, but not really justify it. I had seen a Radiotone 335-styled guitar with a caramel sunburst finish and was quite tempted to buy it, because it was so close to the actual Gibson build (the purists will totally disagree with me, of course), but the colour was a bit wrong for me, so my wallet was safe for the time being, but I kept wavering towards it. On a trip out, one day, to that same guitar store, I spotted the blonde-bodied dot neck version of the Radiotone 335 and I was utterly hooked. Having sat down with the real Gibson 335 reissue guitar as well, all I can say is that this is close enough to be a REAL worry to Gibson. It has the same build, just about and you can get every sound that the Gibson offers. And it is just lovely to play. I bought a 335 case and, of course, it fit into it EXACTLY.
Radiotone 'Les Paul goldtop' type guitar: Brand new, November 2017. Just as the Radiotone 335 seduced me, this guitar fulfilled my long-standing craving for a Les Paul Goldtop, though there is a sparkle to this finish that can be seen close-up, rather than a plain gold top. As for the build quality and sound, it is eerily close to a Gibson Les Paul. It FEELS just like a Gibson Les Paul. I had to swap out the volume and tone control knobs and the pickup selector cap to make it totally accurate looking, but that was insignificant. I got it as a bargain at a recent guitar show. I really wish I had also bought the Lemon Drop finish LP by the same maker that was on sale at the same trader's stall. Regrets...
Revelation purple Jazzmaster type guitar. One of only 20 of this model made in this striking colour. The P90's give a lovely sound, but the coil tap switch gives a dazzling array of sounds, whichever way you use the pickup selector. A brilliant studio instrument.
Rickenbacker 4003 in Fireglo finish: I bought this one when I was playing with a club / cabaret band doing 60's music (2002), to try show a bit willing and to try to fit in with the lead guitarist, who had a really nice, and very similar-looking Rickenbacker 12-string guitar. The 60's cabaret band turned out to not work out for me for various reasons, but the bass certainly did, so that's alright. They are great to play and gives a quite good variety of sounds. If the 4000 series basses were good enough for Paul McCartney and for The Jam's Bruce Foxton - two of the best bassists ever to pick up an instrument - they're certainly good enough for me!
Rickenbacker 4003 in Blue Boy finish: The 'Blue Boy' colour option at the time (2002) was a very limited edition run (although Rickenbacker later did release a number in it as a 'colour of the year' edition). This one is a lot more rocky sounding than the fireglo. It has a lot more mid tone to it, though I have no idea why, as I have set them both up pretty similarly. The neck feels a bit thicker than my first one, which may have something to do with it. The Blue Boy colour is known to eventually go a bit green after prolonged exposure to lights, etc. Mine hasn't done that yet, some years on. Touch wood...... There's a good story about this one. It was a Christmas present. I had been burbling on that I quite fancied a Blue Boy bass thinking that it was going to be Navy Blue. I saw a bad photo of one on the net and it looked awful - almost green (they do go a bit green if you are unlucky). Lynda and I were looking at a (Sonic blue) Fender Strat in Salford that was the colour of the 'awful' one on the net, so I said I had gone right off the idea of one. Lynda went quiet. We came home and Lynda went straight back out and when she returned, she put the bass case on the sofa and said "If it's wrong you can change it". I looked at the case and thought what is she on about, thinking it was my red one. I opened the case and immediately fell in love with it. It was not the crappy colour I had seen. It is sky blue and really hard to photograph. Lynda still probably doesn't believe that I like it. It was a total shock to me. The bass was a limited edition and became a 'Colour of the year' finish another year, so was pretty hard to get hold of them.
Rickenbacker 4003 in Midnight Blue finish: It just has that sound to it and it feels to me to be the most comfortable of the three to play... not that the others are hard to play at all! The bass colour looks different under different lights and this spectacular result is a result of a special combination varnish. A number of the Midnight Blue guitars and basses that Rickenbacker released have been subject to an unfortunate 'bleeding' problem, where the blue paint goes into the white binding. Mine too. Unfortunately, my warranty didn't cover this as my bass was apparently 'grey-imported' into the UK. It was for a long time my 'favourite' player of the first three.
Rickenbacker 4003 in Walnut finish: The fourth 4003 turned out to be the most playable Rickenbacker I have ever touched. Lovely fast maple neck and fretboard.
Here's the full set...
Tokai Breezy Sound guitar: I don't really begin to consider swapping guitars now, but at one point, just once, I did - and this was what I got in exchange for a very early Squier Precision bass: One of the best 6 strings I've ever played. Used by Noddy Holder of Slade at Walsall in 1991 when SLADE played their impromptu last ever live UK stage appearance at a Fan Club function for their 25th anniversary in 1991. The group all offered to sign it afterwards, but it's a working guitar - not just something to hang on a wall, or keep in a frame - all sad and unused, so I politely declined their very kind offer, which they beamed at. Of course it looked better on Nod than it does on me.
Vintage V100MU Midge Ure Signature goldtop guitar This is a convincingly weighty guitar, compared to the standard Vintage LP-type goldtop model, which I also tried at the store (and which Midge Ure also used on the 2012 tour). It is fitted with P90 pickups and a Vibrola arm. The story behind me going miles and miles for this particular guitar? I went to see Ultravox on their reunion tours in 2010 and 2012 and Midge Ure used two Vintage Les Paul type guitars on the latter tour. He is an absolutely impressive guitarist and as a result of the second show, I convinced myself I needed a Vintage Les Paul type guitar. I ended up driving up to Morecambe to try and buy this guitar. This guitar plays wonderfully. The pickups sound great. It looks The Business and has a great sound.
Vintage VS6 SG Junior
Vintage V130 double-cutaway in Vintage White
Warwick Streamer 'Chrome Tone' This bass hung unloved and unwanted on the wall in a Manchester shop for a fair old time. After seeing it there several times, I thought I'd ask to have a go on it. If it had been a regular wooden style Warwick Streamer, nice as they are, it wouldn't have got a second look from me. It's a very 'glam rock' type bass and that was what made me look at it. All the Warwicks I'd ever picked up had thick necks like tree trunks and this one initially seemed to be no exception. Because of the rest of the attractions of this bass, I was prepared to give it a serious try and see if I could make myself love it. Fortunately, the neck width was not such an insurmountable issue and it's nice to play and sounds absolutely solid. It's got a lovely tone. The band I am with plays as a three piece and this was for a long time very often my main stage bass. It's very punchy and precise and every note rings out loud and clear. No 'dead spots' anywhere on it. And the girls like it...
Westfield 'Precision bass' clone: I bought this as a bargain specifically for other people to use at the jam nights that I was involved in. However, it turned out to be an extremely pleasing bass to play, with an extremely comfy 70's style neck and lovely low action. A definite keeper and maybe far too nice to take to the jam nights!!!

If any guitar or bass manufacturer would like to send me something good that I would like to use, I'd be quite
pleased to say lovely things in exchange for a freebie. Please note that I am not prepared to lie and say that
something is great if it clearly isn't.
More gear photos here.

top

Amplifiers, effects and recording gear

I don't ask much from my equipment. I look after it reasonably well and try to keep it working.
My current touring rig is the Hartke rig further down the page.

On the whole, I have been quite lucky with my bass rigs,

The Trace Elliot bass rig:
"See anything green?"

These two paired Trace Elliot 715 combos were my main bass rig since 1993. I bought the first one from A1 in Manchester to use with my (then) band Go Crazy.

I hadn't reckoned on the awesome - and maybe insane - output of Gary Burnett's Marshall Valvestate combo, so when he got that, I was obliged to buy another bass combo, in order to have the slightest chance of making myself heard, as one of these beasts alone was not really cutting the mustard.

I wanted another one and it had to match #1. Trace Elliot had kindly (and suddenly) altered the whole look of the 715 combo in the six months between me buying the two, so I had to search around for another in the same style.

A1 in Preston had one in stock that didn't have the newly updated amp front panel. It also had a consecutive serial number. Fabulous. I got a really good solid sound with enough thump and power behind me to keep me very happy indeed.

Gary then gleefully bought another Marshall Valvestate amp to go with his first one. So then I ... no I didn't.

I did consider going up to a bank of four of these at one stage and was going through the maths on the likelihood of my finding another two matching combo amps, but then something happened...

The Hartke bass rig - "Shiny..."

The Trace Elliot rig was generally keeping me very happy indeed, until I took the Hamer 12-string bass out to a jam night and sat down to play it through someone else's 4x10 speaker cabinet. It was a complete and utter revelation to me when I heard how very different the bass sounded through a set of smaller speakers. Brighter and clearer.

So..... Off I trundled to Sound Control in Manchester, with a bee in my bonnet about finding a cab that would deliver the magical sound that I had heard at the jam night. They had a full Hartke rig comprising a 2x10 cab and a 1x15 cab, plus a rather ballsy 350 watt amplifier. There was a deal on the whole rig which made it quite attractive, so I took the 12er in and worried everyone in the shop with it and I thought to myself 'THIS is the answer'.

It wasn't. The 1x15 cab died on me twice while it was under warranty - once a couple of hundred miles from home when we were playing down the other end of the country in Hampshire, (across the village green from Alan Titchmarshes house) which was not funny at all, I can assure you.

So I bought the Hartke 4x10 cab that I now use.

Funnily enough, we were playing in Oldham once and the guy who was employed to do our sound at the venue tried to sell us some gear, including some much heavier Hartke bass cabs. I politely passed on this most 'golden of opportunities'.

At one point I doubled the rig up for use at some of the larger gigs. It was terrifyingly powerful. Half of the full Hartke bass rig was sold in June 2016, as it wasn't all getting used, as the band I was in then was a bit feeble and having that rig onstage while the guitarist was playing through what amounted to a transistor radio just looked like bullying. I have since bought another 2x10 cab.

Using a business-like bass rig may frighten the odd Concert Secretary to death (a really good reason for buying amplifiers if ever there was one), but despite them often being softies when it comes to the thought of volume, it's not too difficult to make them understand that the volume on them goes from a silent, brooding 0 to a blood-curdling 10. I usually have them set on 3 at the most. I get a great full-range bass sound with all the tone range I want and no-one's ears need to bleed.

No-one would be unhappier than me if I ever had a bad sound onstage.

VOX AC15C1 guitar amplifier

So in 2012 I bought a brand new amp..... In fact, it was my first really decent guitar amp. I've always had bass amps up to now. This one will see me out, no doubt. Custom 'Racing Green' finish. 15 watts and a nice Celestion speaker. Built-in reverb and tremolo.

It can be as loud as hell. I upset them in the shop, while putting it through its paces. Not quite loud enough for stage use, I use this for home playing and recording.

Fender 'Champion 100' 100w guitar amplifier:

Bought in March 2017, basically because I had been using the Vox at the jam night on Sundays and I wanted to play through something that was a bit more powerful with twin speakers and to save on wear and tear on the Vox and its valves.

I am no longer an Endorsing Artist for BlackStar Bass equipment.
If you see a picture of me using them, be assured that it is certainly no longer the case. Enough said.

GUITAR AND BASS EFFECTS
I will photograph my stage bass board and post it soon. I keep it basic.
Tuner pedal > Octaver pedal > Chorus pedal > Behringer BDI21 pedal.

I also use custom-made 'The Kerbcrawlers' / 'F*ck Cancer' / 'The Three' picks, Shure microphones, a Laney monitor, (sometimes a JTS UHF wireless transmitter system).

Ian Edmundson picks Ian Edmundson F*ck Cancer picks THREE pick

Recording gear

Tascam DP24 24-track recording console.

I bought this unit shortly after a friend of mine showed me the identical machine that he had bought.

We worked our way through the quite baffling manual - little of it is seemingly written in English - even on the English pages. Once we had done what should have been a few simple operations on it that way, after hours of swearing and throwing things about, we decided the manual was making it far too much like hard work. Once you've learned how to set a track to record and to hit the GO button and then the stop button when you want to stop, that's all that you need to do. The songs are recorded onto SD cards like you'd find in a camera. The remote control for this unit is an absolute blessing.

An 8 channel desk (located beneath the recorder in the photo) for EQ-ing parts and adding effects before recording to the 24 track. Guitars are played through a Vox AC15 or Fender Champion 100 amp then mic'd with the Rode NT1 mic. Bass guitar is put through a Zoom B2 Bass Pod, normally set to simulate the Hartke rig. Outboard effects: ART Proverb 200 or mixing desk reverb. Keyboard sounds are generated via a Roland D110 sound module. Any sequencing is processed via an Atari 1040 STe computer.

Microphones:
Rode NT1.
Shure SM57 / SM58.
Various others.
Sennheiser / Sony headphones.

SOLD!!
They also served.... The guitars that got away.

Every now and then I have sometimes not 'bonded' with a guitar, or for whatever reason, later on, I have
come to the startling realisation that a guitar or bass hasn't been out of its case for a long time and that
maybe it would maybe be of more use to someone else, who would enjoy it more and play it and it could
make some room in The Vault for another one.

	Agile doubleneck bass / guitar: Number 40 at the time. Was this going to be the very last one? If I was not going to buy any more, I had to finish off with something that was rather ridiculous. Actually it could be very useful. Of course, I bought more guitars after this 'last one'... Sold, July 2020.
	BC Rich NJ series Mockingbird bass: New to me in April 2016. Bought at Eric Clapton's local guitar store in Ripley, Surrey. It was a wonderful bass to play and it sounded really nice through a desk onto tape, but I didn't really bond with it, due to my band of the time hating the look of it, because they were a set of dim inbred assholes. I ended up favouring other basses for onstage use regularly and so I sold it in March 2017.
	Blackstar Unity U500 500w 2x10 combo / 250ACT 250w 1x15 active extension cab: I got these on an Artist deal from Blackstar. However, I am no longer a Blackstar Endorsing Artist. They look absolutely beautiful, but they were NOT reliable, breaking down three times in less than six months and they went back for a refund. Three strikes and you're out. I was actually at the point of being scared of using them. Apparently, lots of the new range of Blackstar bass gear has gone back. I do NOT recommend them, or their similarly defective, crappy and similarly unreliable guitar amps.
	Burns Bison (reissue) bass Bought in Blackpool while doing a weekend there with an old band. I walked past the shop and it was there in a dark corner with lights on it. Oh God, it just looked gorgeous. It looked just the part for the 60's vibe of the group. It has just about every variety of tone built in that anyone could need. This bass is great for the studio. It is featured particularly nicely on 'I don't wanna talk about it' which is one of the slower, more atmospheric songs on the first Kerbcrawlers CD. It's great for live use, too - despite the emormous body size. It weighs a ton!! The neck reach is long. It sounds more like a Rickenbacker should at times than any of my 4 Ric 4003's! It now lives in London.
	Dean Rhapsody 8-string bass: If 12-String basses are quite unusual, then so are 8-string basses. They never really caught on, despite being used by a few major stars. This one has a really big sound, coming from a pairing of regular bass strings and octave strings. I hadn't used it for the longest time and a friend was looking for something with multiple course strings.
	ESP Edwards Cloud replica guitar: This was sold in February 2023. I absolutely loved it every time I picked it up, but I just wasn't using it like I should, after getting a couple of Les Paul guitars. I got the idea of selling it when my house needed a new roof.
	Fender Squier sunburst Precision bass guitar: I bought this very early Squier bass (one of the very first issued under the Squier brand name, so effectively it was later recognised as being a very decent quality crossover product from Fender) and I was very pleased indeed with it until I bought an active bass, at which point it became surplus to my requirements. Back then, I didn't really 'collect' guitars. I wasn't gigging regularly at the time and so I swapped it for a lovely Tokai lawsuit Strat replica, which I still have and use today. I did try to track the new owner down and ask to buy this one back, but when I finally found him, he had sold it on.
	Squier Precision Bass guitar (red): I bought this one as a backup for playing live when I was in Go Crazy. Like the sunburst one that I had previously parted with (above), it was a decent enough bass that, like a number of the others on this page, simply slipped down the ranks and out of use over the course of a few years. Precision basses are great, single pickup workhorse basses. Get a good one and you don't need anything else.
	Fender Squier Precision Special Bass: I got this rather lovely red-sunburst Squier P-special from a shop in Bury. Equipped with USA pickups, as it has the tiny 'Standard' logo on the headstock, it sounds great. Nice to play, very striking looking. In 2023 a friend asked if I had a cheap bass I'd sell to him. This isn't cheap but it was becoming a bit surplus to requirements. Before it went, I did a setup and re-strung it and it sounded miraculous. He came with the money, so I was obliged to let it go.
	Fender Deluxe Roadhouse Stratocaster in Arctic White : A huge variety of sounds available via 'complex' S1 switching (that you very quickly get used to - it's really quite subtle). 'Large headstock' style.
	FENDER SQUIER VINTAGE MODIFIED 50'S PRECISION BASS: People have looked at it and pretty much spat out the word 'Squier' in disgust then have heard it cranked up and have revised their opinions. This one comes with a matte finish neck and a large mudbucker pickup by Fender. Little in the way of twang, but a great, solid bottom end that is just right for a trio. I've always been happy to take the Squiers out as my main basses for the night.
	Fender Precision Lyte bass guitar (Charcoalburst): The same bass that had deposed the Wal (see below). I bought a second one of these at a very decent price and it had the best sound of any bass that I had played up until that point and made this really good one sound comparatively mellow. As I got more basses, this one sort of slipped down the ranks, so I let it go. This would become a familiar scenario. This bass was used exclusively during the recording of the Bad Habits 'Battles' album.
	Fender HMT bass guitar: I had bought this because it looked and felt like a really cool man's bass, but it sounded far better for studio recordings than it did in live use. Onstage, it was a bit of a nightmare. The hollow body made it quite prone to feedback, which made the Piezo pickup whistle, so the spilt P pickup was best used in live situations, but it did not replicate the sound of the bass at low volume or straight into the desk. When you have to isolate one pickup on a bass onstage, it's not much use.
	Gibson SG Special: A good friend of mine offered me first refusal on this mint condition guitar and we struck up a nice deal. A fatter neck than the Les Paul and my other SG. It took a bit of getting used to, but it has a great sound. In 2025, I had a bit of a rationalisation and put a few instruments up for sale.
	Gretsch G2622T
	Hamer Chapparal 12-string bass: One of the more surprising sales I have made. I really liked this bass but (again) I was not using it as much as it deserved. I found it harder to play than my B12, because of the longer scale and so, when I reluctantly decided to thin the collection slightly and I was approached and asked whether I would sell it, this bass was a casualty. More here.
	John Birch SCDR bass (1976): Quite rare 1976 Rickenbacker-styled bass from the very respected Midlands luthier who made some great custom guitars for Black Sabbath, Slade, Roy Orbison, Roy Wood among many others. The Hyperflux and Magnum pickups were handmade and engraved personally by the late John Birch. I was approached about selling this bass - I wasn't desperate to sell it - and I was absolutely incensed when the person who bought it from me flipped it shortly afterwards for a large profit.
	Maddog Guitars Koa top Telecaster with humbucker. Brand new in August 2016. I got their very last one of these. Again, Wilkinson pickups. Sold April 2026.
	Maddog Guitars double-bound sunburst Telecaster: A workhorse, made in Ramsbottom. Used for studio stuff and at jam nights. I have never really got on with Telecasters, but I saw this at a guitar show, played it... A classic sound. Wilkinson pickups. Very solid for rhythm on the bridge pickup. Almost sounds acoustic with the bridge pickup. Why did I let this go? I took it to jam nights and a chap who played it asked if I was selling. I hadn't thought about it, but I am playing either Gibson types or Strats more. I put a fair price to him and he pounced. I managed to get an identical replacement. Seller's remorse.
	Retrovibe RV5 5 string bass: A naughty Rickenbacker-styled bass. A 5 string. The pickups are quite far removed from the trademark Rickenbacker sound and are twice as powerful as a Ric. If you want a Rickenbacker sound, you'll not get it. A very nice, playable, solid sounding 5-string bass and it's eye-catching. The bottom end on this is great. I found myself rolling off an amount of treble on the bridge pickup, to get a nice deep thick sound. Very precise, definite notes on the bottom string. Only 8 RV5 5-string basses were made. I was very lucky indeed to get hold of one. Sold December 2020
	Retrovibe Renegade 'Rickenbastard' : How could I pass up a shot at this one-off bass? I opted for a new mirror scratchplate and a new TRC, as well as genuine replacement Ric volume and tone controls. I had no intention at all of passing it off as an actual Rickenbacker. Rickenbacker have never made a bass like this! I'd taken it out to a jam night and had really enjoyed playing it, but after a post on the Rickenfakers group where people expressed interest in it, I commented that I might consider parting with it. It was spoken for almost immediately. I did have a touch of seller's regret, due to it being quite unique, but I had 4 actual Rickenbackers. Sold January 2022.
	Rickenbacker 620 12-string guitar: Jingle-jangle, Hard day's night , Mr Tambourine Man... The list goes on and on... The guitar I bought after a previous 'last' one, a number of guitars ago. Well.... I HAD to. Over a number of years I used this for home recordings, but in the end, I wasn't using it enough and put it up for sale and it has now gone to a very good home in France. I was extremely sad to see this one go
	Replica Prince Cloud guitar: I only owned this for slightly less than two months. I imported it and had work done on it, but then I bought the white ESP Cloud copy and decided to sell this, as I didn't really need two Cloud style guitars. It went in just two days. A Prince tribute band bought it.
	Vintage 12 string acoustic guitar I gifted this one to a friend who would probably get more use from it than me in 2024.
	Vintage VS6MRMA ICON Mick Abrahams signature SG guitar More info about the VS6MRMA here SOLD April 2026.
	WAL Pro 1e bass guitar: I bought this from A1 in Manchester and I was nearly mugged outside Stockport railway station because some scrote saw me with the rather expensive looking bass case. I later bought a charcoalburst Fender Precision Lyte bass (see above) and it sounded far more gutsy than this one did, so I let it go to a guy from Liverpool. It's now worth a hell of a lot more than the amount that I sold it for, but it sounded so clean that it was not great for stage use. It was a marvelous recording bass. Action was to die for and it's probably the most comfortable bass to play that I've ever owned. Used on the Go Crazy 'Coz I luv you' 45 and also on all of The Peppermint Dream recordings. The volume knobs went up up to 11. I am sure there is a good, scientific reason for that, but even now, years later, I've no idea why.
	Warwick Custom Shop Thumb NT bass (gloss walnut): A one-off unique bass from the Warwick custom shop. Probably the most valuable instrument I've owned. The finish is a one-off gloss walnut. The bass has a 26 fret neck, though I have never used the full extent of the higher notes on the neck, being a proper bassist. Slips into passive mode if you pull out the volume pot. Impressive active tone boost and cut. A beautiful instrument - lovely to play. No dots on the front of the neck. You have to know what you're doing. The neck-through construction is clearly visible from the rear. The woods used are gorgeous. Sold August 2024.
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