Originally from Hull, I have been playing the guitar since 1965 playing my first gig in 66 at the local school youth club. I am a self confessed musical tart (I’ll play with anyone). Numerous gigs in several bands (Kingdom Brunel, Flak, Late Arrivals, Skidby Mill …..) in and arround the Hull area followed until the early 70’s when the idea of a real job and marriage put a temporary stop to gigs.
A chance meeting with a singer from one of the earlier bands in the mid-late seventies led to helping out some youngsters trying to form a band and then a few years playing the clubs until the frustration of being a bingo sandwich only allowed to play middle of the road chart rubbish brought about another break in public performance.
By then a father the old acoustic guitar which was the only one kept assumed the roll of child amuser and somewhere the old red book of songs that kept Andrew, Lucy and Robert entertained is quitely gathering dust, some of it must have rubbed off though, the boys both play Andrew(bass), Robert(guitar), Lucy has the best voice.
A move to Bedfordshire in the 80’s and then divorce in the early 90’s rekindled the desire to play, a Saturday night performance with Rough & Nearly Ready at the Stables in Wavendon July 2000 (the result of several Sunday workshops there) being the first for twenty two years, but the damage was done. A brief period in a Roxy Music tribute band (Foxy Music) provided some of the more colourful pictures and allowed me to to play some theatre gigs (large stages) it was fun but the financial realities of an 11 piece band meant the bands demise was inevitable. As the history page reports Vintage Stuff started 2001, I am back were my heart belongs with Blues and Rock and the guitars and amps just keep coming.
Influence wise in the early days it was The Beatles and The Stones quickly followed by their influnces – Chuck Berry – Muddy Waters – Buddy Holly. Then came the british blues boom and the likes of Clapton – Beck – Green and local hero Mick Ronson (nice bloke and a hell of a guitarist, sadly missed) and with he coming of the super groups Hendrix became the one of the favourites. As time as gone on other guitarist to add to the list include Knopfler – Moore – SRV – Cray – Ford .
Gear wise in the early days acoustics gave way to Vox electrics (a tear drop phantom at one point) then came the first Gibson (SG standard) bought new in 68 (there wern’t many secondhand Gibsons to be had up north then). The second batch of gigs were mostly played on a Shergold Masquerader Custom. Since the 90’s the guitars have included Yamaha SG x2, Fender Strats x5 (Plus, Plus Deluxe (x2),Clapton & SRV), Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul Standard, SG Custom (that was what I wanted in 68 but £350 then was a fortune a new minivan was only £250), Custom shop Gibson (Q-200), Gibson CS-336, Brian Moore i8.13, Vintage 335 copy, PRS Singlecut x2, Custom 24 (x5 each with different pickups and switching configurations), Custom 22 Soapbar (2), Swamp Ash Special, McCarty Brazilian, 513 Rosewood (amazing range of sounds) and Modern Eagle (x2)(as good as it gets without spending 10 grand on a private stock beast), PRS Santana II Limited Edition (1 of 200 with Brazilian Rosewood neck), PRS Hollowbody II Piezo, Suhr Custom Classic, Musicman Axis SuperSport Piezo, Ibanez 560,Patrick Eggle Berlin Pro x2 & LA Plus, JHS XG250, Fernandes bass and the old Eko Ranger that amused the kids which now spends most of its time as an orniment on the stairs, some of these guitars have gone but if like me you parted with guitars in the past you usually regret it later hence the collection keeps growing.
For the benefit of those interested in gear we have a couple of pages showing pictures and some info on a selection of the kit that has passed through the band in recent years. Just don’t get too excited the pages are ampofiles and guitar porn, enjoy.
Amp wise the first was a Vox twin 10 followed by a Bell Bendix, Carlsbro and Laney 100w with Carlsbro 4 x 12 cabs. the 70’s gigs used a Peavey Preditor combo and since the 90’s a whole range of amps including Maine 120 Mosfet Combo, Peavey Encore, Line 6 Flextone II +, Roland VGA7, Marshall Mosfet, Tech 21 TM60, Mesa Boogie Nomad 45 (x2), Mesa Boogie Nomad 100, Mesa Boogie MKIV x2 (combo & head), Mesa Boogie Mark V, Cornford MK50 x2, Cornford Hellcat x2 (combo & head),(Fender Prosonic x3, Mesa Boogie Maverick (swapped with Ron for one of the Prosonics), Award Sessionette, Fender Tremolux( sold to Ron), Mesa Lonestar Special, Rivera M100, Roland Blues Cube, Roland Cube 60 (ideal practice/backup amp), Peavey Classic 30, Mesa Subway Blues, Crate 150w head, , Carr Slant v6 (Boutique beast), Two Rock Custom Sig Reverb V2, Zinky Blue Zelvet (x2 1 – 25w, 1 – 50w from the guy who designed the Prosonic), Trace Elliot Tramp, Trace Elliot Vellocette, Laney Linebacker, Cornell Rambler 15w hand wired British Boutique class (by the man who made a special amp for E.C.) one day I’ll find that perfect tone, honest ( PS: I think the combination of the 3 PRS CU 24s and the Lonestar/Hellcat are getting very close see below for updates :-)). If you have been keeping an eye on the news page you will see that the Lonestar and Hellcat are both on Ebay, the amps in favour at the moment are a pair of Fender Prosonics, once you have mastered their unusual (for Fender) active tone controls and multiple gain stages they are real gems, shame they don’t make them any more. It will be interesting to see how good the new Supersonic is when it finally arives in the UK, it appears to have borrowed from the Prosonics gain channel but with 2 different clean voices, could be interesting, one of the Prosonics has gone and live duties are currently being taken up by a Cornford Mk50 with 2 2×10 Session cabs, – Cornfords gone Zinky’s in vogue at the moment, guitar wise the Modern Eagle rules the roost (it is amazing) but the 513, Santana & Suhr sometimes have a blast too. Even more changes, the drift to smaller amps means the Cornell Rambler & Carr Slant 6V are curent favourites while the Santana’s sheer tone is nudging the Modern Eagle into second place, not much else is getting a look in at the moment so some of the others are bound for Ebay. Guess what taste has changed again the Two Rock is just ahead of the Mark V on the amp front and the the Modern Eagles are favourites once more. The latest fav’s are the private stock SC-58 with usually a Two Rock and either a Carr or Matchless 🙂