There are certain stages you may go through when learning the guitar, those who persist and actually stick at it, tend to learn as much as they can about the instrument, they may start to want as many of them as they can get, yes this is a disease and one I suffer from.

The rich don’t have my problem they just go out and buy whatever they want, but when I was growing up I could not afford just to go and buy a Fender. They were always the expensive guitar that you had to have. I had to make do with a cheap copy that was pulled apart and resprayed a different colour every few months, I don’t have any photos of that guitar.

All my heroes played the Stratocaster, my list is Buddy Guy -> Jimmy Hendrix -> Stevie Ray Vaughan -> Eric Clapton.

It started with Buddy Guy, and they all wanted to be like him, he played the Strat, and tells a story about how when he was touring (In Africa I think from memory) his guitar was strapped to the top of a car that hit a bump and it fell off. He went back to get it thinking it would be smashed up, but it was ok he just retuned it and kept on playing.

The shape of the Strat is for me, the greatest looking shape for a guitar, there are many different styles over the years, and I can tell just by looking at one, what era its from. I used to spend many hours in guitar stores just looking at them.

The 56 model is very basic it has a chunky style body that has been slightly refined over the years, however it is my favourite and always the one I wanted. There was a vintage guitar store in Sydney that always had the doors closed, (as I write this I forget the name of it someone will know) I was always to nervous to go in as you had to knock, so I would stand outside and look through the windows at the guitars hanging on the wall.

I did manage to go in once and the prices of the vintage guitars were just insane, I really wanted one, but instead decided to get a car so I could get around a more important choice at the time.

There was another shop in Coogee, Guitar Crazy I think it was called, I used to love going to this place the smell of the guitars was fantastic and he had lots of old strats, he was a nice guy and said I could play anything, I never really did as I felt they were to expensive for me, he had a few of the Clapton Strats that I wanted but could never afford. He even had a Travelling Wilbury Guitar at one point.

I saved and saved, and when I had enough I bought a Japanese Fender, 50’s Style. It still wasn’t the real thing but at least it was a real Fender.

Basically the cheap version, it was finished in polyurethane, sunburst, Im not really a fan of sunburst but it was all I could get.

After a few years, I was starting to get into the vintage scene again and looking at all the wonderful work being done on the internet, people were doing relics and refinishing so this started to get my attention.

I decided I would sacrifice the factory paint and refinish it in Nitro Cellulose, this was how the originals were done, the finish started to crack and fade over the years and made some really nice old worn guitars.

I striped it back and while I was at it re-profiled the neck to make it more of a V shape. I found a company that still made Nitro Cellulose and got a small tin.

I resprayed the thing in the back yard, and although not perfect, it came out ok, and I was very happy with it.

I installed lace sensors in it, and although they are very low noise they are not a high output so a booster board is needed. I don’t have one in it, its ok for now.

Thats my favourite guitar thanks for looking.