Nostalgic Memories of Having The Horn

This is nowt like I mean
But such is life...

Well, I know it is getting a bit silly, but after my years - decades - of longing for a Les Paul and that frustration finally being sated, I've really got the hots for a nice SG.

I've probably said before, but my first 'proper' guitar was an Epiphone SG and I've always regretted flogging it, but there we are. It  wasn't a good one even, it came from my Mom's catalogue over 38 weeks, had a bolt-on neck and perhaps the dodgiest, quietest pickups known to humbuckerdom, but after my plywood 'Axe' with it's painted fretboard, to mine eyes it was something special. It was made of wood for a start.

Even if I only got it because I couldn't afford the repayments for the Epi Cherry Sunburst Les Paul on the page opposite. I was still paying off my Adidas Ivan Lendl trainers at the time and wasn't exactly flush.

But I got the SG, and I really loved that guitar, polished it, hardcase like a coffin and a change of strings every week despite it being crazy quiet and having to play most of the time with five strings as the high-e would only last minutes before giving way. I gigged it for a while too, before I flogged it and got my Jazzmaster as I just thought it wasn't good enough at the time, after seeing the chap in the Real People playing a Gibson that looked so much more chunky and dare I say grown-up and 'manly'.

Which shows how much I knew.

It was certainly louder, even if I thought not having black plastic pickup covers looked a bit strange.

And over the years I've always fancied a real SG - a Gibson - which is where I find myself again. But to be honest, if I could get hold of an old (late 80s) catalogue Epi with it's black plastic covered pickups, bolt-on neck and string cutting bridge, super shiny cherry colouring and all, that would probably do me fine.

I mean, I know the set-neck Epi G400s are far better guitars than mine ever was and if I tried I could sort meself out with a 'proper' SG soon enough, and my original was probably the equivalent of the cheapest of the cheap Baldwin ones these days, but there we are.

If I'm honest, I would love a Gibson or a nice Japanese Tokai or Burny, but deep down and deeper down yet, it is that old Epi I really miss.

I'm not on my own though, craving your crappy early guitars - it's why people pay money for things like Top Twentys and Satellites and the like now - but such is life.

Daft really, I must be feeling my age or something.

La la laa