Last updated 26 April 2021. Yes I know I need to do a video about them all - will do it when I get back to my main studio, promise!

I've thinned out the collection quite a bit over the last few years - rather just have a few guitars that I really connect with than lots gathering dust :)

Acoustics

Most of my acoustic guitars are made by Maton a relatively small Australian company. They were the guitars I dreamed about owning one day as a kid and now I've got a few. So lucky!

Froggy Bottom - M Deluxe
This was one of those accidents. I was at The North American Guitar store in the UK, the owner Ben is a friend of mine, and we were just playing a few things and I just totally LOVED the sound and feel of this instrument. I bought it pre-loved, they're a premium instrument, but you can really feel it. It's the most well rounded and rich sounding acoustic I have and it's the only one I kept with me while I moved out for 9 months while I renovated my studio! My Messiah sounds better for strumming or playing hard, but it's hard work too, you have to earn it - the Froggy gives it to you ;)

Maton - Messiah
This is my main dreadnought style guitar, awesome for strumming, playing hard and this is the one that bought Hayden Bendall (the Abbey Road studio engineer) out from the control room to say "this is one of the finest sounding acoustic guitar's we've ever had in here!". It records amazingly, hardly needs any EQ and just sits real nice. It's a little hard to play, doing a whole song with all barre chords is quite an effort, but worth it when you hear it back... just means I never want to do too many takes!

Maton - Court Jester (Custom Shop)
This is a Custom Shop guitar, it does have a twin but there were only two made, both by Andy Allen who is THE man at Maton. Smaller bodied and better for fingerstyle guitar, a lot more definition for that type of playing, a lot less powerful than The Messiah. It sounds great, but not as rich as the Messiah or the Michael Fix, but looks totally awesome and I toured with it for a long time so it carries a lot of fond memories.

Maton - Michael Fix Model
I got this after knocking the Court Jester and wanting a guitar to take with me on tour, take home and take to parties and stuff... something that sounded great but was "standard" and wouldn't devastate me if something happened to her. But it's becoming close family now because I play it a lot and the sound is really opening up. I think these instruments take some time to reach their full potential cos it certainly sounds better now than it did for the first 6 months!

Maton - Mini
I use this small sized guitar mostly for Nashville Tuning, and sometimes for parties or travelling. Sounds awesome, a tight sounding midrange, but somehow very open too, bright and sparkly. I like it a lot. It's not a toy guitar at all like some of the other small body guitars which are generally hard to play and sound very average. This plays and sounds amazing imho!

Maton - Messiah 12 String
Always wanted a 12 String guitar and so finally took the plunge. So much fun to play, kinda tricky, but it really sounds great. Still needs some breaking in I guess, the sound is quite 'tight' but I like it a lot. I leave this guitar tuned down a tone which is pretty common for 12 Strings, which makes them a lot more playable than in standard tuning.

Journey - Burgundy Top Matte Carbon Travel Guitar - OF660R1M
I get to travel to some awesome places to play guitar and when I got booked to do a workshop on a tropical Island bear Barbados I started worrying about taking one of my main acoustics... I got in touch with Journey and they sent me a couple of their travel guitars, this carbon on and a similar one in wood. The neck comes off and they fit in an overhead size bag for flights - super cool. And they sound great too! :) The perfect travel acoustic!

Richard Morrison - Custom
Richard made this guitar for me in 2012, and it's a wonderful instrument. Very thin top and a very full sound, kinda quirky in a lovely way. Richard contacted me via the web site and just offered to make me a guitar, I told him something that I quite fancied and a year later he emailed and said it was ready! I popped over to his workshop in France and picked it up :) Big thanks Richard! :)

Electric Guitars

I've had hundreds of electric guitars in my life, but I'm trying to settle down now to just one of each of the main types of guitars that I need for sessions and recording, without going over the top... still on the hunt for an original Steinberger, a Dobro, a pedal steel... but then I'll stop buying guitars... honest :) ha ha yeah right!

2019 Gray Guitar - VIVI Custom
I discovered Gray guitars when I was doing a workshop at the London Guitar Show, thought he made incredible guitars and asked him to make me one. He did. It's awesome, and it's my main guitar, the pink one with VIVI (My daughter's name) at the 12th fret. It's got pickups by Radioshop - a splittable humbucker in the bridge (controlled by the lowest 'tone' knob), Chris Buck ID in the centre and a filtertron style in the neck!

1964 Fender Jaguar (Sunburst)
I got this from a shop in the UK in 2004, it is a beautiful old girl, she got a few bruises, but has loads of interesting sounds. I am still not sure what all the knobs do, in fact I don't really want to! I just fiddle about until I find a sound I like and off I go, I use this as more an "interesting sounds" guitar for quirky stuff, it not a "great sounding" guitar. I never use it live because it goes out of tune too quickly, so this is a studio only guitar. It is pretty much all original as far as I know.

1965 Gibson SG (Cherry)
I bought this from Fil SoloDallas Oliveri in 2021 and it's a killer guitar. He calls it a project, the body and plastics are original but the pick-ups and wiring, frets and all that have been tweaked and upgraded. It's a players guitar, not for collectors :)

1966 Fender Telecaster (Blonde)
This was one of my dream guitars that I'd wanted for a long time. I still love it but she's not been my man ride for a while now... not really sure why. Bought from Guitar Centre in Hollywood maybe 2011-ish? All original and the perfect example of this type of guitar - and with a strange red dot behind the bridge!

1967 Gibson EB3 Bass (Cherry)
I'd been on the hunt for near a year for the right bass and then this one came by... well actually it's one of the very rare times I've bought a guitar on ebay without trying it, but I've played a few and will get it set up how I like when it gets here!

1969 Gibson ES-335 (Sunburst)
I was really missing that fat Gibson sound for some of the recordings I was doing, bluesy jazz things, so I invested in this, my other "dream guitar". It's absolutely superb, plays and sounds fantastic, one of the finest guitars I have ever played, really quite special. Mostly original, but it's a player, certainly not a collector!

1979 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top (Gold)
This guitar I bought in about 1997 when I joined The Counterfeit Stones tribute band and was playing the part of Brian Jones and Mick Taylor. It is a great sounding guitar. I keep thinking about selling it because I don't play it much, but when I get it out and have a play I remember what a great sound it has and I decide to keep it :) It really plays lovely... It has some bruises but is in pretty good condition for it's age.

1989 Fender Stratocaster Plus (Red)
This was my first ever Strat I bought in Tasmania, one of the very few new guitars I ever bought. I got it cos a great Aussie guitar player called Simon Patterson came to see me play in my covers band, and he said I played great but my tone sucked and I should go buy a Strat... so I did and then started my "tone quest" so I blame Simon for all the money I've wasted on gear :) ha ha. Not much original left in it now... I was already heavily customised but in early 2011 I pulled out all the old electrics and pickguard and replaced the lot to make it sound like a strat again! Completely new wiring, new pick guard, Kinmann Woodstock pickups, Back in the early 90's I upgraded the Roller nut (the first wide ones they had sucked big time), added Teflon saddles (great idea!!) and it's been re-fretted a couple of times.

200? Gretsch Malcolm Young (Natural)
This I bought for the AC/DC competition because I couldn't get any of my other guitars to sound right for the backing track!! I bought it online, had it delivered the next day and recording with it within 15 minutes of it coming in the door. I don't play it very often but it's got a great tight punchy sound for rock rhythm guitar and so unique that I have to keep her. For playing AC/DC its THE one to have. And being that Mal is my favourite rhythm guitar layer of all time, this guitar is a keeper!

2015 Suhr Classic Antique (Tobacco Sunburst)
I loved the Suhr Modern but wanted something that would stay in tune and be good for traveling and that could do classic sounds as well as modern stuff, so I got this as a birthday treat for myself! It's a roasted maple neck which doesn't seem to move at all, a HSS pickup configuration so it does big rock sounds and classic strat sounds and with big frets and a great set up it plays a dream. A wonderful instrument.

2017 Patrick Eggle Drop Top 96 (Koa Top)
I LOVE how this guitar plays. The setup and feel of the neck is incredible. I'm not massively feeling the pickups though so I have a set of Radioshop pickups that Tom Gray will be fitting next week. Update to come!

Other Stringed Instruments

Maton - Ukulele
I love my Maton Uke and find the uke a great party instrument, especially cos if I go to a party and play people expect me to do fancy stuff but with the uke it's just all about fun. It's a great sounding uke, best I heard and plays very easy too - it's concert size which is great for me as soprano ukes are just too small for me to get my fingers into the frets!

1908 Gibson A Mandolin
This is easily my oldest instrument, it doesn't play as easily as modern ones, maybe doesn't sound as wonderful either to tell the truth buy it's got bags of character and is over 100 years old! I often get a funny vibe playing it thinking about the things it's seen in it's life. Must get around to adding some mandolin lessons at some point!

194? National New Worker Lap Steel
I'm pretty hopeless at playing lap steel but I really enjoy it, and I found this on ebay while looking at resonators and just loved it. Sounds real cool and learning to make it really sing is on my to do list when I find time!

2020 Kala U-Bass
A Ukulele Bass - yep - it's super cool :) and actually sounds HUGE for recording. Makes no sense, but it really does!

RE-HOMED :)

2016 Gibson L-175 (Tobacco Sunburst)
I really wanted a guitar for home and the big bodied old girl filled the spot beautifully for a late night tinker when the mrs is in bed! It's not ventured into the studio yet but I really must get the jazz series cooking again and she's bound to make an appearance then at some point! SOLD in 2020 to Pete Whittard!

2009 Fender Jeff Beck (Custom Shop, White)
This strat I bought cos all the other whammy bars are blocked up and I love JB's playing and wanted to learn some of his tunes. I'm not sure it's a keeper though, so she might finding a new caretaker on ebay at some point. It sounds great and all that but... I dunno, I guess we never quite hit it off... we've has some fun, but... it's not you, it's me :) SOLD in 2020 at Andertons

2006 Fender Telecaster USA (Yellow)
I bought this in 2007, I had wanted a tele for a long time and had been looking second hand when I found this one on the internet. I bought from Ralph and Sandy's Custom shop on ebay, the service was really crappy and I'd never buy from them again, took quite a lot of work to get it right really, and wasn't a good overall experience. It started as a standard USA Telecaster but was then modified to include a Gibson "Original Mini Humbucker" in the neck position, a Seymour Duncan "Hot Stack" pick up in the centre and a Seymour Duncan "Vintage Stack" in the bridge. It has other fancy stuff too - a Soundcraft output socket, reversed volume plate, a push pull pot in the centre position (split and boost), Fender locking tuning pegs and Hovland capacitor on the tone control... and a bunch of other things. It is based on the guitar played by the country guitar legend Brent Mason (and I mean LEGEND, the guy is amazing). SOLD in 2020 at Andertons

1991 Ibanez FM-100 Frank Gambale (Fluro Yellow!)
I really figured I should have a proper shred guitar in the collection, and when I saw this hanging on the wall in Charlie Chandlers I knew I had to have it. It's MINT condition, came with original case and all case candy (strap, booklet, cable etc) so I'm careful with this one to keep it mint. Fun to play too, super low action and at some point I'll make some rock videos with it! SOLD in 2020 at Andertons