When I was 18 I did my first tour abroad.
It was to New Orleans with my mate Burkey, and we were ‘managed’ by a local entrepreneur and Club owner Tony Massey.
As part of our deal we were offered shiny new instruments, and through Tony’s dealings we both ended up with beautiful guitars from local Manchester Luthiers Gordon-Smith.
Mine was a slim-necked Gemini, and over the next few years, it got more abuse and use than any guitar should have to bear. Onstage 5 nights a week for years, it had to play everything from ‘Dire Straits ‘ Covers to AC-DC through to Jazz inflected blues and slow ‘Standards’ on Jazz night.
I recently decided to take her back to Gordon Smith for a makeover. Fret dressing, new hardware where needed and a retrofit of the Volumax and Blackcab boosters.
I’m happy to say, she’s better than ever, and here she is in a video for Gordon-Smith Guitars….
Here’s a picture of her with her Mum and Dad, (Johns wife Linda hand wound her pickups…)
