My current guitars and some special mentions

Gibson Les Paul Standard - Current Family

This pretty Gibson Les Paul Standard replaced my Gibson Traditional (posted somewhere down below). It has a normal C-shape neck profile which fits my hand 'ok', at least better than the Traditional's fat 59' neck. I never fitted the front plate as the guitar is pretty as it is. It belongs in my studio and it is a fine guitar to record as it perfectly stays in tune.

ESP LTD Les Paul EC 401VF - Current Family

This is my ESP LTD EC 401VF Les Paul. It is as good as the Gibson and I would buy another in an instant. It has a very slim shape neck profile which fits my hand 'perfectly'. I do not have a gripe with it at all. It is a real player's choice and not just for a collector's museum.

1988 USA Fender Stratocaster - Current Family

My USA Fender Stratocaster was a birthday present from myself in 1988. Fine as a normal Strat, but I really wanted a rock guitar. ESP in Duesseldorf re-vamped it with a Floyd Rose tremolo and added really big jumbo frets. Over the last 30 years it has had every pickup in it possible... I settled with Seymour Duncan 'Noiseless' Jeff Beck pickups. It has gigged with me everywhere. Today the anchor bolts on the bridge need fixing and there are many small cosmetic issues, worn, but who cares? I will fix these soon...

Tweety II Stratocaster - Current Family

Many years ago I picked up an old 1970's Japanese Strat copy on eBay which originally had clear sandy coloured lacquer. After a year or so I painted it yellow and called it 'Tweety'. A year later I replaced the neck with a Fender neck, re-fretted it with steel jumbo frets, added a Floyd Rose bridge, and it got genuine Fender 'noiseless' pickups. Hence Tweety II. I have gigged everywhere with this until the body was damaged. Right now I have a new body for it and I am making a Tweety III. Right now the original body and neck are lying in a box... which is a shame.

1993 ESP Geo Lynch 'Sculls and Snakes' - Current Family

I bought this ESP Geo Lynch 'Sculls and Snakes' back in 1992 - the Jap. salesman were all crying as they were closing the shop down in Duesseldorf and they were all jobless and homeless... He begged me to take it (or any for that matter) - the price went from 3200DM down to a closing deal of just 500DM (250 Euros today) - they were desparately broke. I re-call Geo Lynch played this personally in one of his workshops in the 'Braun Bär' in Duesseldorf's Alt-Stadt just a week or two before I got it (I was there). This guitar is also unique as they never had time to finish adding the 'Sculls and Snakes' mother-of-pearl inlays - which is standard with later models. I re-skimmed down the neck and moved the volume pot away from under the tremolo arm as I could never get to the damned thing. I fitted a real switch to change pickups and added a DP switch to split the neck pickup. I replaced the original prototype Screamin' the weak 'Demon' humbucker with a SH-4 Seymour Duncan pickup. Over time the lack over the big snake has weathered badly and there are plenty of fissures here and there - getting old like me.

LTD MH53 - Current Family

I keep this in my rack but never play it. It has not even had strings for a year... It is a great guitar but I do not need it. I wanted to sell it (like I do with all the others) but I could not because it is sooooo good. At some point I added jumbo frets too. It has a fast neck, a good weight and a dream to play. I should replace the humbucker, but pending... as usual.

Traditional 2010 Gibson Les Paul (sold)

Here is my old very beautiful Traditional Gibson Les Paul from 2010 - non-chambered. It looked a bit like a Warren Hayes Les Paul. The Traditional is very loosly based on the original 59' Les Paul. However, the neck became the problem, or rather my hand did. The neck is a typical '59 fat neck, and after my hand operation I could not play it like I used to, so it had to go...

LTD Geo Lynch Kamikaze (sold)

This was very heavy and had a very wide neck. 2 things I do not want. I played it live a few times because it was simply good looking, but it was sold later...

Black Satch (scrapped)

This is the Black Satch guitar I built. Within a couple of years it was modified (and played) to death. As the creator, I could never make up my mind what I wanted and I finally ruined it. It was sadly scrapped for parts.

GUITARS