WHEN DID YOU START GUITAR?

Late in Year 10 at school.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO PLAY GUITAR? CAN YOU PLAY ANY OTHER INSTRUMENTS?

A friend was getting guitar lessons after school, and the teacher said he could share the class with someone for the same price – so he asked me if I’d like to learn guitar.
So we paid half each, I did 2 lessons, I really liked the challenge, and then, decided I’d prefer to learn the hard way - by ear, and on my own. So I went home, raided my brothers LP collection, and started learning to play along to AC/DC and Sabbath.
Seeing I sucked at sport – I thought I might be able to play music instead.
When I got past the blisters on the fingers, and knew a few chords, I decided to see if anyone else I knew wanted to learn some tunes… so I joined a band that was local who were doing Bon Jovi covers.
I didn’t like Bon Jovi, but I just wanted to play music… and as there were already 2 guitarists, I actually ended up playing bass, just so I could learn to play some new songs... it didn’t last long – I got sick of Bon Jovi really quick. I went back to my brother’s album collection and moved on to Dire Straits, Metallica & Iron Maiden.
As for other instruments, I can keep an ok beat on drums, not a bad sequence programmer, and I do ok on bvs

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST DECENT GUITAR?

A 1991 US Strat … I still have it, it’s had many facelifts since, but it is still a beautiful machine. I played that guitar to death learning Baby Animals tunes.

WHAT IS YOUR DREAM GUITAR?

That’s a tough one to answer... I’d have a few. A PRS 20th Anniversary “Double” Dragon would be top of the list. And for a single neck – It would have to be a Gretsch White Falcon.

ARE YOU A TUBE AMP OR DIGITAL FAN? HAVE YOU HAD EXPERIENCES WITH BOTH?

Tube. Although the fractal stuff is great, and I use an eleven to record basic tracks (for new ideas). Yet, my Ulbrick Stadium 80 and ’76 marshall Super Bass heads are my go to rigs when I want to turn it up and melt some ears. Dave Ulbrick has been great to me over the years - I have a bunch of Ulbrick gear. And Warwicke Newman did a beautiful job rebuilding and modding my old Marshall.

DO YOU USE EFFECTS IN YOUR RIG?

Very sparingly. I get most of my grunt from my Ulbrick Rig. I run a few different pedals for dirty tones (currently using an AHM Awesome and an Ulbrick Carnivore). I use a Buddy Guy wah, a T-Rex delay, a TU2 and I bring one of my original WH1 Whammys in from time to time. I have been through so many pedals over the years, I ended up sticking with pedals that did what I needed without too much fuss. I used to run massive pedalboards with a whole bunch of effects... but I got sick of tap-dancing on stage! I would love to be more like John Frusciante, Vernon Reid or Mike Einziger and have a thousand pedals and paint soundscapes - and know how to use them. Sadly, I try and keep it basic so I can focus on just playing... a tad boring I know!

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE YOUR GUITARS?

I’d always been a strat man... but I moved to Les Pauls through pure requirement (needed a bit more grunt) - so sound is first and foremost. Cost is a factor for sure - I’d spend as much as I could if possible - but, you choose your battles (and budget)! I definitely want a guitar that looks cool - that’s a bonus. And comfortability / playability is right up there - if it doesn’t feel right, regardless of how good it sounds - doesn’t cut it for me.

WHAT GUITAR DO YOU PLAY MOST, AND WHY?

My Arctic White early 80’s Burny Les Paul. I am currently running Seymour Duncan Slash Humbuckers in it. It just looks, sounds and feels great. It’s been my main guitar for 10 years and we’re a good team :) My main acoustic is a Cole Clark Fat Lady II. I’ve had that about 10 years.

---

Search

Burny Les Paul

TELL US ABOUT YOUR Burny Les Paul

My mate Jase recommended I try a Burny Les Paul about 10 years ago (A Japanese lawsuit era copy) when I was looking at trying Les Pauls. So I bought one as it was so much cheaper than a Gibson. It was an experiment as such... and I fell in love with it. It had a massive meaty tone, looked cool as hell too. I am a massive Randy Rhoads fan – and it looked like the one he played. It is still my main guitar to this day. It’s had a few facelifts on the way (I removed the scratchplate - and swapped out the original VH1 pickups). Since then, I have bought 3 more vintage Burnys... They are just great guitars. And for the price, I can own more guitars that play great and sound awesome. I’d gladly put my 2x Burny Les Pauls against expensive Les Pauls in a "pepsi-challenge".

---

Search

Japanese Gold Top Les Paul

TELL US ABOUT YOUR Japanese Gold Top Les Paul

The Gold Top came not long after I bought the arctic white Les Paul. The white one was such a good find, I thought I’d have another shot and got this one sent in from a guitar shop in Japan. It was a good call as it is a lovely example of how good the Japanese lawsuit-era guitars are. The Gold Top is a Late 70’s Burny, I still run the original VH-1 pickups in it. It is a different sounding Les Paul to my white one (obviously with the difference in pick ups) - it is not as high gain, but it still has a nice thick tone. It cleans up a little better when the volume rolls back. It’s funny, being such a big fan of Jimmy Page, Billy Duffy & Slash, that I was never initially drawn to Les Pauls. I couldn’t see myself playing anything else now.

YOU ALSO HAVE A BUNCH OF OTHER JAPANESE MODELS AND A STRAT, WHAT DRAWS YOU TO THE JAPANESE MAKES?

Once I had the 2 Japanese burny Les Pauls as my main guitars, I thought I was on to a good thing with Burny. So I started picking up Burny’s of different eras and styles over the years - most of them to have a guitar similar looking to guitarists I have always admired. So I picked up the following Japanese guitars: A ‘76 Burny Explorer (I am a massive James Hetfield fan, but this one I actually picked up as it looked identical to one owned by The Edge) I love it. A late 70’s SG (Angus Young is one of my faves) - but admittedly, I am not a big fan of the feel of an SG... it just feels a little dinky. A ‘93 tele (purely because of how much I love Bruce Springsteen). This guitar is a sleeper, it is an absolute beast of a guitar. Such a large tone, and it plays like butter. An ‘89 Fender Strat (my Keef guitar!) I also have an ‘82 Washburn T-bird DL (from the Matsumoku Factory). It is an unusual guitar. It feels really small and it’s light - but is probably the loudest guitar I own. I stripped back the original paint job and did a pretty bad job painting it myself... so, it doesn’t come out much. One day I’ll get it resprayed!

YOU HAVE MANY OLDER MODEL GUITARS, HOW DO YOU KEEP THEM FEELING/PLAYING LIKE NEW?

Getting your guitars maintained is a big thing for me. I've used some great guitar techs over the years until I found the best guy for my guitars. Joseph Yammouni @ Guitar Werx has looked after all my guitars for a few years now. He's a lovely guy, and the work he has done on my guitars has been flawless. Maintaining older guitars can be a series of problem solving - Joe has worked on every one of my guitars, and they are all the better for it.

WHAT IS NEXT ON THE WANTED GUITAR LIST?

I’m actually eyeing off a Grubisa (I am a very big fan of Dave Leslie) so I’d love to get a Grubisa to try out.

CONNECT WITH LUNG