2OTH CENTURY TOYS
Guitar collectors who set their sights on big-game vintage pieces often get a bad rap for their presumed Smaug-like acquisitive impulses and their tendency to lock guitars away, doomed to remain unplayed behind glass or in bank vaults. It’s a rather unfair stereotype, of course, and in the case of the collector we’re meeting today, that cliché could not be further from the truth.
A phenomenal blues player and a former acolyte of Robert Fripp’s League Of Crafty Guitarists, our host’s real life in advertising eventually took him in a different direction. But it’s no exaggeration to say that Bob can more than hold his own as a guitarist. Due to the high value of some of the instruments in his collection, the precise details of Bob’s identity and location remain closely guarded. But those of you who trawl YouTube for guitar content may have seen him appear as a co-presenter with his friend Ramon Goose on The Guitar Show, as well as on his own Rockbeare Guitars channel.
Bob’s guitar arsenal is extremely varied and contains many exceptional instruments. Here, however, we’re concentrating solely on the vintage end of the spectrum, as Bob talks us through the highlights, from gorgeous Gibsons to a Gretsch, a Guild and a very special Strat. Buckle up, it’s going to be one hell of a ride.
1955 GIBSON LES PAUL JUNIOR
“This was bought on my 60th birthday because I’m a 1955 too. The P-90 is slightly closer to the
