Gear + Kit + Equipment

Here we go. After years of procrastination I've finally decided to talk about equipment. The reason it took me so long is because the stuff you read about on forums tends to turn my stomach - which guitar? (aka my guitar is better than yours), what strings?, why American gear is better than anything else. Not to mention guys called Brad with dodgy tats who shout at you from Youtube. So now it's my turn. Let's start with the best electric guitar in the world.

And it's a Yamaha. Yes, I don't have any problems with buying Japanese guitars. In fact if I had the money I'd get myself one of their amazing SA2000 hollow bodies and an LL16 twelve string acoustic just for good measure. I'd save myself a fortune by not buying Gibsons and I'd have better instruments.

This is a Revstar RS820CR, modelled on London 60's motorbike styles. I bought it second-hand in mint condition for less than £500. I used to teach guitar from a big guitar shop and I've tried just about every model of Les Paul and all the Les Paul derivatives. This is better than any of them, maybe with the possible exception of an Ibanez 'lawsuit' Les Paul that I'd dearly love to extract from a friend of mine but he's having none of it.

It's a heavy instrument which is good news for a solid body electric. The pickups sound very different from each other and the middle position is perfect. It handles low open tunings without any flopping around.

I'll be using it on my next electric album where I want to investigate tripped out country and the ecstasy of desert music.