Geoff says "I’ve done some sound clips A/B-ing my original PAFs with the Cream T's and I honestly can’t hear a difference"

The Guitar

I bought 7 6652 from Guitar Village, Top Gear’s sister shop in Shaftesbury Avenue, in August 1972 as a 21st birthday present to myself. I still had a proper job at the time and was working just around the corner in Covent Garden. A very dear friend of mine, Guy Mason (RIP), was working at GV and I’d asked him to let me know if and when any ‘50s sunburst LP’s came into the shop.

He called me at work and said “We’ve got one”, so I was round there like a shot and, of course, it was a gold top. It was far from immaculate even then but I had to have it.
Sounds like a bargain at £350, but I was probably earning about twenty quid a week at the time.

So, Happy Birthday, me.

I used the guitar extensively during my time with IF, Maggie Bell, Crawler and on all my session work in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Needless to say, it doesn’t come out much anymore.

The following year I got hold of a three-pickup ’58 LP Custom for £400 which I stupidly sold in the early ‘80s for £1k to cover a tax bill, but that’s another story...

If I’d known then what I know now...