Eventually glue and hope could no longer maintain the structural integrity of my battered old acoustic guitar. An upgrade was found in the shape of a Lucky Squire semi-acoustic – once again purchased from a pal for a few quid. Needless to say it was a heap of shit, but it had a hollow body and a single pick up, and despite its shortcomings, got me started on the electric route.
As it was a right-hander, I swapped the strings around – which is what Jimi would have done – decorated it with decals from a WW2 plastic German aircraft kit, and I was ready to rock. Well, nearly… I still needed an amp, maaan!
The pals’ network kicked in again and I got hold of a Linear Conchord 30w amplifier, along with a home-made speaker cabinet made from an old packing crate with two speakers mounted in opposite directions and sacking material over the front and back for the mesh covers. It was my first stack; and after the valves eventually warmed up it made some noise! Much to the annoyance of parents etc, I’m glad to say.
Around this time I joined my first band (well, second if you count The Cockroaches): Glenda Slagg, they were called, after the fictional columnist from Private Eye magazine. Consisting mostly of guys from school, they already had two quite accomplished guitarists, both of whom had made impressive jobs of fabricating their own home-built solid electric guitars. My best schoolmate Gav was the drummer, and he got me in as vocalist. I must have impressed them with my best Ozzy Osbourne impersonation at the audition, because suddenly I was in the band!
I think I purchased my next amp and guitar from guys in this band. The new axe came in the form of a Starway solid-body. Once given the Hendrix string inversion it was a step up from the Lucky, and served me well for a couple of years.
Quite a lot of interesting things were happening around this time also:
The Pink Fairies: Never Never Land
Tyrannosaurus (soon to be T) Rex: A Beard Of Stars
Free: Fire And Water
Alice Cooper: Killer
Deep Purple: In Rock