Ollie Cater

The most faithfully original reproduction Jag on the market, including 'quirks'! Bought as a cheap tour guitar that kind of does everything, but this after a few mods (bridge, scratch-plate and re-solder) has become a mainstay in the collection. The build quality does show here and there, for example; the output socket wiring came loose on one occasion and required the aforementioned emergency surgery. After that, I went through and touched up all the connections just to be sure although I'm sure they were actually fine. I honestly cannot believe the value for money. I've played a low end American Jag since and I'm not sure if, blindfolded, I could tell the difference.

It's a Telecaster, and I've found almost nothing that can't be done with it. It's been my most reliable companion across many tours and adventures and has never once let me down. It's completely stock and just does what it says it's going to do night after night. Great tone that cuts a mix. Plus it can fall down stairs un-cased and remain in tune. Truly a marvel of the age! As far as I'm concerned, the Telecaster is the Holy Grail; the first and last guitar you truly need.

This has to be the ultimate fly-rig. With my larger digital boards, I always used to organise the set list and patch up/down. This removes all other buttons and makes it so simple. I toured this in the US and went direct. I was horrifically impressed. As a practical piece of touring gear, this is hard to beat. Many, many positive 'tone' comments came during the tour which really sold me on it.

The reissues fix a lot of original issues like notoriously violent and unpredictable volume taper. Don't let the wattage fool you, this thing bites back! I've struggled to find a gig this won't serve, certainly given a quality PA with good monitoring. This, for practical reasons, though has now become a home/studio amp. Given shipping expenses, I largely go out with a digital rig now, but there are times I long for this little baby to be shouting at me from the backline. It's one of those amps where you go direct with your guitar, dial in some reverb and just let the notes ring. It's a delight.

Most of my guitar heroes play (or have played) Telecasters. So, time for some hero worship. It's a fabulously modded guitar. Strip back the ageing and it's a hot Tele, but still genetically Leo's baby through and through. It's got a rougher, snarlier tone than my other teles, but musically so, and pushes my Princeton just a touch harder. I'm not generally a fan of Rosewood finger-boards, hence the star knocked off, but that's purely personal preference. I personally didn;t use the included stickers to make it 100% Strummer perfect, and instead used a few I've collected along the way. I'm sure Joe wouldn't have minded.