Alvin Lee

In the early days of Ten Years After, Alvin Lee played a 1955 Fender Stratocaster, as seen in the video "Ten Years After - I Can't Keep From Crying, Sometimes - FULL STUDIO" by Gun Clinger on YouTube. Influenced by The Shadows, Lee's use of the Stratocaster marked a significant phase in his musical journey.

In this interview with Guitar World, Alvin Lee says "...and a Line 6 Variax hanging on the wall, and they all get played regularly. The new Variax is very impressive."

Alvin's ES-335, nicknamed "Big Red" is probably his most recognizable guitar, he doesn't use it so much, as seen in this Guitar World interview:

"On the album's opener, the title track, you can immediately tell it's Alvin Lee on guitar—not just because of your note choices but also your sound. How would you say your sound has evolved over the years? Are you still using your Woodstock-era Gibson ES-335?

'I've still got the original Woodstock 335, but, sadly, I don’t use it these days as it has become too valuable. She’s now in a vault since some loony offered me half a million dollars for her.'"

In this Rolling Stone article about Alvin's death, you can see him performing with the Heritage H 535 in the photo used for this write up.

Alvin Lee was known for using semi-hollow bodied guitars. Doing a simple search will reveal thousands of photos and videos of him with a red ES or Heritage. His photo on Wikipedia shows him using his signature "Big Red" Gibson ES-335.

In a live performance video from Nottingham, UK, circa 1991, Alvin Lee can be seen playing the Tokai Alvin Lee Model, equipped with a Kahler Tremolo System.