Michael Algar

The Toy Dolls - Michael "Olga" Algar Budapest Hungary, August 11, 2010

Olga has been seen using this as his classic main guitar countless amounts of times so there isn't really a specific one I tried to show. Here is an example of him using it at Sziget Festival 2010 in Budapest, Hungary.

During the "We're Mad/Idle Gossip DVD 2002" Olga uses this guitar in the We're Mad! section of the DVD. Only on some songs however he switches to different instruments.

On the Toy Dolls' 'Ask Olga' webpage, Algar states that he prefers the Marshall JCM800 2203 amp for live use. This seems consistent with photos and videos throughout the Toy Dolls' career. Algar also seems to favor a 4x12 Marshall cab with the JCM800 head, though some live photos show some unbranded or customized 4x12 cabs.

From photos of the band, Algar seems to favor a Marshall 4x12 style cab. There are pictures of various Marshalls, and also similar 4x12 cabs without the Marshall logo badge. Only photo I could find with a definitive ID was a recent pic of a 1960a (I think!) cited here.

Photos of Algar playing live seem to show that he has no pedals between his guitar and JCM800 amp. On the Toy Dolls' 'Ask Olga' webpage, Algar states that "For recording there are NO effects used, though live I use a tube screamer for the feedback at ends of songs only, the guitar sound comes from the Marshal JCM 800." He doesn't state which model of Tubescreamer, so I picked the classic TS9.

Kazoos are all over the Toy Dolls' albums. The example I give here is the intro to 'Deidre's a Slag' from the 'We're Mad, Sunderland, UK' video (1984). The band play the horn section melody of the 'Coronation Street' theme tune on Kazoos. These kazoos appear to be red Hohner kazoos with white caps (although Algar is not pictured playing one!)

As stated on the official Toy Dolls website 'Ask Olga' page, Algar describes his telecaster as being "...from 79/80, and was indeed set up by Les Tones... The guitar was originally sunburst, booooring! I thought anyway! Its been Yellow since 1982/3. A Fender Telecaster USA"

The telecaster has a maple neck, and likely the stock Fender neck 'lipstick' pickup. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Algar, states that the telecaster has a Seymour Duncan bridge pickup. It seems likely that the original scratchplate has been changed from a white (or white/black) to a single ply black plate. This has certainly been replaced a few times as Algar gave away a broken scratchplate in a Toy Dolls fan competition.

In videos from Toy Doll's 1985 release 'A Far Out Disc' Algar can be seen playing a pinkish red telecaster, that seems similar to his yellow one (vintage style bridge, maple neck) but with a 2-ply white/black scratchplate.This one is also likely custom painted.