Satellite model 96/L

Time Warp !

in 1977 I was living in Brighton England ( well Hove actually ! ) . Brighton and London witnessed the birth of Punk Rock first hand  . . the street magazines declared  . .this is A  . . .this is E  . . this is D  . . . you can now play the guitar  . . now form a band ! 

And the guitar that so so many people ended up with was this - a satellite 'Les Paul ' - they were terrible !!

If you remove the pick ups - the thin veneer of plywood ? is revealed - On close inspection , you realise the 'humbuckers' have no second coil - they just have a piece of sponge where that should be ! The neck used to move about 5 degrees in either direction when you pulled on them ! Most of them were played to death , left in dressing rooms or thrown at audience members .

BUT

there's an argument that says if one has made it though the last 40 odd years and has been obviously really well cared for and looked after - maybe it's got something going on .

This one is time capsule material - I can't stop looking at it - I'd imagine it's a little later than most - probably around 1980 - people were not smashing things with such regularity by then . It actually sounds pretty amazing - there's something about those fake Humbuckers ! It's one of the good ones - the neck doesn't wave about in the wind and its really a joy to play .

It transports me back to the first gig I did with a band - The Concorde club on Brighton Beach - pretty sure the guitarist played a Shaftesbury SG but had a Satellite as back up - I can almost smell the sea !

There are lots of great affordable guitars out there at the moment but this really is something a little different and a fantastic reminder of an amazing era in British music .