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GEOFF
WHITEHORN GETS A SIGNATURE VINTAGE GUITAR!
Initially inspired to take up guitar by Eric Clapton and Peter
Green’s seminal guitar work with John Mayall’s
Bluesbreakers in the ‘60s, Geoff Whitehorn, who began
playing guitar in earnest by the age of 11, has since amassed
many years of experience of top flight guitar playing. Bands
and artistes who have enlisted Geoff’s prodigious talents
on guitar include The Who, Paul Rogers (Free), Bad Company,
Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Procol Harum, Vanessa Mae
and Elkie Brooks.
A superbly talented guitarist with a deft touch, as can be
seen from the names he’s worked with, Geoff’s
skills on guitar certainly cover an impressively wide variety
of styles.
So it’s fair to say that after four decades as a top
flight professional musician, this guitarist knows a thing
or two about guitars, how they play and how they (should)
sound... Geoff was invited to be part of the original focus
group during the planning stages for what would become the
Trev Wilkinson-conceived – and now very successful –
Vintage Advance series of guitars and basses. Geoff has since
gone on to use Vintage instruments onstage on his professional
gigs, and has more recently been involved in the development
of a signature Geoff Whitehorn Vintage guitar, based on the
twin-cutaway AV6 model.
The resulting
guitar, the Vintage AV6HGW, is now available in all good music
stores across the country. But what inspired Geoff to decide
to adapt the AV6 in particular to his own personal requirements?
“I liked the AV6H design straight off,” he points
out, “but having always had something of a tortoiseshell
‘fetish’ (probably down to seeing a gorgeous Fender
Jaguar with torty scratchplate in my local music shop window
at the age of 13 or so), I thought it might look pretty good,
a vintage white guitar with a tortoiseshell scratchplate.
And, black pickup covers and black rotary controls add to
that ‘classic vintage’ look...”
Though it’s no surprise that Geoff has selected a humbucker,
a custom design ‘Prizefighter’ high output version,
to sit in front of the bridge, augmented by two vintage-voiced
single coil Wilkinson pickups at neck and middle positions,
it’s unusual to see the humbucker seated at an angle
in the way that it is. Why?
“As regards the position of the humbucker, I reckoned
Leo Fender had the right idea with the original design, so
why not put the humbucker in at the same angle as the original
bridge pickup? It seemed to work OK for Eddie Van Halen on
his early ‘DIY’ home-assembled ‘Frankenstein’
guitars, and if it was good enough for him..!” smiles
Geoff.
But Mr Whitehorn is in no doubt as to the abilities of the
new GW guitar, which he feels will be an asset to any player
who invests in it. Here’s his take on the GW Vintage;
“This is a well made, brilliant sounding guitar, versatile
enough to cover all the bases I need. It looks great, offers
bonkers value for money at only £329, and I think everyone
should go and check it out. Trev Wilkinson and Vintage have
another winner on their hands!”
And of course, Gear had to ask what Geoff’s up to himself
at the moment...
“As
regards moi, yes, I have handed in my notice as guitarist
with Elkie Brooks, which I’ve been doing for while now.
Too much schlepping up and down the motorways of Blighty,
and the traffic EVERYWHERE (well, until you get to Scotland..)
is so bad, it just wasn't worth it anymore. 550-mile round
trips to Lancaster in 16 hours just ain't my thing at my age,
thank you very much!”
However, Geoff’s other long term gig with fellow ‘Thames
Delta’ natives, Procol ‘Whiter Shade Of Pale’
Harum ‘...carries on regardless, I'm very proud to say,
with lots of international stuff in the pipeline,” enthuses
Geoff, before adding somewhat succinctly; “Can't get
arrested in this country, of course...”
That’s coz you ain’t been singing really badly
and blubbing your eyes out on crap shows like the appalling
‘Pop Idol’, mate...
“Oh, I'm also doing another solo album,” comes
the final conversational burst from GW. Erm, almost... “Well,
not really – but I AM thinking about it!”
>
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