Long termers

A few months' gigging, recording and everything that goes with it - welcome to Guitarist's longterm test report

- Dave Burrluck

Vintage ProShop V72 Custom Build

It’s rather hard to think of purposely aged guitars such as this as ‘new’. After some months of using it, it’s not even new-to-me any more and just seems part of my gigging furniture. But while it initially struggled to find its space in the first team, it’s been earning its inclusion as a very viable standard-tuned slide guitar. To be honest, that was unplanned, but in an effort to add slide to more songs in our far-reaching set I found myself returning to where I started: playing slide in standard tuning before I realised most slide players used open tunings.

If there’s blame involved it’s down to Mick Taylor. Not our old editor, but the Rolling Stone – probably one of the most overlooked ‘blues’ players ever. Taylor’s key work with The Stones always lifts even the most pedestrian of tunes, not least when he added some slide licks and solos. But finding that right compromise so you can fret and bend normally, then put a slide on and still get a clean sustaining tone, isn’t always easy.