We have not posted here for a while so we thought we would let Simon say a “few words” about why he now uses Gibsons so much…

“I’ve been playing guitar since I was about 11. starting, like most preteens in the 70s, on Kay guitars and really bad Les Paul copies. Some of which had cherry sunburst finishes and were truly shocking. 

In the mid eighties I graduated to a Japanese made Squire which I still have. I noodled for a while and then went on a part exchange journey that included a Gordon Smith, a rosewood Tele and a ‘74 Tele Deluxe. 

Then around ‘89 I came across an Ibanez Saber S540 in Lipstick Red and this became my main gigging guitar. Fond memories of sitting with a tape machine, maybe a CD player, stopping, rewinding and playing Surfing With The Alien, trying to work it out on that Saber. I still have that too.

 

I kept that guitar as my number 1 while I played in an originals band (post punk power pop – woohoo) until 1996. 

Married in 1998 then everything got pretty much left alone for a bit. A Marshall was bought in about 2000 just to keep my hand in. Until about 2009 when my child decided to learn guitar and I agreed to be the teacher. 

What really opened the gate for me was a Vox JamVox. A small black box that plugged into a PC, imported songs and let me play along with headphones. Oh how I wished I’d had that in 1990! I did use it to learn how to play Joe Satriani’s Summer Song. Much more effective than a cassette player or a CD player. 

As a result of posting stuff on YouTube, I got asked to join Break Cover and that journey is catalogued elsewhere. 

You will notice that none of the above included a Gibson. And that continued in BC. I was determined to showcase slightly exotic brands and not just be another cover band guitarist with a Les Paul. 

My problem was Terry, the band’s other guitarist. To call him a fan of the Les Paul is probably downplaying that a little. Without going into even more excruciating detail, I accompanied Terry on a few buying trips where we would try a bunch of Les Pauls looking for the right one. 

In 2017 Gibson launched the Custom Shop Modern Double Cut and I got to play one and I fell a bit in love but fought the urge to buy. I mean at £4,000 you would. 

Then…

2 years later, Gibson found some more Custom Shop Modern Double Cuts and released them at 50% off and I caved. Beautiful thing. A joy to play and so pretty. And now mine. 

More buying trips and more Les Pauls and then Gibson released a reissue of the ‘61 SG with a Maestro Vibrola (2021 ish). My fascination with Angus compelled me to buy one. 

At this point, I own 2 Gibsons but don’t really play them very often. 

And then at some point in 2022 I just started playing the SG a lot and the penny dropped. And I became a little obsessed. 

Since that SG:

2019 Gibson LP Goldtop. Didn’t gel: sold. 

New 2022 Gibson ES335. Sold it. Regretted it. More on that later. 

2014 Gibson LP CS Custom. Incredible. 

2019 Gibson Firebird. Ex Gibson demo. The most aggressive Firebird you ever heard. 

Gibson Custom Shop Flying V. Looks cool! Weirdly weak. Sort of meh after a while. 

2024 Gibson Theodore. A silly amount of fun. I get asked what is it? more than anything else. Somewhere between an SG and a Les Paul.

2024 Gibson Explorerbird. The Lzzy Hale signature red one. Sort of liked it but didn’t love it. It was a bit of a fight to play. 

Gibson Les Paul Junior in Break Cover colours. Fun.  

2023 Gibson Murphy Lab LP Gold Top. The easiest and nicest LP I have ever played and looks incredible. 

Gibson Murphy Lab 1963 Firebird. In my top 3 ever. These are so expensive new. Probably cheaper to buy a ’63. Even heavily discounted I couldn’t afford one. Just needed to wait for one on the second hard market. And this was as close to new as you can get.

Rock and Roll Relics Thunders. Included in this list as it is essentially a Custom Shop ‘59 Les Paul Junior reissue. In my top 3 ever. 

Gibson Victory reissue. The most aggressive of the lot. Insanely resonant and discovered by accident. Never intended to buy but couldn’t leave it behind. 

And finally a 2023 Gibson ES345 that has been upgraded by its previous owner to be (almost) a replica of the Marvin Berry guitar that Marty McFly played in the movie. Somewhere in the upgrades magic happened and I see why the earlier 335 went. To make room for this. In my top 3 ever. 

If you made it through this, you probably need to get out more. And thank you for reading this all the way through. I realise this doesn’t really explain what shifted, why I went from being determined not to have the same guitar as everyone else, and realising that every Gibson is unique to a degree that even Gibson probably wouldn’t admit. 

I still can’t explain it other than: magic. Some of these guitars have magic in them. Why are the Gibsons I kept so much ‘better’ than the others I didn’t love? These ones have magic in them. Best explanation I got. Sorry. 

Why is the Murphy Lab Goldtop so much easier to play than the 2019 one? The 2019 one had a flame top hiding under the gold. So pretty but I could not gel with it. 

Why has the Thunders got so much more mojo than the Junior? They are almost identical. But they really aren’t. 

And finally why are Gibson ES guitars so utterly compelling? I read somewhere that an ES335 was voted the most versatile guitar ever. I would argue that my 345, with its weird upgrades, is even more magical than the stock ones. 

I have deliberately not gone down the vintage route. I like the reliability of new / nearly new ones and I definitely prefer the prices. I did try an actual ‘63 Firebird once but the neck dive was so awful that I couldn’t play it long enough to make an assessment. First impressions were not great though. (I bought a 1968 Telecaster instead, don’t ask.)

Last thought. Would a 1959 Burst in all original condition really be worth between £300,000 and £500,000? And why would one be £500k and not the other? 

Some of it is rarity- only about 200 are thought to exist. 

Some of it is musical heritage: so many songs recorded with these. 

Some of it is hype. Undoubtedly. Just look at the Klon Centaur (and yes they are worth it. Mostly.).

Some of it is some sort of mystical folk legend. And I like that. 

And some of it will be genuine magic. I think that’s why some of them are worth £200k more than others. From Terry’s and mine’s experiences not all Gibsons are the same. Different wood, different makers, different weather, different pickup windings, different glue application, different hand blown finishes, etc, etc. 

Famous players will factor too. 

For me though, some of them will have magic, or mojo, or whatever you want to call, it baked in. I don’t think you need to play a 70 year old guitar to find that. I do think Gibson guitars have more of it, and more often, than other brands I have tried and that’s what’s led to this obsession. 

Probably. Maybe I just need help. 

PS. Does anyone know when the Gibson Victory Floyd Rose is coming out?

Thanks for reading.” 

Simon Dickenson. 18 March 2026.