Gem archer

Blackberry Smoke’s guitarist reveals his greatest guitar triumphs, the pitfalls and blessings of his Les Paul Junior addiction, and his outright disdain of “bad amps”

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From his early days in the repair shop to heading up one of the world’s leading pickup brands, the master pickup maker tells us how his problem-solving mindset led to him working with some of the biggest names in the biz, and why he humbly still seems himself as “crew”

When the Irish band were a folksy blues three-piece, it was Eric Bell who defined Thin Lizzy on their 1971 self-titled debut and early 70s follow-ups, Shades Of A Blue Orphanage and Vagabonds Of The Western World

1960 Gibson ES-335

With a raft of recent high-spec reissue launches, is Epiphone now the home of affordable ‘vintage’ Gibsons? On paper, yes. But what about in the flesh?