Roger Giffin's Custom Guitars Have Helped Rock Icons Fufill Their Dreams Any obsessive gearhound that has researched the guitars owned and played by rock's biggest names has likely discovered a common connection between many of them. Of course, one will immediately notice the expected shared preferences for Gibson Les Pauls, Fender Telecasters and Stratocasters, and Martin acoustics, but those who look even more closely will realize that most of the greats have also commissioned the work of independent luthier Roger Giffin at some point in their careers. Giffin's client list is likely the most impressive in the business, as it includes British legends like Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Page, and Pete Townshend and American icons like Neal Schon, Slash, Eddie Van Halen, and Joe Walsh. Since Giffin first went into business in the late Sixties, his services have been sought by many more famous players, including Hank Marvin, Dave Edmunds, Steve Hackett, Andy Summers, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, George Harrison, Brian Setzer, Elliott Easton, Steve Stevens, and Jerry Cantrell. Some of Giffin's most notable instruments include a pair of "Blackie" Stratocaster replicas he built for Eric Clapton in the mid Eighties, six of Pete Townshend's Tele-style guitars that were his main instruments during the Eighties, and an exact reproduction of Jimmy Page's "Number One" 1958 Gibson Les Paul, which Page dubbed "Number Three" and used onstage as a backup. He also built a three-pickup Les Paul Custom for Peter Frampton after Frampton lost his original, an unusual headless guitar with a 19-inch scale for David Gilmour, a non-cutaway hollowbody Les Paul for Malcolm Young, and a pair of custom hollowbody 12-string guitars for Eddie Van Halen. Read more» |