It’s all about the guitars…

Epiphone Casino E230TD, Royal Tan (1964)

Paul Weller has been seen playing his Casino since the early 1980s.

Just 384 shipped from the Kalamazoo factory in 1964, the majority being “Shaded” finish, now called Vintage Sunburst, although the exact number of Royal Tan guitars is not known. The trapeze tailpiece on the body had by then been changed to the diamond style. However Paul Weller’s guitar, and this one both have the earlier grooved style made by the Waverly company. How many left the factory like this is not known but they were fitted to a few guitars as left over parts from the earlier 1961-1963 production run. Both Gibson & Fender often used left over parts when updating models to save money. Same year, colour and spec as Paul Weller’s Casino, a rare guitar!

Gibson J45 Deluxe, Sunburst (1974)

Perhaps a year or two newer than Paul Weller’s J45. Different tuners, truss rod cover and body binding. This guitar having a more subtle tortoise shell cellulose binding rather than the earlier white finish. The J45 “workhorse” guitar was first sold in 1942. Until 1969 it had round shoulders on the body. In an attempt to update the guitar it changed to square shoulders and a longer 25.5in scale to compete with the Martin guitars of the 1970s. Not that popular at the time it returned to the original round shouldered shape in 1982 and is the same today. So the only square shouldered J45s are from this era. This was sold to me by the original owner who bought it in Wardour Street, London back in 1974!

Fender Telecaster 1950’s Roadworn, Blonde (2008)

Ash body, Maple neck, Nitrocellulose finish aged in the same way as the Fender Custom shop guitars.

Paul Weller’s Telecaster is a 1967 “Transition” model. In 1965 Fender had been bought by CBS who were gradually changing the spec of Fender guitars. The body colour has been sanded off and a black pick guard has replaced the original white one. It’s rare in having a maple capped neck. In 1959 Fender changed to a rosewood fretboard. In 1967 on a few Teles they capped the maple neck with a maple fingerboard instead of the usual rosewood. On 1950s Telecasters the neck was one piece maple. Purists say the maple cap sounds different to the one piece maple neck. These “Transition” maple capped Teles are fetching £12k – £20k these days!