Pete Back Jazz Bass (1978 - Made for Steve Dobby Dawson of Saxon?)

Steven writes to me with an incredibly exciting story that I'm hoping some of my readers may be able to shed some light upon. First of all, here are some photos of the guitar we're about to discuss:

Wow, what a guitar - an 8-string Pete Back Jazz Bass. Let's hear what Stevie has to say:

"Hi, I came upon your site while looking for info on a bass that belongs to a friend of mine.It's a through-neck 8 string Jazz bass with flying V headstock,Jazz width neck, slab body. It allegedly was built for the band Saxon. Unfortunately the neck has twisted, but i have been told that this should be repairable. Any info you could give me would be appreciated. Here are a couple of pics."

 Well, first of all, let's take a look at the guitar. It's may had a respray at some point judging by the photos. The headstock shape and the pups put the guitar within the 1977 - 1983 timescale and I would guess we are looking at around 1978 or 1979 for this model although its difficult to be precise because of the alterations. There have been a number of switches and adjustments added over the year by the looks of it but the core beauty of the guitar remains.

Now, to the interesting question of whether the guitar was built for the heavy metal band Saxon, who are still touring to this day. I cannot personally say for sure whether this is the case (if anyone out there can, please do get in touch). However, what we do know is that Saxon formed in 1976 (although they were touring under a different name since the early '70s), in Barnsley, which was definitely within the radius of Pete's Rotherham shop.

The bassist of Saxon, Steve "Dobby" Dawson (the inspiration for This Is Spinal Tap!'s Derek Smalls), came from Swinton originally but lived in Sheffield for many years, meaning he would have undoubtedly come into contact with Pete and his work around the time of their debut album. Dobby's signature guitar is of course - a Jazz Bass (although he usually played a white 4-string model). We could speculate more, but without some more information or proof it would be pointless to get too excited! Here's a photo of Dobby in action:

Either way, this is a rare, wonderful and historical Pete Back bass so thanks very much for getting in touch Stevie - if anyone comes forward with some information I will let you know.

Pete Back Special (1982)

Andrew writes to me a wonderful email about his 1982 Pete Back Special, which I'm just going to reproduce here in full:

"I have a Pete Back Special which I bought direct from his shop on Ferhan Road in Rotherham in early 1982. Its solid mahogany with a double octive neck and maple fret board. Sunburst red. Its fitted with a Gibson Dirty Fingers and a Dimarzio pickup, and Ibanez machine heads.

Pete had not long finished the guitar and had strung it, but not yet tuned it. A friend from the village, John Parkes, who knew Pete and had a Pete Back guitar of his own, took me down to the shop to see what he had in. I tuned the guitar and decided there and then "it would be mine". John used to play in a S Yorks band called Mickeys Monkeys (I have a couple of tapes I recorded of them), who played working mens clubs in S Yorks. Pete's son, Steve, played in the same band.

To add injury to all this, my Dad was Pete's dentist in Rotherham for some time. I recall my Dad saying that he'd negotiated a "deal" on the price of the guitar while Pete had gone to see him about his teeth ! "Now then Mr Back, how much did you say ???".

After buying the guitar, Pete lent me a wooden carrying case for it until he ordered in a Les Paul case, which I've still got, but is slowly falling apart. The only mod that was ever done was Pete installed a switch on the rhythm pickup that puts the coils in phase. It gives a fairly thin sound and I never use it.

If Pete, John, or Steve are out there, please get in touch!"

I like the look of this guitar, looks like a proper workhorse that can take some use and abuse. Its a no-nonsense kind of style with a Brian-May style body with small cutaways. Solid mahogany for the body will ensure it sounds thick and sustained (and weigh a ton!). You mention it has a maple fretboard (I think you may mean neck as that looks like rosewood to me). The headstock carries the familiar early 80s decals, although lacks the "Custom" of the bespoke versions. As usual, all the parts are top-quality branded gear, as you would expect from Pete.

Nice guitar, a real collector's piece and one I'm sure sounds great after all these years.

Pete Back Custom Special Bass (1977?)

Stephen has written in with details of his Pete Back guitar, which is the first four-string we have been lucky enough to feature on the Pete Back Guitars blog.

"I was really pleased to recently come across your website. I bought this Pete Back Custom Special bass second-hand from Pete in his Rotherham shop nearly 30 years ago. I still have it. My band's bass player decided to quit the band at short notice and as the second (and least able) guitarist in the band, I had to take over at short notice. 

I drove down to see Pete and he brought this guitar from out the back. It has a 3/4 length neck which I thought would be easier for me to adjust to. It's a nice guitar although the quality isn't quite up the standard of Pete's later work. We acquired another guitarist and both of them used Pete Back Flying Vs. One of them in black was specially built to our guitarist specification requirements. The other one, a sunbust, was bought second hand from Pete."

This is a great find, thanks to Stephen for writing in. The headstock detailing clearly indicates this as a very early example of Pete's work - I think this is Pete learning his craft as a luthier. The guitar looks hand-crafted and, as you suggest, lacks the refinement and polished finish of his mature work.

Because of this, I think we can date the guitar to the late '70s, the fact that the truss rod cover is printed rather than hand-etched would indicate 1977 - 1980 period. This is consistent with the fact that you bought it second-hand from Pete's Rotherham shop in the early '80s.

Interesting that you mention that your band all used Pete Back Flying V's - we have an example of that model elsewhere on the blog, and the V's were very popular in the Sheffield area among touring bands.


Because Pete made so few bass guitars they are impossible to value, however, with this being an interesting early example with such a nice history, its clear you have a guitar to keep and cherish, that is also easy to play because of its 3/4 neck scale.

Pete Back Custom Special Thru Neck (1981)

Back in May, I received an email from Alan Jones from Liverpool, asking me if it was possible to date his early Pete Back double cutaway:

I have what i believe is a very early pete doulble cutaway custom special. it,s a natural finish alder body with a 7 piece laminated thru neck comprising , maple and mahogany, headstock is also the same, and the shape of an early melody maker. it,s currently fitted with a 1981 gibson humbucker at the bridge and a 1988 hb-r at the neck, and fitted with nickel grover tuners. the fretboard is ebony with pearl dot markers, a very slim neck indeed!it truly is a wonderful guitar!

I wrote back to request some photos (crucial as always), and he kindly sent a load through. Now the first thing to get excited about is the fantastic condition of this guitar - from what we can see it is in excellent condition. Then the artistry of the manufacture catches the eye. A 7-piece through neck design is very time-consuming to create, but the way the different woods move up the headpiece is amazing.



Dating this guitar is actually relatively straightforward. You mention that the bridge humbucker is from 1981. This gives a clear date to the guitar once we assume that the neck pup is a later replacement. This date is backed up by the headstock markings - the early-period transfer (applied in black and white to give an unusual drop shadow effect!), the hand-etched truss rod special - these all point to an early-period guitar, which I would estimate to be circa 1982.


Valuation is practically impossible, because Pete Back guitars of this age and condition virtually never appear on the open market, their owners nearly always deciding to hang on to them for life. I don't think that the replacement humbucker - and what may be replacement knobs) would detract greatly from the valuation. I don't tend to offer public valuations on the site but I would estimate that such a hand-crafted guitar however is now worth considerably more than the £1000 that Pete's electrics were selling for new before he retired in 2009, perhaps up towards £2000. My personal advice however would be to hang on to it - you will never find a guitar like this again!

Pete Back Custom Special Explorer (198X?)

Since the last time I updated the blog back in May, I've had quite a few emails from Pete Back guitar owners (thanks as ever for writing in!). The first of which was from Gabriel, and his story is quite simply brilliant:

"I have a Pete Back Explorer which I found at the council rubbish tip several years ago. It had been spray painted all over in matt black, and when I say spray painted all over I mean all over, the neck, fretboard, head stock, pick ups the lot. It was in a very sorry state indeed. I took it home and over several weeks I took it apart completely. I then started the task of removing all the black paint. Unfortunately there was no way to rescue the original finish which appeared to be off white so I had to strip it down to bare wood. I have not repainted it electing instead to apply several coats of Danish Oil which is ok. I am not a luthier and in fact i'm not really experienced in guitar repair so there are a couple of jobs needed to finish it of. The third fret mother of pearl inlay is cracked and the 7th fret inlay is missing completely.
Despite the remaining neck damage this guitar plays beautifully and when I get round to getting it finished it will be perfect. I know nothing about the age of this guitar and the only info I have is the name Pete Back Custom Special on the head stock so any thing you can tell me about it would be great."

Well Gabriel, congratulations on your DIY restoration effort - given the state it was in you've done an astounding job. The guitar has clearly been played a lot over the years, although I'm not that surprised to hear it is still working perfectly in terms of sound. Pete's guitar's were always built to last - far superior to machine-made mass-produced efforts. Its difficult for a non-expert like me to tell that much about the guitar, clearly some of the parts may be non-original, although if I were to hazard a guess I would say the bridge, tailpiece and pickups were originals. The ebony fretboard - with huge mother of pearl inlays - is signature Pete Back work. You'll be pleased to know that re-laying inlay is a fairly straight-forward operation, which you could do yourself if you have a reasonable selection of woodworking tools.



In terms of dating the guitar, we're faced with a bit of a problem. The headstock transfer and truss rod cover are very unusual, and we haven't featured them before on this site. The transfer is of a simpler and later period to the classic late 70's transfer we have seen on other models. The truss rod cover is not hand-etched, again suggesting a guitar made in Pete's mid-period. Now as many of you know, Pete gave up guitar making several times over his life and even ran a hardware store in South Yorkshire I believe. This makes exact dating of this guitar very difficult (unless any readers out there can kindly help!). My estimate would be to place this guitar in the mid-eighties, when this model was incredibly popular among rock and metal guitarists.



What we can say for sure is that it is a rare example and with a bit of attention, it could easily be restored to look as good as it sounds. Having said all that, I'm sure a lot of people will agree with me when I say that as it stands now you have a guitar that reflects its experience and a used character that is rare to find indeed, so I wouldn't advise you make too many radical interventions any more than restoring missing pieces, giving it a general service and removing any left over black paint! I think this is one guitar that we are all very glad that you saved, and I'm sure its life will continue for much longer thanks to you.

Pete Back Strat (2009) - For Sale?

Terry has been in touch with what might be a rare opportunity to buy a very unusual guitar - a start shape with what looks to be birdseye maple or similar top, fretboard and head. Very nice example indeed, with some top quality components:

"...it's about time Pete was recognised for his amazing work. I have a Pete Back guitar that I am reluctantly thinking of selling as my little boy is learning the piano and we would like one at home for him. It was one of the last guitars Pete made before he retired - if not the last. I bought it personally from his workshop in Reeth, Yorkshire. It is a Strat shape finished in the most stunning piece of wood I have seen. I'm a drummer and bought it as a work of art for my music room!! It is pretty much unused and in mint condition. Gotoh pegs, Floyd Rose trem etc - comes with hard case."

Although I don't believe this is Pete's last guitar (I'll have a post on that in a few weeks), if you are interested in what is a very rare opportunity to buy a Pete Back guitar as new (and having played a few Pete Back strats I can tell you they tend to be incredible guitars with super fast actions and wonderful clear tones), then drop me an email and I can put you in contact with Terry directly.


Smashing photos of a very unusual example of Pete's work - thanks Terry!

Pete Back Firebird Number 1

Today's post is all thanks to Gavin, who first emailed me back in January to share his experiences playing Pete Back guitars.

Gavin has what he believes was Pete's first ever Firebird. It still works "FAB" apparently!

"Bought it when I was 17 -- ish from his shop in Rotherham 31 Years now... eek! Still works fine..although it has had a few personality changes over the years, following years of gigging. I replaced the electrics ( pots etc ) and had it re-sprayed.. Used to go to School just round the corner ( Kimberworth--demolished now! ) and regularly popped in to see what Pete was up to... "

Gavin goes on to say that he owned two other Pete Back guitars:

• A white double neck (Jimmy Page type thing)
• A Black explorer

Gavin also shares a lovely anecdote about the early years of Pete Back guitars:

"I would often sit in Pete's workshop on the first floor looking over the lovely escarpment of the sewage plant next to the "Marvelous Tinsley Viaduct." He taught me a few things about the different types of wiring you could use and the whole process of putting a guitar together. There was always a very heavy smell of Paint and fine wood dust present ..I don't know how he managed to deal with it as it was very uncomfortable. Prototypes and in-progress guitars lined the walls and any space that was available. There was a music shop downstairs who I think he rented the workshop space from.. ( Can't be too sure ) Pete's guitars were up there on the walls with all the other name one's ( Fender etc )... Pete was very proud of the Thin Lizzy guys ordering a bunch of custom guitars from him. They payed him quite a few visits to check out his latest products.. I would pop over unannounced, hoping to bump into them, but Pete was being respectful of their privacy and only did meet ups with them with their privacy in mind .. very respectful! but annoying for me as I was a big Lizzy fan at that time.. Later on in my music career I would meet up often with Robbo ( Brian Roberton ) and Phil Lynott for drinks down at the infamous Frank's Funny Farm (late night booze club in London for all the famous rockers of the early 80's ).

Great memories Gavin! To cap it all off, here are some wonderful photos of Gavin with Pete Back guitars back in the day - wonderful stuff!

"This picture was from the "Rotherham Rocks" competition that my band entered, held in the arts center. Pete was in the audience... and we won... wowA proud moment ..cash prize £125 ... not so wow!!"

And here is the Firebird around 30 years later - undergone a few changes (and lost its headstock decals) but still playing beautifully. A guitar like this is all about a lifetime of musical experiences of course - totally priceless. I am hugely indebted to Gavin for sharing his Pete Back memories and allowing me to post them here.

Pete Back Custom Special Scott Gorham "1978"

Rob has written in (sorry it's taken me a while to post your email Rob) to share his wonderful experiences with Pete Back guitars. I feel very privileged to be able to have this story and these photos on my humble site, so without further ado, I'm going to reprint exactly what he wrote:

Hello, I'm Rob Royston and I first met Pete Back 34 years ago. I'd heard of his skill as a guitar repairer, so I decided to visit him at his home in Thurnscoe, Near Rotherham. We got talking about guitars and he showed me a guitar he'd made. I played it and loved it, with its slim vee neck, it was about the best guitar that I had ever played, it was better than the 1963 Strat that I had taken for repair. I think it was the first guitar he's ever made! It was for his son, Steve [who has been a professional guitarist for many years - Ed], lucky lad. I think Pete made it in 1975 and it was the year after when I played it.

Pete made me a lovely guitar in 1978. I was visiting his new shop in Rotherham and I saw this brand new guitar hung on the wall. An inscription underneath said that Pete had made it for Scott Goreham of Thin Lizzy. I wanted one immediately and I got Pete tomake me one. He only charged me for the materials of the guitar, even though it was only one of a two guitar edition. It had a 25 year old Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard, through Maple neck, Walnut stripes and beautiful grained solid Ash body, Gover tuners, two DiMarzio super distortion humbuckers. Cool or not? Experienced guitarists have said things like 'It plays itself', or 'It's the best guitar I've ever played'. I agree with both of those comments and I have played 1000's of guitars and played with Dave Berry, Lazy Jake etc etc. After I had bought my guitar from Pete, I thought he would go on to being recognised as the top man in the country - very famous - that's how good he is - the best. - Rob Royston, Jan 2010

That's a fantastic story, but wait until you check out the photos below.


This is fantastic, only the second through-body Pete Back we've had on the site. Again, the early headstock is all there, dating it as late-'70s as we know it is - the Custom etching on the truss-rod cover clearly seen. Its a beauty and the antique sunburst finish just makes it look even more unusual, especially with the grain on the body top. Pete always had a thing for finding old pieces of wood that would be aged and stable, and to hear he used 25-year-old rosewood for the fingerboard is not surprising at all. To hear that it "plays itself" is testament to Pete's rare talent - even his first few guitar's back then, were standout instruments. Pete often mentioned his work for Scott Gorham, but to get a view of one of the same style of guitar that he made at the time is truly remarkable.

You're a very lucky guy Rob, hang on to this piece (which should be worth a deal more than the eBay guitar I posted about yesterday, not that you'd want to sell it mind you!) for dear life, and thanks so much for writing in. Can't imagine how we'll better this guitar on the site, but please keep sending your emails in, I promise I will cover all of them off when I can.

Pete Back Custom "Paul" (c.1979-1983)

The well known guitar shop Music Ground, which is located on London's very own Tin Pan Alley - Denmark Street - has one of Pete's old guitar's in stock. And here it is:



Its an early Pete Back Custom V in remarkably good shape for its age, which I estimate as around '79 - '83.

The deep red - darker and more vivid than Fiesta Red - is a common feature on Pete's very early guitars. I have a Pete Back Brian May-style gold top double cutaway, which features the same blend of red on its body and neck, as well as the early signature transfers on the headstock. When I can I will upload some photos of this guitar in my collection, so you can compare the similarities. I know my Brian May style was one of the first guitar's Pete ever built - he told me so myself, which makes dating this axe a little easier.

The guitar looks to be in great condition - no obvious dinks to the body for example - and features a period locking kahler trem and diamond mother of pearl inlay on the fingerboard.


The truss-rod cover is unusually shaped and has the name "Paul" etched into it. This technique is also a feature of Pete's early works and involves using a hot needle to carefully remove the first black layer of the truss-rod cover laminate to expose the middle white layer. Requires a very steady hand, I would imagine! Now, my Bryan May guitar of that era had the word "Special" engraved here, so I'm interested in what the word "Paul" means to this guitar. I'm pretty confident that this guitar would have originally been made for someone called Paul, who requested his name on the headstock. Maybe someone could illuminate this for me further? Perhaps the original Paul is still out there somewhere!

Anyhows, it is a very rare example, undoubtedly the only such guitar out there, and is currently on sale for buy it now at £899.

If you're thinking of getting into Pete's guitars and would like a heavy metal / rock beast, I think you will find this guitar to be a very good investment.

You can check it out on ebay at the following link http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PETE-BACK-CUSTOM-PAUL-FLYING-V-RED-KAHLER-TREM-CASE_W0QQitemZ270524680508QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxq20100202?IMSfp=TL100202191002r35908

Pete Back Custom Gretsch 6120 (2005)

Steve has kindly written into the blog to share his very rare Pete Back with us. Its a beauty.

He ordered the guitar in July 2005 and collected it from Pete up in Reeth in January 2006. Let's hear what he says about it:

It's based on the Gretsch 6120 complete with TV jones Classics pickups. Sounds as good as it looks! I think Pete mentioned at the time he hadn't done a "Gretsch" before.

He was relieved when I said it was ok to have the electrics organised in a sensible way, unlike Gretsches which have knobs and switches all over the body.

If, like me, you hadn't heard of TV Jones pups before, you can check them out here: http://www.tvjones.com/pickups/tv_classic.htm And very nice they look too.

Andy goes on to say that the colour was actually a happy mistake. He'd originally asked for the classic Gretsch orange, but it came out a much deeper red. Pete was going to redo it but Andy liked it so much he left it.

That's a nice story, I think. Pete was one of those rare breed of luthiers who had their own paint shop and make pretty much every part himself. He was also a real perfectionist when it came to the finishes, even though he one man on his own competing against the big guitar manufacturers, who had access to an incredible arrary of computer controlled lathes, dust extraction, and finishing equipment.

As an aside, people wonder how Taylor achieve the incredible finish on their "hand made" guitars. Well, check out the videos of the production process, and it can sometimes look more like a car production line than a guitar shop. See what I mean here: http://www.taylorguitars.com/video/factory-fridays/default.aspx?edition=12&title=12%3a+Finishing+Part+2

Gibson, are no different, you can check out photos of their Nashville custom shop here: http://news.cnet.com/2300-13576_3-6242851-3.html?tag=mncol Some huge machines and serious manufacturing volumes going on there.


That's no criticism of Taylors or Gibsons (I have one myself), but what you don't get when you buy something from one of the big manufacturers, is the sense of craftsmanship and artistry. The transformation of a few bits of rough timber, into something that produces music that moves hearts. Something hand-painted and hand-finished. A true one-off. That's what you sense, I believe, when you play a Pete Back. You feel part of a story. You feel like your sharing an experience that is very rare indeed.

That this Gretsch turned out a gorgeous deep red, and not the orange seen on many thousands of factory guitars, however expensive they may be, is a story that sets this guitar apart from the crowds. That's what Pete Back's guitars were all about.