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.