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.