The sound of this guitar is what principally replaced the "steam-organ" element of XTC following Barry's departure from the group and my arrival in March 1979.

It has an extraordinarily wiry tone in its bridge pick-up which I've never heard in any other guitar. It's also the loudest stock Strat ever, its super-light alder body producing a big, full tone. Well, I say stock…keen-eyed viewers will note that the all-maple neck is an add-on, made by Californian luthier Phil Kubicki and fitted in the spring of 1981.

All recordings prior to English Settlement were done on its original rosewood-fingerboard neck, which had twisted around a fault in the grain, rendering it practically useless for everything but slide playing! The improvement in the sound and performance of the guitar once fitted with the new maple neck was immediate, giving lie to the myth that "vintage is best". The pick-up circuit and hardware are original, except for the 5-way selector switch, the tremolo arm and the plastic spring cover on the back.

I bought this guitar from my mate Pete Goss (Dean Gabber of the Gaberdines) in the spring of 1978, when it still sported its factory-original Sherwood Green Metallic paint job. I didn't like the colour, so took it to Mick Wareham (then Kempster's repair man) who stripped it back to the wood and added an "antique violin" lacquer (a decision that to-day would remove about two grand from its value!) It stayed that way throughout the touring years with XTC, and contrary to apocryphal reports in Song Stories, this is the only Stratocaster I owned at the time.

In September 1984, Jonny Kinkade did the lovely faux-Lake Placid Blue re-finish you see to-day, finding a closely-matching colour from a Chrysler/Talbot auto-paint catalogue.

Recording debut: XTC's Life Begins At The Hop on the 10th of March 1979