Articles by Martin Cilia

1954 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top (Serial Number 4 0809) I first saw this guitar in Sydney in 1984 whilst touring with a band from Perth, Western Australia. It was the ‘cleanest’ vintage Gibson Les […]

These guitars were made in the U.S.A. as budget instruments. I would think quite a few were made back in the day, but not sure how many original examples would have survived until the present day. These original examples are very rare here in Australia. […]

I’d been quietly looking for one of these guitars for years and was very happy to find this one. It’s a great sounding and playing Gibson ES-175D which was made late 1961/early 1962.  It has 2 excellent sounding PAF pickups and is from what is considered the holy grail period of 175s. […]

Back in the late 70s / early 80s I was becoming aware of vintage guitars and their sound. This was the time when second hand (vintage) guitars were starting to appreciate in value.  […]

Not everyone is a songwriter, just like everyone is not a singer, instrumentalist, sportsman/woman or rocket scientist. […]

Ok take a deep breath… This is about as good as it gets… This one guitar literally cost me – a 1957 Stratocaster, 1964 Stratocaster, 1956 Les Paul Custom, 1956 Les Paul Soecial TV, an L series Fender Jazzmaster, and a refin but otherwise all original 1962 strat. All these guitars were 100% original bar the ’62 refin strat. […]

1964 Gibson ES335 Red (Serial Number 70664)

I’ll start off by saying that this is one of the best sounding guitars ever. A big wrap I know, but it’s true. […]