Fender F-265C - ‘Sannacaster’
This is probably my favourite guitar. It’s not the prettiest and surely not the most prestigious or pricy, but it’s a rare specimen, one that has brought me a lot of joy for over 25 years. I don’t normally name guitars but this one collected a few nicknames along the way. It’s the original Sannacaster but it’s also been ironically known as The Hitmaker. I’d say at least 70 percent of my songs and tunes were written on this guitar, and that special relationship is still as tight today as it’s always been. It’s still a favourite for songwriting and composing. Also, if I’m using a different axe and I get stuck while writing a song, I’d pick this one up and the creative juices start flowing again.
My history with this Fender goes back a long way. I took it around the world with me once or twice, until it got too scary to have it locked in the hold of a plane by rogue luggage handlers or left unattended in some dressing room before a show, so it was eventually replaced as my stage guitar. But occasionally I still perform with it, and it’s always special.
I bought it second hand back in 1995. I think by then it was about 8 years old. I had never owned an acoustic guitar before but I’d always wanted one. It took me a long time to find the right one and be able to afford it. For the first 10 years as a guitar player I was probably perceived as a purely electric player. That was mostly because I simply didn’t have an acoustic guitar. And yet, a lot of the music I was listening to was very much acoustic. Not that I intend to be in any camp when it comes to music as I gladly play both acoustic and electric guitar, but if I was sent to a desert island, this is the guitar I would take with me, …provided I was reassured that she’d be safe from coconut crabs, scaly reptiles, luggage handlers, hurricanes and the odd castaway gone bananas.
As you might be aware, Fender acoustic guitars don’t have a great reputation, and yet this one sounds and feels great. It’s not the most comfortable guitar so it forces you to earn it, if you know what I mean. If you’re rusty and your fingertips have gone soft and your muscles have shrunk, this guitar will punish you big time.
Pickup-wise I had a Headway Snake piezo pickup installed in 2002, to which I added a magnetic Fishman Rare Earth not so long ago. I normally blend the two pickups using a Zoom A3 pedal that allows me to control the output of each pickup, so that I can get the body of the magnetic pickup and the attack of the piezo.
