Day 2692
Wednesday May 13th 2026
Winchester
The Faith 12-string is out of service for the time being and being cared for by ace luthier Jimmy Cole. I had a go on three other 12-strings yesterday and decided the Rickenbacker would be best. My beloved Sigma – the one I bought when I was living with Lesley in Kilburn in the summer of ’87 – has a too wide neck and the action on the EKO Ranger is far too high. I’ve been out with the Rickenbacker before a couple of times but that was years ago. Time to show it off again, I reckon.
I walk by the Dylan bloke in The Pentice doing Chimes of Freedom (weirdly enough I’ve got the right guitar for the Byrds version with me!) and set up at Nando’s.
Unfortunately, it’s windy, very windy and I have to stop the first song to chase after the song title sheet which has blown around the back of one of the Five Guys tables. Then the stool blows over and starts rolling into the street so I have to stop and get that and sit on it. Then the song sheet blows away again and this time a man retrieves it for me. Very kind of him. Then the case shuts and starts to blow away so I have to put the book box in it. Then, after half an hour it starts to rain. One hour early according to the forcast. That’s it, I’m not letting a £3,000 plus guitar get soaked. I drag the stuff into the Nando’s doorway, pack up, open up the umbrella and walk off, not forgetting my takings of £2.50. Of course, by the time I was home the rain had stopped, obviously.
Well, I won’t be beaten by the rain so I ventured out again…and sure enough, by the time I got to Nando’s it starts up again. Sod this. I took shelter in the alleyway and at the same time, there is another man doing the same, bigger than me with a dark beard and baseball hat. He’s seen me play loads of times and starts asking me about guitars – which one have i got in the case. When I tell him it’s a Rickenbacker 12-string he’s elated and continues the questions. After a few minutes I say I need to go to the toilet nearby and he offers to look after my stuff – I leave my bag with him. He seems OK but it’s an automatic reaction – I’ll take the very expensive guitar with me.
After I’ve attended to my business, I’m walking to the stairs and I see him out the window, standing with my case and decide to open it and let him see it, which I do and he’s thrilled.
After a bit more chat, he says he’ll look forward to hearing it some other time and we exchange names – he’s Philip, and then he’s off and so am I, because the rain has stopped (who knows how long for?) I set up opposite Nando’s in the doorway of the now defunct Wenzels bakery, because it’s in the sun.
I aim to do an hour and a half, which will bring the total up to the requisite two hours…it’s a real change with the Rickenbacker – the bass strings are very loud and it’s a very sort of thumpy sound which really takes some getting used to but it’s good for the stuff with a good beat, like California Girls, Everybody Wants To Rule The World and it’s good for stuff like La Vie En Rose. The coinage starts off really slow, though, which worries me…until it all comes in at once, like the bloody buses. A tenner, two fivers and a £15 two CD sale and I’m happy about all of that.
Someone must have been watching over me because I’m able to get through the allotted time and pack up just before the rain starts up again. No umbrella this time, but a woolly hat, bought in Gloucester a few years ago while filming a video with Rebsie.
The takings, including the £2.50 from the first session, is a very respectable £46.11 plus a 20 euro cent coin for the next European sojourn.