Grumpyrocker

Reflected Floyd, originally uploaded by Cartmel Veteran.

Twenty years ago my late mother bought me an electric guitar - a relatively cheap Epiphone HSS Strat. I was always rubbish at keeping up hobbies, but I really took to the guitar rather late and I've played ever since.

I've owned other (and better) guitars but I've always treasured this one that mum bought for me. Alas time hasn't been kind to it - it was used hard before and during my university years and it hasn't really been playable for the last few years.

The Floyd Rose bridge was rusted and had a screw missing. The locking nut was threaded and had a lock missing. The tone pot doesn't work. The volume pot hardly works. The bridge pickup is falling apart and out of its mounting.

And while I've got other guitars to play - this guitar means something. It's a reminder of my mum. Back when I took my first rather ear-shattering steps in guitar playing she supported me. And she used to listen to me play - often without me knowing, a friend of hers told me that mum told her she used to stand outside my bedroom and listen to me play and that I was really good. Bless her.

Over Christmas I gave this treasured guitar a new lease of life - I fitted a completely new Floyd Rose trem to it and a new locking nut. It now plays beautifully - and has stayed in tune very well since then. I've never attempted dismantling and then rebuilding a guitar. I was very nervous - what if I'd destroyed it?

That was stage one. Next I had to replace the worn out and faulty electrics. I completely rewired the guitar - despite not having soldered anything for a few years. The pickups were replaced by a high-output IronGear SteamHammer humbucker at the bridge and two IronGear PigIron single-coils at the middle and neck positions. They sound fantastic. I got quite cocky and added a pull-pot as the volume so the bridge pickup can be coil-tapped.

I'm absolutely thrilled with the rebuild. Some objects carry a lot of memory with them - and today it feels like my mum, who I miss so much, has just given me a new guitar for Christmas.