Blimey, is this really 21 years old? This was the first genuine Fender Stratocaster I ever owned, paid £375 for it back when that was about a month's wages. It's a dark metallic blue colour, not sure what the Fender name for that is but it certainly looks fantastic under stage lights.

As strats go, this one's at the excellent end of the bog-standard range but there's something about it that makes it probably my second-choice guitar for practically any recording or live session. The setup is spot-on perfect and the neck just never moves. It's almost entirely stock, the only modification is a Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro pickup in the bridge position to replace the original unit which went horrifically microphonic. The tone from this guitar is just the right mix of tight, controlled glassy strat with a dash of 1960s growl as you wind up the overdrive, perfect for practically any situation and invaluable for recording sessions when I can't be bothered carrying too many guitars with me. The only real gripe is that with alder-bodied guitars you have to work a bit harder to get a really great tone out of them.

This one's taken a fair bit of abuse over the years and has come through surprisingly well if slightly battle-scarred but it's a guitar that's become a real part of my playing. This is the one that I could never sell at any price. Truly inspirational.