Will be broadcast on Boxing Day.......or St.Stephen's day for our Irish friends.

Or the day after Christmas, for folks in the US!

Paul gave his famous Black 330 (I'm told a 1966 one but doubtless someone will contest this) to Steve Cradock for his birthday a few yearss back.

I've had the good fortune to meet Steve on a few occasions and last year when Ocean Colour Scene played Lincoln his guitar tech took me backstage to see his guitars which included the said black Ricky.

So I took some pics...

the guitar is well used and has had a neck break.
The Machine heads have been changed and the stop tailpiece was put on in early 1982. The XITS stickers are "Plastifilm" scooter stickers made in the 60's for Lambrettas and Vespas and have no particular meaning other than Paul putting them on there as decoration.

There's remnants of other stickers on there as well such as the bit on the headstock which was once a Heart shaped sticker.

On inspection the control plate and scratchplate appear to be white ones which have been painted black but the edges left white.

Also for info, the white 330 that paul played in the Absolute Beginners video now belongs to Noel Gallagher - Paul gave him it as a present.

Anyway here's one pics I took a couple of years back

http://taipan.hbs.uk.com/OCS%20LINCOLN%2010/images/32.JPG

What a great shot! Nice of you to post it! That Rick has certainly been through a lot.

Was it "Funeral Pyre" that he played his Maple-glo 360/12?

sure doesn't seem like a 66 with those pick ups.

Sometimes the same sound becomes stale to you, and you can even come to resent it. Players like McGuinn and Peter Buck have endured the slight stigma of playing the same guitar for so many years, and Ric fans tend to be a bit more passionate about the brand. Weller may have gotten tired of this to the extent that he didn't want to own one anymore.

Of course, he may just be generous like Johnny Marr, but I don't think Marr would give away his 330 to anyone.