My first electric guitar was bought from the proceeds of a summer spent sweeping up hair and making the tea at the local hair salon. I was now officially suffering for my art. The structure inside the salon was exactly as I feared “real life” would be. The top stylist and Salon owner was referred to as Mister Lawrence, he got addressed with the Mister bit every time, then down through the ranks, the women stylists were just called Sandra or Jackie and at the very bottom, there was me, head down, brush to the linoleum. It wasn’t just the broom that made me feel slightly ridiculous, my other prop was one of their nylon pinnies which they insisted I wore while I was in the salon. I also had to take the customers coats and offer them tea and coffee as they came in, it was definitely not very Punk Rock and I was only there because I was busy saving up for something that was. The prize for this summertime of stray hairs, mouldy smelling towels and cracked hands was at that moment still forming part of the window display at the local music shop, which mainly traded in sheet music and recorders. The guitar itself was I think what would be politely described as an “entry level” guitar. It was shaped like a scaled down Stratocaster, but with a smaller body and less generous proportions all round, it was from the cheap imitation end of the market. I already knew that it was the “Happy Shopper” version of an electric guitar, it might have well as said so on the headstock, but then again I didn’t really know anything about guitars other than that I really, really needed one, and here was one I could actually afford. It had a “sunburst” finish, which I thought was a bit square, but nothing that couldn’t be built on with a few stickers. Despite its looks it was a real actual electric guitar with steel strings, volume and tone controls and a free strap.
The days spent sweeping greying hair off the floor and drying the towels outside in the back yard area of the shop started to add up, as did my wage packet which was handed to me by Mister Lawrence himself at the end of the agreed 4 week period. My little brown envelope contained nearly £50, which was a fortune and easily enough to furnish myself with the cheapest guitar in town, with change.
The man in the shop asked me to choose my free strap as he removed the drawer at the top of the glass topped counter, one of them said Fender on it, I asked for that one, it felt like it would make my guitar better.