That Was The Year... 1986 Helicopters, Interceptors and Ferrari Tails

LEO FENDER BUYS OUT partner

George Fullerton from their joint G&L venture. Sadly production of the G&L Interceptor X-body is discontinued due to disappointing sales over its short life span. The eye-catching guitar was presented with a deep forearm scoop, a Dual Fulcrum vibrato and a choice of three MFD single-coil units or two Offset MFD humbuckers. But of course as the

model ceases to be it becomes highly collectable.

THE FASTEST CIRCUIT OF M25 becomes

a late night event for boy racers following the opening of the completed M25 London Orbital motorway by Margaret Thatcher. The Prime Minister also officially opens the Japanese owned Nissan car factory in Sunderland, its first in Europe. The MetroCentre shopping mall is opened in Tyneside; Family Credit is introduced and there’s a rush for shares as British Gas is floated on the Stock Exchange.

PAUL REED SMITH produces the 1000th

production-line guitar, an all-mahogany instrument that will soon become known as the Standard model. They also launch the new Signature series, based on the Custom but with ‘ultimate quality wood grade’ figured tops and bird inlays and each instrument is hand-signed by Paul himself. Meanwhile Taylor’s first Signature model, the DCSM built for Dan Crary, is introduced at the Winter NAMM Show.

CHARLOTTE CHURCH POPS into the

world while bass players Phil Lynott and Cliff Burton make untimely exits. Also gone are screen icons Cary Grant, Ray Milland and James Cagney, jazz clarinet player and band leader Benny Goodman and American film producer Hal B Wallis who made many of Elvis’s worst movies.

DEFENCE SECRETARY MICHAEL HESELTINE

and Trade & Industry Secretary Leon Brittan resign as a result of the Westland Affair that began as a way to save the Westland Helicopter company. Capital Transfer Tax is replaced by the Inheritance Tax, Patrick Joseph Magee gets life imprisonment after being found guilty of the hotel bombing in Brighton and economists warn of an imminent global recession.

THE FIRST PC VIRUS begins to spread;

BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) is diagnosed in British cattle; Sealink introduces a high-speed catamaran ferry operating between Portsmouth and Ryde; Pixar Animation Studios open and Vintage Guitar magazine is published for the first time.

JOURNEY’S GUITARIST NEAL SCHON

launches Schon Guitars with a single cutaway, reverse body design built by Jackson in San Dimas. The guitar features a maple neck-through-body construction with alder wings and an ebony fretboard. The through-body stringing uses individual ‘Ferrari Tails’ and a tune-o-matic bridge. The NS1 J-85 humbucker and NS-SC J-100 single-coil have an active circuit. Production switches to Larrivée as Neal feels Jackson is taking rather too long.