BACK TO LIFE

We’ve enjoyed the privilege of playing Gary’s ’61 Strat and the beautiful John Cruz Custom Shop replica, but what do high-end replicas really offer?

Acouple of years ago, we interviewed Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy – a band to which Gary Moore also famously belonged at various points throughout the 1970s – and were struck by Gorham’s motivation for reforming the band after Lynott’s death. Scott told us that he’d been introduced as the guitarist from Thin Lizzy to a 20-something man at a gig and the man had simply blankly asked, ‘Who?’, having never heard of the band or any of their songs. It was a salutary lesson in how quickly well-deserved fame can fade from memory and generational relevance.

In that regard, replicas such as the fine John Cruz Gary Moore Strat arguably have a purpose beyond the immediate circle of well-heeled, hardcore fans that are, for all intents and purposes, the guitar’s sole market. They are a talking point and a touchstone that will hopefully spur some onlookers to explore Moore’s superb back catalogue for the first time, if they hadn’t been aware of his playing before. Amen to that. Indeed, it’s tempting to wonder how many guitarists, decades on, discover the work of masterly players such as Tal Farlow or Howard Roberts for the first time, after seeing their signature guitars on the walls of vintage guitar stores and wondering what they did to deserve the honour?

There is perhaps a more tangible benefit for all players in such loving recreations of famous guitars, however, in so much as an intensely close study of specific instruments raises the guitar-builder’s store of knowledge of the best vintage instruments – and you can be sure players such as Gary Moore had an eye and ear for the good ones when they were buying. We’d love to see, for example, the gorgeous slender neck profile of Gary’s Strat transferred to other more affordable Fender Strats – a profile that will have been carefully recorded by Cruz during the guitar’s creation. We also take from the guitar further hints of a cottage respray industry in the UK in the early 60s, making Gary’s Strat an intriguing piece of cultural archaeology, too.

In the main, though, it’s as a testament to a great player and his music that we enjoy this guitar most. May his memory live long.

ABOVE Although known as a Les Paul player, too, it is the Red (sometimes dubbed Pink) Strat that remains the most iconic of Gary’s guitars