Strings of Desire - #10

The Billy Childish Cadillac

It was whilst I was writing a blog post a couple or so years ago for 'The things that I miss etc...' that I pondered the availability of the most amazing guitar I'd ever seen. I've been a fan of the works of Billy Childish and his vast plethora of bands for a many a year and I became aware (specifically around the time of The Buff Medways) of an amazing red guitar that Billy would attack with unadulterated abandon. It looked like a cross between the sort of guitar that Bo Diddley championed and a 1950's futuristic space car. 

I had previously assumed that it was an old discontinued vintage number and I didn't even bother to really start looking. However, after a particularly wild night blasting out The Buffs on my Dansette, I decided to at least find out the name of it. 

It was of course - The Billy Childish Cadillac.

It transpired that whilst it was modelled on a couple of old guitars that apparently the body shape is loosely inspired by a photo on the back of a Bo Diddley album, the headstock shape came from an old Vox guitar Billy had lying around at the time. The body is covered in red leatherette with a white piping side trim. The effect is stunning. When combined with its lightweight, thin solid body the growling P-90's sound complimented by fantastic tremolo - it is truly a great guitar to play and to look at. 

Who makes such a fantastic instrument? Well, Fabian of Fab Guitars makes them, just across the channel in Oostende Belgium. A lovely guy, who makes beautiful guitars that sound as good as they look. Check them out here Fab Guitars - By the way, Fabian is only making 13 Cadillacs and a fair few of them have gone already...