Wednesday, 11th December 2013
Pic by Gemini Pickups
Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott recently helped out his idol Ian Hunter by loaning him a replica guitar for the Mott The Hoople reunion tour.
Joe had two copies of Ian's classic 'Maltese Cross' guitar made a couple of years ago and when Ian was in need of a replacement Joe travelled from the USA to help out. The story was explained by Ian in the Horse's Mouth fan question section on his website.
The guitar's are shown above as posted on the manufacturer's website (see link for full size photo).
Joe recently sang at four out of five shows on the band's 2013 UK Tour (quite possibly their last).
Horse's Mouth - Ian Hunter Quote
"The original Maltese Cross was not a very good instrument; I sold that many years ago. It looked good but that was about it. Joe Elliott had two copies made that stayed pretty faithful to the original design. The only difference being that they sounded GREAT! Kinda like a Les Paul Junior (which I've always loved the sound of - only denser and heavier)."
"Joe gave me one for my 70th birthday (a hell of a surprise) and kept the other. While playing in Cheltenham (I realized the Junior I was playing in ordinary tuning wasn't anywhere near as good as the Maltese I was playing in open tuning. We emailed Joe (who was in the States) and asked if I could borrow the other one. By 4pm the next day, Joe was in Birmingham with his Maltese Cross. It sounded great - exactly like mine - so that was it. I used them both for the tour. There are only two in the world. I think it's really neat that a guitar can look that good AND sound so good. Very cool!! Praise be to Joe!!!"
- News Source - ianhunter.com
- View photo at - geminipickups.co.uk
- Previous News - 21st November 2013