Ian Bairnson 1964 Gibson SG

Legendary guitarist Ian Bairnson (born August 3 1953 in the Shetland Isles, Scotland) has been one of the most sought after session guitarists in the music industry, working with a myriad of artists from a plethora of musical genres. Producer, engineer, and composer and long time collaborator Alan Parsons has said of Ian, "he is arguably the best guitarist in the UK" .

"As you know, for me Ian is the best guitarist in the world and I can't tell you how it now feels to be writing with him."  -Roger Scott Craig

Here's a great live clip of Eye in the Sky by Alan Parsons. You'll see Ian play his memorable solos at 1:50 and at 6:20. This commemorated the 50th anniversary of VE-Day performed in Arnhem, the Netherlands with an 80 piece orchestra and local choir. Introduced by Walter Cronkite.

I first met Ian Bairnson when he played with East West over 30 years ago in Edinburgh, Scotland. Even back then as a 17 year old, he was an amazing guitarist and I can clearly remember the day I went down to Taylor's amp shop and he showed me his Gibson SG. His fingers just effortlessly flowed across the fretboard and made me shake my head with some serious envy. Then I went ahead and purchased the guitar hoping that someday I might be a fraction as good as this virtuoso. You can see it displayed at  www.ianbairnson.com  with the serial number (shown in one of the photos below). Ian has been heard on numerous hit records like Pilot's "Magic" and "January" also Alan Parson's "Eye in the Sky."  As well as playing on Alan Parsons' albums, Ian writes a lot of the songs too.
 

I used the SG when I played with
the Glam-Rock band Iron Virgin.
Click on the image for info.

The Guitar
It's a 1964 Gibson SG serial no. 227065
The serial numbers for 1964 went from 176644 to 250335.
It's in excellent condition. The machine heads were changed to Schallers and the tremolo arm removed. There is a slight crack on the back of the neck which was there when I purchased it and, recently a vintage guitar expert checked it out and said that the neck was completely straight and he played the guitar for about 30 minutes enjoying every minute of it. Apart from the usual wear and tear you might associate with a "gigging guitar" this is in really superb condition.
   This SG travelled with Iron Virgin to Luxembourg and was used when we recorded our demos in Decca's West Hampstead studio which was bought by the Moody Blues and converted into a beautiful, sumptuous  state of the art recording studio.