The Sex Pistols evolved from The Strand, a pre-punk band, formed in 1972 by a young Steve Jones [vocals], Paul Cook [drums], and school friend Wally Nightingale [guitar]. This guitar is believed to have been previously owned by 'Wally' Nightingale, hence the hidden scratched signature within. The story behind how Nightingale, Jones and Cook acquired instruments from the days of the Strand right through to the beginning of the Pistols, has become Punk folklore, along with the story that one of the conditions of Malcom McClaren agreeing to manage the band was that Nightingale had to leave, purely for being 'too nice!' Once Nightingale was let go this instrument was commandeered by the replacement guitarist, 'Jones'.
According to Ray Stevenson, who photographed Jones hitting the guitar against an amp, the image was taken on 20th September, 1976, the first night of the notorious '100 Club Punk Special'. The vendor recalls in the accompanying letter that Jones, after receiving his portion of the EMI advance, decided that he deserved to upgrade the guitar, and that it was via 'Dave Goodman' [record producer, perhaps best known as the live sound engineer for the Sex Pistols, and the producer of three of their studio demo sessions] that he took possession of the guitar, Steve turned up one night with Dave at the Hope & Anchor in Islington. Just as Eater were about to take the stage, to hand it over, and it was played on stage for the very first time by our guitarist [he mentions that it was Nov. 1976, and the night of the 'Grundy' fiasco, however the infamous interview actually took place on the 1st December]; in John Savage's book 'England's Dreaming' [p260] it is mentioned that they went to the Hope & Anchor after the incident; we can assume that through the midst of time the effects of being an active member of the Punk scene has caused this discretion. The vendor also refers to recollections that Dave Goodman provided him with, when writing his memoir 'The Secret Life...', That Old Les Paul had helped define the Pistols sound forever on those early recordings of the songs that would eventually make up Never Mind The Bollocks, so when Steve said he was getting rid of it, I thought he was mad, like messing with Karma or something, so I bought it off him and gave it [the current owner] who put it to good use in writing most of the material on Eater's debut album - two classic punk albums both spawned by the same guitar!. As the vendor mentions its resonance makes it easily identifiable as the first guitar to ever chime those legendary 'Anarchy' chords.