“I left it in my car for 30 minutes, went to check on it, and it was already gone. Man, I must have cried for a week”: Andy Timmons on the agony of guitar thefts, his “birth-week” Strat, and his search for the ultimate single coil

Andy Timmons bends a note and feels it as he plays his signature Ibanez electric against a deep red background. He wears a black jacket and a cream T-shirt and necklesses.

This month on Bought & Sold, it is the turn of Andy Timmons to share his life in gear. Think of Timmons and you might associate him with Ibanez, with whom he has collaborated on one of the most versatile signature guitars on the market, or maybe Keeley Electronics, with signature overdrive and delay pedals bearing his name.

But that’s not the full story. Here we take Timmons back to the start, making him confront a painful moment when his first good electric guitar was stolen, and then talk happier times. Timmons has this uncanny knack of finding a ‘60s Strat that does the business.