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The summer of "72": the sun is shining over the countryside and gives an open view on the "Stompe Toren", the little church of Spaarnwoude. A bit further at the horizon airplanes land on Schiphol Airport. The view is forever printed in my memories. A peaceful time in which my view did not reach beyond the meadows in front of me and the shipyard and waters behind me.
The famous song "het dorp"( the village) from Wim Sonneveld sounds through the speakers every now and then. This summer would be decisive for my deep love for guitars.

Within the framework of an exchange program between Belgian and Dutch youngsters my parents had decided to temporalily foster a young boy from Belgium in our house. His name was Didier Ruykersvelde and he got his own bedroom in our house. He brought albums to spend the lost hours during his visit. One of these albums was "Deep Purple in Rock" with the fabulous song "Child in time", of course constantly repeated by Didier. My mother disliked this music very much and because she did, I did too! : "no point in that"! But in my unconsciousness the love for music has started to grow.
This awareness started to grow a few years later. I had already exchanged the view on the meadows and Schiphol for a view on the city. Together with my brother Jan I listened to the music of radio Luxembourg. That was in 1976. Radio Luxembourg broadcasted songs like “Crazy on You” from Heart and “Peace of Mind” from Boston.

Shortly before that, a girlfriend of my brother draw my attention to the song “Magic Man ”from Heart. I thought it was magical. For me this was the start of a new era. Between all this music I also heard “Smoke on the Water” from Deep Purple. I was triggered by the music of Deep Purple and I wanted to know more about it. I was fascinated by the heavy guitar play.
I already had my first single, the earlier mentioned “Peace Of Mind”. In our neighbourhood there was a supermarket : "Kijkgrijp" where you could buy albums. At one day I collected all my savings, went to the Kijkgrijp and bought Deep Purple's album “Made In Japan”.

After “Highway Star” there was “Child In Time live”! My life would never be the same. The dynamic interaction between the organ of John Lord , the voice of Ian Gillan, the staccato of Roger Glover, the drums and percussion of Ian Paice and especially the guitar sounds of Ritchie
Blackmore impressed me enormously. The solo was preluded by a firm feedback of powerchords of a Fender Stratocaster, linked on a Marshall Stack. The solo begins. How beautiful how Ritchie touches the strings! But at 5.13 the music changes. It’s put into gear which was very special at that time. For a guitar player playing a solo for so long and so fast. This is characteristic for Ritchie Blackmore. Unexhausted and creative as ever the solo goes on. Every note has its own character. Hammering on¹s, pulling off¹s, tremolo movements; triols are being played one after another.
At 7.25 there is silence: also for me. This experience would be decisive for my next coming years. At that moment I knew that I wanted to learn everything Ritchie Blackmore’s play on his guitar.

It was obvious that I wanted a guitar like Ritchie Blackmore had. Unfortunately I could not afford such a guitar so I could only enjoy the photo's on the covers of the albums and in the various windows of the music shops in and around Haarlem. Not for one moment the guitar lost my attention.

I followed guitar courses but nobody wanted to teach me to play the guitar like Ritchie Blackmore did. So in the end I had to teach myself. This meant that I had to listen and experiment a lot. At the age of 16 I finally had my desired Fender Stratocaster. My Fender Stratocaster so to say because in fact it was a Custom Stratocaster. A brand from the Ibanez factory Hoshino in Japan. The black body, the maple neck and the tremelo were a final proof for me that I could play a Stratocaster. I had to wait until 2005 till I could finally buy a real Fender Stratocaster. It was the Fender Stratocaster Ritchie Blackmore Signature! A guitar that is also described in my book.

At the end of the eighties in which the great guitar rock bands dominated the stadiums and concert halls, I widened my view on guitars and guitar players. I got to know Joe Satriani. Songs like” Satch Boogie” and “Back to Shalla Bal” impressed me enormously. A new phase in life and I became more and more inspired by other guitar players. Also my preferences for guitars changed. The Fender Stratocaster was no longer my ultimate dream. Eventually the brand Ibanez has built up a new line of guitars.
Because of my fascination for guitars I became more and more bedazzeled of the brand Ibanez. As a result I started to build up a collection of mainly Ibanez guitars. In the nineties I was in Amsterdam and I saw a guitar in a music shop that I have had never seen before. The guitar had an aggressive and powerful look with fluorescent colours. It was love at first sight.

This guitar, the Ibanez JEM 777 SP was launched in 1987 at the Chicago NAMM Show by Steve Vai. Although I was impressed by the guitar, It would take me another 10 years before I could call myself a full admirer of the guitar player Steve Vai.

Now, in 2011 I can entitle myself as a collector with 33 guitars in my collection. My specialties are the Ibanez JEM’s which I have collected through the years. This is a good moment to capture them all on celluloid and to tell a story about each guitar. The photo’s were made in close cooperation with my friend Arnold Bartman from Photostudio Bartman.