Vintage V100MU Midge Ure Signature Series review

The Vintage V100MU is a smart-looking, LP-inspired Goldtop, developed for former Ultravox and Thin Lizzy man, Midge Ure.

It should go some way to compensating Midge for the 1980 chart fiasco that saw Joe Dolce's Shaddap You Face beat Vienna to number one in the UK Singles chart, and it even has a vibrola vibrato - very nice.

Ure is an unlikely guitar hero: he made his name with Ultravox, but earned his stripes after replacing Gary Moore in Thin Lizzy, learning the setlist on the plane over; he also co-wrote Do They Know It's Christmas?

He's had an interesting career, and his guitar's interesting, too. Initial impressions suggest it's just another riff on the classic LP outline: the V100MU has a slimmish neck profile, and has a drop shoulder curling in towards the fretboard, plus an offset heel to improve upper-fret access.

Two of Trev Wilkinson's WP90SK soapbar pickups handle plugged-in duties, with a Vari-coil control to convert them to single coils. Somehow, despite the design oddity of fitting a vibrola to a contoured body, it all holds together, stays in tune and plays great.

There are a lot of features on the V100MU, but it doesn't take long to find its sweet spot. With a little classic-rock crunch, the V100MU has a punchy, bright tone that cleans up nicely; using the Vari-coil just adds a little extra subtlety for crisp cleans. The vibrola takes plenty of wobbling before retuning's required and is a welcome addition.