Those of us who were playing in 60s bands saw that photo and - of course - tried to copy Hank, Bruce and the band. Some of us were lucky enough to own a Vox and even tried to purchase The Shadows badge they had attached to the lower-right of the speaker cloth.

I tried to buy the badge from the usual sources - music shops, newspapers, magazines - in fact just about everywhere! A few years back I heard that someone had brought one out but they were never made publicly available.

So the years rolled by - I kept playing Shadows music on my trusty Fender Strat and Vox AC30, but still had no badge to finish 'the look'. A year ago, I felt something drastic had to be done, and decided to make my own! After much searching, a friend located a pattern from which I could work.

I hand-cut the badge from 1.6mm brass sheet and prepare the edges to get that 'worn' feel. When the badge is finally polished, the face of the badge is engraved to emphasise some of the letters.

At this point a decision had to be made about the method used to fix the badge to the amp.

To retain the clean lines of the badge, I decided not to drill through the face for fixing with screws but to attach solid brass pins to the rear of the badge for a concealed fixing. Once this was done, the badge was given a coat of clear lacquer.

At last I had my Shadows badge! But what about the other guitarists throughout the world who, like me, wanted a badge but could not locate one? In a conversation with Bruce Welch, he mentioned that he had been trying for 5 years to obtain one without success.

So I decided to produce more of The Shadows badges and make them available to Shads Fans throughout the world. I made two badges for Bruce Welch, one of which he proudly displays on the front of his amp. Both Phil Kelly and Alan Jones also have them fitted to their amps. These were first seen at Shadowmania 2002.