The Guitar Guru offers a unique and invaluable service via Making Music. The handsome, tanned Guru will identify any electric guitar you happen to be unsure about. He is the most knowledgable person on electric guitars in the vast and entire cosmos. He is exceptionally modest, too. No, really.

Consult the Guitar Guru, and you are assured of a reply. Only the best and most interesting queries will be published, but everyone who writes in will receive details of their guitar's identity on a specially-printed form.

But there are a couple of things you must do if you wish to avail of the all-knowing Guru's service. You MUST supply as good and detailed a description of your guitar as possible (electrics only — no amps and no acoustics). If at all possible, send a photograph of the guitar in question. Failing that, a good sketch can be useful. Failing even that, make sure your description covers all the bits and pieces you can see.

And what you ABSOLUTELY MUST include to be sure of an answer is a STAMPED ADDRESSED ENVELOPE. No SAE, no reply, we're afraid. Tough, no? You should write to: GUITAR GURU, Making Music, (Contact Details). It is an indescribably whizzo scheme, is it not?

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Not surprisingly, there was very little new stuff at this year's BMF to wet your Guru's somewhat jaded palate: the Superwhammy Strat clone still reigns supreme (Superyawn, more like). However, what was great was the opportunity to meet so many of you who came along to tax my brain cells, including a surprising number of lefties.

Congrats, too, for the gent who braved security to bring an Actual Guitar for me to see, and I only hope he made his exit as easily. Some of the instruments, that came under scrutiny aroused a degree of envy, I must admit, not least the blue-glitter Hagstrom that one visitor had acquired at a car boot sale for a measly £20. Some folks have all the luck — all I ever find is old car boots.

Anyway, it was so good to see you in't flesh, and we really must do it again some time. But now, back to the groaning guru mailsack.

First, Mark Davies of Aston, W Midlands, tells me he's buying a 1979 Fender 'limited edition' Anniversary Strat. "Could you give me some information before I buy," he asks, "especially the number made?"

The Anniversary Strat was a limited edition in name only, as around 10,000 were produced during 1979 and '80, with availability extending into early '81. The first batch of about 500 was in a special white finish, but this suffered cracking problems and was quickly replaced with the advertised silver.

The Anniversary Strat was considered by many to be a token gesture from Fender to celebrate the Strat's 25 years; they had hoped for an authentic re-issue of the original design, but that was to come later. The Anniversary sported a commemorative neckplate, high quality Sperzel machines, that special paint job, and of course the 'certificate of authenticity'; no home was complete without one if you believed the attendant publicity.

The real collector's items are the original white versions, if in good shape (rarely), but the silver one is climbing rapidly in value along with all other USA Fender instruments, currently fetching around £500, and I'm sure this price will go still higher over the next few years. So it is a good investment, Mark. Some do play reasonably well, too, although most are extraordinarily heavy.

Next to D W E Sbilts, of Stockport, Cheshire, who has a strange unidentified guitar which he bought years ago when he was told it was a Selmer. "It's got a very sad 'Dan Dare' tremolo, is made of very heavy wood with some unusual thick plastic covering it, all glitter and varnish," writes Mr Sbilts. "The nut is made of nylon, and it's got six pushbutton pickup selectors. I suspect it might be Italian, dating back to when they realised guitars would sell better than accordions, hence the bizarre finish."

Well, your guitar is a model from the Italian Crucianelli concern, and these instruments appeared under a variety of brandnames in different countries: Ardsley and Tonemaster in America; Canora in Australia; Elite in the UK. They came in a variety of sparkle and pearl-plastic finishes thanks, as you guess, to Crucianelli's prime business in accordion manufacture; they turned to guitars in the 1960s boom time as did so many other Italian makers.

I would date yours as an early example, say 1962, which would have sold back then for around £50. Its current value has to be about the same as apart from me not too many people go for such odd ugly ducklings.

David Millward from Maryport, Cumbria writes: "I have a red and black 'Dallas London' solid body, two-pickup guitar, serial 1884. Any info?"

This Dallas was designated the 4440 Solid Special, and was actually built by the UK Fenton-Weill company who produced a number of models for various distributors. Strong Burns influences are apparent and the guitars were made around 1961, not long after the split between guitar makers Jim Burns and Henry Weill. The red position dots are in fact sections cut from knitting needles.

These Dallas oldies are pretty rare now, but are not particularly sought after except by the likes of yours truly. Original price was £33, and current value isn't really much more — say £45.

Andrew Bretell-Marks, from Solihull, W Midlands says, "I recently acquired for a reasonable £275 a Rickenbacker 4001 bass, serial number 2541 with TF printed near the sockets. It has everything it was born with — no dubious customising jobs here, matey."

Rickenbacker is currently undergoing yet another resurgence of popularity, especially over in America, but most of the attention is being centred on the various six-strings. The heyday of the 4001 bass was in the early 1970s courtesy of players like Chris Squire of Yes, followed by a later burst of fashion-led demand in the later 1970s after exposure in the hands of the Jam's Bruce Foxton. Nowadays, Ricky basses do tend to languish somewhat on the secondhand market as the sounds they produce are not too trendy (whatever that happens to be this week). The TF part of the serial number indicates Mr Marks' is a 1980 model, and £275 is about right for a good condition all-original example.

"I own a Shergold Marathon bass bought secondhand for £45," writes Andrew Bartie of London SE9. "Serial number is 6702. Any background, and can you tell me how much moozola it's worth?"

Your Shergold bass is a UK-made instrument, and this brand has a pedigree that stretches back to the 1960s era of Burns guitar. Jack Golder worked for Jim Burns as an essential right hand man, later working for Baldwin and subsequently forming his own woodworking concern, producing bodies and necks for Hayman, Ned Callan, and numerous other British brands.

With the able help of Norman Houlder, Jack's own Shergold instruments became the British mass-produced guitars during the 1970s, rightly renowned for their consistency and playability, if not styling. Quantity production ceased in the early 1980s; Jack now concentrates on building custom models, as well as a good deal of quality repair work. Thanks to him and his company records, I'm able to date your bass exactly: it was produced on 1st September 1979. Original retail would have been around £230, and current value is about half that for this good workhorse bass — so you bought well.

Which leads nicely into Alan Kilpatrick of Milton, Strathclyde, and his simple request. "Can you find out when my Shergold Masquerader, serial 9558, was made?" Well, courtesy once again of the ever-helpful Jack Golder, I can pinpoint the production date of your guitar as 12th December 1979. Would that other manufacturers were as cooperative and kept such accurate records. My job would be so much easier — or perhaps I'd find myself redundant?

To finish, enquiries are still arriving without SAEs so I cannot reply. Write again if you forgot. Thanks.