A shot in the dark

LET THERE BE ROCK: Gisborne man Shaun Kingi is rapt to have won AC/DC guitarist Angus Young's signed Gibson SG 6, which was delivered to him by the Rock radio's Roger Farrelly.

A cherry-red Gibson SG 6 with a double-cutaway, curvaceous, bodacious, chamfered mahogany body and signed by AC/DC's duck-walking Angus Young now belongs to Gisborne man Shaun Kingi.

Kingi won the Australian hard rocker's weapon of choice in a competition run by The Rock radio station.

“AC/DC had just released a new album, Power Up. If you heard the single Shot in the Dark you phoned in and were put in the draw. You could also enter by buying the album.”

Kingi's was one of about 60,000 entries.

After entering the competition Kingi put it out of his mind.

His Pit Stop workmates had other ideas.

“One of the boys was saying ‘it's your guitar'. I said ‘thanks for your positivity but stop saying that, I don't want to jinx it'.”

When the radio station called Kingi to say they were testing all entrants' phones, the Gisborne man thought no more of it.

Then Rock Drive show hosts Jay and Dunc phoned him back to announce live-on-air he had won Young's electric guitar.

“When they announced I was the winner I lost it. I was shocked, I was ecstatic, I couldn't believe it. My workmates jumped up and down and said ‘we told you, bro'.”

Along with Young's signature, the guitar comes with documentation that confirms its authenticity.

In Gisborne for Christmas with family, the Rock's Roger Farrelly personally delivered the AC/DC guitar to a rapt Kingi at work.

“I've had guitars in the past,” says Kingi.

“It's been a passion and now I'm inspired to get back into it. If I'm going to play I want to be decent.”