Paul Day has the strangest guitar collection in Britain. He likes to keep what most players would politely refer to as junk guitars, and now has nearly 400 distinctly unusual instruments in his collection.

Open a case here and there at random and you'll stumble upon weirdly shaped guitars with unknown or distantly familiar names on them, perhaps 10 or 20 years old, with curious collections of peculiar hardware bolted around sometimes four pickups, boasting finishes that would make your average Technicolour Dreamcoat look positively sedate, and which hail from the Far East, the US from all over Europe and elsewhere. But more of that later.

Paul's been amassing these guitars that no-one else wants for about nine years — not for him the racks of overpriced Gretsches or the stacks of subtle Fender Strat varieties that seem so to attract other more practical collectors.

Now, Paul Day is keen to make his guitars available for use in videos: a wild guitar must surely make the perfect pro for the age of visual pop? "You won't get a white Strat," Paul assures prospective hirers, "but if you want a visual surprise, if you want to be seen with a guitar that no-one else has got, then get in touch. You'll get noticed."

Contact Paul via the One Two editorial office if you're at all interested in tailing up your next video. In the meantime, we set our junk guitar expert the near impossible task of choosing just six of his guitars to demonstrate the sheer range of his unlikely collection. Deep breath, and here goes...

5 AELITA ERC650 three-pickup solid (c1979)

Bet you've never seen a Russian electric guitar before? You have now. This one cost 190 roubles (about £125 at the time) and was made at the Rostov-on-Don accordion factory, part of the State Industrial Co-Operative for Musical Instruments. Other models in the range included the romantically titled Ural Bass. So where did this one come from?

"A friend of mine, Skip Henderson, who runs City Lights music shop in Elizabeth, New Jersey, spotted it for sale in the Russian Shop in New York — brand new apart from the missing tremolo arm, which I've since replaced with an old Watkins arm.

"According to people who know about the Russian music scene, you have to play the guitar you're given — your instrument is supplied by the State. So for example I've been told of someone seeing a folk musician playing a Flying V."

Looking closely at the Aelita it's clear that much of the hardware is individually handmade — off-centre cogs, different shaped screws, and so on. The guitar also has a DIN connector for you to plug into (not MIDI, it transpires) and Paul managed to secure the wonderful Aelita by swapping it for a Vox 12-string. His conclusion? "It makes you smile." Indeed.

4 HARVEY THOMAS two-pickup acoustic-electric (c1963)

Ever seen green sunburst before? Here it is, on this very big semi-acoustic. How big, Paul? "Ginormous," he says. "A giant among biggies."

Harvey Thomas, it seems, is a guitar maker from Washington, US, who is taken to appearing in his catalogue dressed up as a gorilla. Of course, his guitars alone confirm the feeling that he may be a bit odd. Remember the Maltese Cross guitar that ageing Elvis fan Ian Hunter would lug around with ageing Bowie clones Mott? That was one of Harvey's, too.

This example of his work is built like a very safe tank, but actually sounds rather good. However, Paul has yet to find a case into which it will fit — even a Gibson J200 case came nowhere near covering the beast.

What else can you tell us about the strange Mr Thomas, Paul? "His workshop was next to the Spanish Castle ballroom in Washington, as made famous by Hendrix. That probably explains a lot. He tried to sell me the workshop once." That'll do nicely.

6 EASTWOOD "BLUE MOON" (1980)

Showaddywaddy, a pop group, wanted a suitable guitar to take on to Top Of The Pops while singing their avant-garde version of the old standard "Blue Moon". The result was this monstrosity, handi-crafted by Rochdale maker Brian Eastwood. Look — it even has its own little bootees hanging off two strap pegs on the lower body. Carefully aligned to bash the player in the balls.

Showaddywaddy were not, as you may suspect, totally stupid. They only "borrowed" the guitar from Eastwood — who after the TOTP appearance sold it to a local "entertainer", Tony King. After the thing had passed round a few music shops (with doubtless incredulous assistants), Paul managed to pick up this rare artefact for £120. The lovely Mr Eastwood then supplied a missing leg, resprayed the cloud, built a new eyebrow, and provided a new Harry Greenwood under-the-wood pickup. Thus was the guitar restored to its original condition.

Brian Eastwood, is, Paul suggests, an unsung hero of British guitar-making. And this guitar was ahead of its time. Why? Well, make the aheadless of its time, and you'll see why.

1 BURNS RED BISON (1964)

This, says Paul Day, is the supreme example of British guitar maker Jim Burns' long-running efforts. Jim it is who can lay claim to the title of First British Electric Guitar Maker, and, certainly in the 1960s, Most Famous British Electric Guitar Maker.

Not only is this Bison a great bit of guitar making — with what Paul describes as a "liquid, crystal clear sound", and Goldring pickups with individually wound polepiece coils, a wonderful neck, solid one-piece body, ebony fingerboard, and delightfully user-friendly wang bar — but it's also extremely rare in red. Most Bison were Black Bisons. Occasionally they were White, and the contemporary catalogue lists "tinted pastel shades".

This Red Bison came from Australia which, strangely, is where the few red ones that were made seem to have ended up. Paul was actually given this guitar by a collector friend. What's it worth now? "About £350, I suppose," he says, And then: "But that's not at London prices." Who could he be talking about?

2 FENDER "RHINESTONE" STRAT PROTOTYPE (1974)

The Peculiar looking body is made from what's called cold-cast bronze (actually rather like fibreglass), and the guitar is the only one of its type in existence. Why?

"Jon Douglas was a sculptor and a friend of the Fender distributor at the time," explains Paul. "He had a look at some Strats in the distributor's shop, and said very nice, but they're a bit samey aren't they? So he was given a Strat to sculpt a new body on to, replacing the neck and the hardware. This is what he came up with."

The distributor liked the result and ordered 12, of which six were completed — but unfortunately these were all destroyed in a fire in the distributor's shop. The prototype stayed in the workshop until various legal wranglings worked themselves out, but Paul managed to acquire the guitar in 1981 for £180.

The body itself makes the guitar rather heavy, and, as the name of the material concerned suggests, a little cold to the touch. Little bits of coloured glass (rhinestones?) twinkle here and there amidst the bronze. Had the guitar reached full production one can imagine a sizeable number of tasteless country musicians queuing for these Strats. As it is, Paul has a unique Strat, and one of the very few Fenders in his collection.

3 COBRA "THE ROOK" (1980)

This remarkably hideous instrument was made by John Birch and Barry Kirby for a bloke called Tony Robbins, boss of a shortlived case company, Rook Flightcases. The guitar was apparently a sales gimmick. No wonder the company failed.

Mr Robbins left the design up to Birch and Kirby, whose interpretation of "Rook" is two-fold: as chesspiece on the body, and as fluffy thing on the headstock. John Birch built up quite a reputation in the 1970s for building odd-shaped guitars: an arrow-through-the-heart design for Mud, the cross-shaped "Super Yob" for Dave Hill of Slade, a shamrock-shaped axe for Horslips, and a spear design for Roy Wood.

Paul bought the Rook in Bristol last February for £200 including a flightcase (naturally).

There was little competition for the sale — the guitar now resides safely in Paul's collection.

John Birch has disappeared. Barry Kirby is considering a comeback.

You have been warned.