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When Pete Scott arrived at the workshop with a friend who needed some repairs done, it turned out to be an unexpected and very pleasant reunion with my old friend John Phillipson, who I worked with once upon a time but who I hadn't seen in several years. John was very interested in my work and asked to try out a couple of demo instruments the following week. He really liked the Mistral and bought it on the spot. A few days later he sent me a text complaining about lack of sleep as he said he couldn't put it down. After several weeks and a similar number of conversations, John commissioned me to make a guitar specially for him - something he had always wanted - a pre 1930's vintage 000 in Cocobolo with German spruce top, with headstock and fingerboard inlay and including Martin 41 spec abalone body purfling. I really enjoyed making this one and John is very happy with it too."
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"Sorry about the lack of activity here but the last 3 months have been hectic as I've moved home and workshop in that time. However, its all settling down again and I have been busy with a Guitar-Bouzouki commissioned by Richard Ridley which is currently being finished. I'll be posting photos of this beast before the end of March. Meanwhile, repair work is keeping me busy and I've just done the Newcastle Guitar Show with some more shows to follow throughout the year. It was a good day at the Lancastrian suite and I met a great many guitar enthusiasts who were keen to try out the instruments I had on show. (Its that shirt again!)" |
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Before I moved my workshop to Newcastle, Richard Ridley commissioned me to make for him, a guitar-bodied bouzouki or "Guzouki". With 16 frets to the neck/body joint + the Venetian cutaway, the whole fingerboard is easily accessible which is precisely what Richard asked for. The nut width, fingerboard taper and neck profile were also made very much to Richard's exacting specifications though the overall shape, size and decoration were largely left to me. The result I think produced an attractive instrument of "jumbo" proportions with a very deep sound-box and a very big sound with which Richard is very happy. The inclusion of a Fishman Matrix Infinity transducer with through sound-hole controls, has given him the instrument he especially wanted for his band work |
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YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kat Eggleston is a wonderful
singer/songwriter/guitarist and all round entertainer who has been
described in US reviews as "A National Treasure". Her latest CD,
"Lost and Found" is recorded with with her playing partner the superb
fiddler/singer Kate MacLeod. Kat
is a lovely lady and a good friend and I am very proud to have been
asked to make this guitar for her. I know she will make it sing and
if you'd like to know more about Kat and her music then you must
look her up on Facebook. Meanwhile I wait with great anticipation
for her next recording using her new Mistral. |
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I have known and admired the talents of singer / songwriter / performer Pete Scott, for some 40 years now. Little wonder then, that I was both honoured and delighted to be asked to make him a guitar. Pete had used Wally Bell’s Mistral during his tour of the Pacific North-West in 2010 and had liked it so much that he was keen to have me make something similar. We talked a lot about body shapes and sizes and about different materials and in the end, Pete chose to have his guitar made with Brazilian Rosewood back and sides with a Bearclaw Sitka spruce top from stock which I’d imported from Alaska. Excellent taste. Brazilian is widely regarded as the producing some of the best guitars ever and with a spectacular top-wood that looks like its on fire, I’d no doubt that this could be something quite special. Pete was happy to take my advice on size, shape and body depth and so we agreed on this Typhoon OM. Knowing Pete’s guitar style and performance requirements, I also recommended that it be fitted with L R Baggs new, top of the range Anthem system of which so much had recently been written. Neither he nor I were disappointed in the end result but I prefer to let Pete tell you in his own words, what he thinks about that and his new guitar in general. ( The Anthem is the first truly mic-centric amplification system which utilises a state- of- the- art microphone located directly under the saddle, along with an under-saddle transducer, the latter being employed only to boost the lower frequencies. The sound is quite staggering and as close to a pure acoustic sound at volume without feedback, that I’ve ever heard.) Granted they are not cheap but true quality seldom is.)
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A couple of years
ago I did some gigs in the U.S in and around Seattle. The guy who
organised everything for me, told me not to risk my Taylor on the
plane as he had a guitar I could borrow. |
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My work was well received I'm happy to say and because the event was covered by the press, I was fortunate enough to be the only luthier who's work was featured on the front page of the Seattle Times. A cittern owned by Wally, was being played at the time by my good friend Steve Amsden who was helping me out and demonstrating on my stand that day. One of the other main reasons for making the trip was to deliver Steve's Mistral model which he'd ordered on a recent visit to the north-east of England. In fact this guitar was the original proto-type Mistral which was favourably reviewed in Guitarist magazine back in 1996 and which I'd used as one of my performance guitars since then. It was in need of major repair but Steve liked it so much that I was persuaded to replace the neck and fingerboard and re-finished the instrument for him. It turned out really well but it was always a fine-sounding guitar and still is, only now, it looks brand new and plays better than ever. This is Steve Amsden with his new toy, on his back porch on Maury Island |
Me with my "babies" - sorry about
the shirt! |
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Wally Bell playing his C model carved archtop
guitar
for |
Good arch top bridges are hard to come by and I bought several. The best came from Highly Strung International in Wantage, Oxon but this ebony bridge was an "all wood" construction. The original C models all had bone saddles and so I modified this bridge after fitting the lower half to the curvature of the top, by making a new, upper adjustable portion complete with removable bone saddle. I set the guitar up so that the saddle portions are inter-changeable and while the all-ebony bridge produces a nice sound, it is muted by comparison with the bone saddle which produces by far the loudest, brightest, warmest and most colourful tone, to say nothing of separation and sustain. This experiment allows me to conclude that the originals were built that way for very good reason.
The ebony fingerboard inlays are a classic Martin "snowflake" design in green abalone as determined by the drawings used to build this guitar. I obtained them from Mike Reid at "Small Wonder" in East Sussex who also handcut the pearl logo.
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I was obviously delighted when Barrie Temple approached me and asked if I’d make him another guitar. One does not turn down such requests. Barrie was his usual, well organised self and had done his homework in advance. He had researched various makers and models and come up with a James Goodall Grand Concert Cutaway model that he particularly liked along with actual body dimensions and colour photographs. It was the shape and position of the cutaway that he especially liked but my brief was not to slavishly produce an exact copy but to use the information to produce an impression, using my own ideas, knowledge and design skills. This is the kind of challenge that I love and so I produced a template for Barrie’s approval and we got a first time agreement on the basic body shape. We were very quickly able to agree on the basic materials and other design features, scale length, decoration, type of transducer system etc and so I proceeded to make the mould and get it started. Barrie had selected for himself, a nice Indian Rosewood set and Western Red Cedar top from my stock of various tonewoods. I also agreed to provide him with a step-by-step, digital photographic record of his guitar in progress, something I’m happy to do for all those clients who wish to have the history of their instruments construction, recorded for posterity. I decided not to post these photos on the website as I’d done a similar exercise with Mike Slaughter’s J50 guitar but here is the new “TEMPEST” model, in the white, just prior to it going to Dave Wilson for finishing. Its great to produce an instrument in collaboration with a friend and client in this way.
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A custom copy of Gibson’s J50 steel string guitar. It is in fact the blond headed version of the iconic J45 which first made an appearance in the 1940’s and is still in production today. A dark sunburst finish was used on the J45 at a time when good materials were scarce and the sunburst was used to hide flaws in the wood but the blonde J50 signalled the use of better grade materials. This guitar was commissioned by local guitar maniac, Mike Slaughter. Mike’s a great performer who knows a thing or two about guitars and he also knows what he likes so after some deliberation, he asked me to make him this guitar as the twin to his J45 which he loves so much and to which I recently fitted a Fishman Matrix Infinity under-saddle transducer system. The J50 has the same system installed.
"Absolutely flawless build quality. Thoughtful,
beautiful materials, outstanding volume, tone, clarity and
projection. |
"Terry has shown again why he is a luthier to be
reckoned with. His latest J50 acoustic guitar is all that a great
acoustic should be. His many years of experience coupled with his
choice of the best woods has resulted in an exquisite guitar which
anyone would be proud to own and play. |
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Originally
designed for Percy Gough of Feltham as a 12 string, the six string
guitars from the same mould turned out to be “monsters”. This is a
big instrument, 52 cm long and 41 cm across the lower bouts with a
full tail depth of 11.5 cm, all of which means a big volume of air
in the box and a big, full volume sound. The bass is strong without
overpowering the treble and takes bottom C for those open tunings,
easily. I used one of these in Brazilian Rosewood and Sitka Spruce
for chord work when working with the Great Northern Roadshow while
Ian Stephenson, a great player, of the Kathryn Tickell Band uses one
of Indian Rosewood and European Spruce with a top of the range L R
Bagg system installed. I currently use one built of Brazilian
Mahogany and Western Red Cedar as featured here alongside Ian’s
guitar. The different materials all lend their distinctive
characteristics to the individual personalities of each guitar but
they each have in common the same well balanced and powerfully
projected sound. |
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"Monsoon" Richard Johnson's guitar was made to his specifications and has a Fishman Pre-fix Plus transducer/microphone combination with on-board E.Q., mounted to the upper bout, for stage work. A large bodied guitar with deep Venetian cutaway for extra access to the high end of the fingerboard, it is made from Indian rosewood and German silver spruce, with Brazilian mahogany neck, adjustable truss rod, ebony fingerboard and bridge. Like many of my instruments it is decorated with that classic black/white herringbone purfling to the top perimeter and sound-hole. Bound in rosewood with fine holly strip purfling which is mitred where it all joins up at the tail and heel of the instrument, this divides the back and sides into 4 distinct panels and is the standard mode of decoration developed by the 19th Century Spanish classical and flamenco guitar makers and which I tend to use extensively to decorate my instruments. This guitar also has a bound headstock using fine veneers of wood but as with the slotted variety, bound headstocks (and fingerboards) are not standard features on my instruments and like the Fishman system installed, are extras to be costed separately.
Richard takes
great care of his instruments and this one is almost as pristine as
the day it was made some 10/11 years ago which is one of the reasons
why I asked him to send me these photo’s for which I am most
grateful. Thanks Richy. |
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Without doubt, my most successful instrument and I’ve built more of these than any other model. I still have the prototype which received an excellent review in “Guitarist” magazine in 1995, and I’ve used it consistently for solo work and in the “Roadshow” for the finger-picked accompaniments to Tom’s vocals. The instrument featured here, I made for Wally Bell in 1996 which, along with the same model made for Ken Tonge of the Davy Lamp Folk Club resident band in the same year, are two of the finest guitars I’ve ever produced. Like the prototype, they are each made of Indian Rosewood and German Silver Spruce, the latter having a purity of tone like no other top wood and with light, scalloped bracing, they ring like a bell. Whenever I visit Wally on Vashon Island, just off Seattle, I never bother lugging a guitar all that distance because I know I can enjoy his when I get there and which incidentally, has yet to require any set-up maintenance or truss-rod adjustment and which has undoubtedly got even better with age. These guitars produce a sweetness of tone with a lot of sustain that make them perfect for the open tuned finger-style song accompaniment or melody playing of English and Celtic traditional folk music. The best of these are the ones with the slightly deeper sound-boxes which I would always therefore recommend.
"Listen every
discerning guitarist. My Mistral is now nearly |
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"I very recently built this Mistral model for my son Michael's 21st birthday. I gave him a free choice but he went for the Mistral because he loves my old one so much, though he still hasn't given it back! The back and sides are of Cocobolo, purchased from Stefan Sobell's 10 year old stock (it's actually a four piece back) but the top is a 12 year old German spruce set which was given to Michael when he was eight, by Manfred Gleissner, in 1997 when we visited him in Bubenreuth to buy materials. It came from Herr Gleissners very best stock and you can see the beautiful "bearclaw" figure in the grain. I've often been tempted to use it but I'm very glad I kept it for this special purpose. It has a Brazlian mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard and bridge and I'm quite sure, given the way it came to life when first set up, that it will develop into one of my best. Its certainly going to get a lot of playing"."I'm currently working on a flat-back mandolin, using the same method of construction that I demonstrated in the building of a carved-arch cittern which you can read up on here. This mandolin will differ in one respect in that the European spruce top will be of "bent-arch" construction with the top gently arched over curved braces that have been shaped to a 15 foot radius. The back and sides will be of American black walnut. Look out for the photos coming soon." |
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" "The Doctor"
I named this
after the famous wind that makes living bearable in the intense heat
of the Fremantle region of Western Australia, and because I
co-incidentally built the proto-type to the specifications of local
GP and “ragtime and blues-head”, Doctor John Campbell (that's
him on the right on a recent visit to my home. It was good to see
both John and the guitar after several years and I was pleased to
see that both of them are bearing up extremely well)
That fine singer, Mal Waite of Chester, also plays one of these and as she is definitely not a member of the medical profession, the purchase of one of these little beauties is officially open to anyone, regardless of their day job, if they have one. These guitars are really “punchy” and with a level of volume disproportionate to their relatively small sound-boxes. The “12 fret-to-the-body” version has the same characteristics and they are each, aesthetically pleasing instruments to the eye with the 12 fretter having very much the same pleasing proportions that I think all 12 fret guitars possess with the waist, sound-hole and bridge positioned further down the diaphragm toward the tail of the instrument. They are meant to be very much in the mode of those classic, smaller bodied parlour guitars which C.F. Martin & Co. pioneered but they are specifically of OO dimensions. I have not as yet, ever made a guitar smaller than “The Doctor”. The true purists can have slotted headstocks and/or pyramid-type bridges if they so desire and these are available at a modest extra charge. |
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"Les Paul Style"
Some years ago, my son Michael
decided he wanted to build an electric guitar but at 12 years of
age, he did require rather a lot of help. It is the only solid
electric guitar I've ever built and I enjoyed it in a way I never
thought I would. With any new project, information is power and good
planning is essential which is why it is built to the "Rod Cleasby"
drawings of the the Gibson Les Paul to ensure exact proportions and
measurements as well as construction technique, which first of all
requires the making of several jigs and templates before you can
begin in earnest. I would therefore recommend to any aspiring
"solid" builder, that they read, think and learn as much as possible
before embarking on a new project. By doing so you'll avoid the
mistakes and pitfalls which derive from ignorance and the end
product will be all the better for it and while I have no plans to
build others, one should never say "never". I've only included here
because it's part of a wider "portfolio" of work and in it's way,
its every bit as important as any instrument I've ever made and
unique in the sense of who it was made for, as a gift. |
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Bespoke Instruments
This copy of a pre-1930's Martin
000 was made for John Yeaman of Beverley, to his specifications. The
last of the great "12 fretters" before 14 fret neck/body joints
became the norm, they've gone a bit out of fashion but they are a
purists box and are absolute classics. I love them because they are
as close to perfection as the steel string ever gets, aesthetically.
Beautifully proportioned because the 12 fret joint naturally pushes
everything lower on the diaphragm, including the waist and soundhole
and so they very much echo the classical guitar, this one even more
so because I built it to the Spanish "slipper heel" mode of
construction in an "open" mould, with the neck and heel block as one
unit and the sides slotted into it. It is also made of very old
Brazilian Rosewood from a "scantling" set which means narrower
pieces and 3, 4 or even 5 piece backs. This one has 3. The top was a
beautiful AAA grade piece of European spruce with that much
sought-after "bearclaw" figure in the grain and the whole thing set
off with an abalone rosette which I made myself. The slotted and
bound headstock with individual gold Schallers, finishes off the
piece and it remains an instrument that I'm very proud to have made. |
"I would go to Terry Docherty. He made me a
Brazilian (rosewood) 000 |
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In the 1960's and 70's you hardly saw a guitar that wasn't a
Dreadnought of one make or another - though very few of them were
the genuine Martin variety. While in Atlanta, Georgia in 1973, I was
lucky enough to get hold of a late 60's D35 and for 15 years it was
my pride and joy - but fashions come and go and the big, boxy, bassy
Dreadnoughts were gradually superceded by smaller, more curvaceous
and often better balanced instruments. But what goes around usually
comes around sooner or later so I'm adding a Dreadnought to my range
of instruments. |
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