Welcome to Fylde Guitars Newsletter

Archie Fisher's Falstaff for sale.
Archie Fisher and Barbara Dickson
John Smith. Trick of the (Australian) Light
Signature Octave Mandola for Sale
David Buckingham's Guitar for sale
David Buckingham. Room 335
Will McNicol
Toby Hay
Toby Hay. The Summer the Sky Cried for Rain
Bill Bailey. Extraordinary Portraits
Sam Fender
Irish Bouzouki. Two Reels by Cara

A Taster for Next Month. Ben Walker, a Pool match, and Heather Cartwright
Custom Guitars 5: Ariel & Others
Jon Wilks, Blues Run the Game
Bireli and Sylvain Luc
Maz O’Connor
Elliott Morris. Waves in Ireland and Scotland
Deirdre Galway and Realta
Gareth Evans. Vienna
Chris Cleverley. Heraklion
Five years of the Nature of Music: people and perspectives
Vin Garbutt in Tasmania 1994

Archie Fisher's Falstaff for sale.

A lot of Fylde guitars have "lived the life" with their hard working professional owners. This one certainly has. We made it for Archie in 2006, and it's been with him ever since. It's been across the Atlantic any number of times and is still in splendid playing condition.

Archie has only ever played a very gentle fingerstyle. If you examine the soundboard of this guitar, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it hasn't been played much, there are so few signs of use. There is one lacquer crack near the base which must have its own story.

The frets are hardly marked. The neck is straight, with a good action.

What a shame we can't see the music that must have soaked into this instrument, it sounds wonderful, just like Archie's voice - dark, mellow, velvety.

You can hear it in the video of Archie with Barbara Dickson below.

The back of the guitar is where the history shows but doesn't show in the photographs. There is nothing that I would call "damage", just 20 years of history - scuffs, buckle rash, tiny marks. I'm sure we could remove a lot of them. But is that the right thing to do? Would that remove the history?

It doesn’t "need" any work at all, but I'd be happy to discuss all the options we might have, so if you are interested, do ask.

Archie isn't playing professionally now, and has fallen back to his previous guitar, a rather well-worn Orsino.

He helped me in so many ways forty and fifty years ago and I'd like to think I can find the right, appreciative home for this guitar.

So here we are - an iconic instrument, it is for sale at £4,500 including the Headway Pickup

Click on an image to enlarge ...

Archie Fisher and Barbara Dickson

These two have been friends for ever, Archie perhaps being the first to spot Barbara before she became a megastar. Archie's gentle approach to his guitar playing is very clear. If you are a gentle player, this is the guitar for you.

John Smith. Trick of the (Australian) Light

John has just returned from another triumphant tour of Australia. I always know when John is touring because I get a lot of extra enquiries.

He is very brave playing his guitar outside in such weather, but he is at least keeping it in the shade. I refrained from making comments about corks on his hat though. Until now anyway.

None of the passers-by seem to be taking any notice - maybe in a few years’ time somebody will point out to them that they were once within touching distance of John Smith

John's Website

Signature Octave Mandola for Sale

Yes, I know, some people like to call these Octave Mandolins. The discussion has gone back and forth for nearly fifty years and will no doubt continue.

We made this for a customer who then realised that he should have ordered something with a narrower neck, so we are making him something else, and this one is for sale.

No waiting list!

Complete with hard case for sale at £3,490. SOLD

All the specifications are here.

Click on an image to enlarge ...

David Buckingham's Guitar for sale

David had a little accident with his guitar and asked us to fix it and sell it for him. We wouldn’t normally get involved, but he's a good friend, and he plays mandolin with Cirque De Soleil, so he might be able to get us some tickets. David?

Also, he's planning to put the proceeds towards a new (Fylde) instrument so I could hardly say no.

The guitar is a Camps Primera Negra A Flamenco Guitar, fitted with new Gotoh tuners and a Baggs Anthem SL pickup, total value about £2400

David had it set up rather more as a Classical guitar than a traditional Flamenco, and we have removed the Golpe plates.

The damage was minor, a 3 inch crack to the soundboard and some ugly but unimportant damage to the binding

The repair is 100% mechanically (and tonally) but isn't invisible. Hopefully you can see it clearly on the photographs. By all means ask me about it.

I think a fair price would be £1250.

Click on an image to enlarge ...

David Buckingham. Room 335

This isn't the guitar that is for sale, but it is David playing his contribution to the "Strings that Nimble Leap " album, using his Fylde Flamenco guitar.

Will McNicol

This from Will:

"Well, I've been working a lot with the nylon string recently and I can't wait to share the pieces with you. Properly putting it (and me!) through its paces, and sounding sublime. Not all done yet, but hopefully by your next newsletter!

In the meantime, at time of writing there are only 4 places remaining at the workshop I have in Ripon": Link here

Toby Hay

Toby came to visit this week to have the pickups in his guitars updated. His custom Ariel in this photograph is the one that inspired David Gray to get in touch for his own Curlew Inlay.

When we met Toby and used one of his tunes for the Charity Album "Strings that Nimble Leap", his playing was exclusively on 12-string. Since that time, Toby has finished an album of 6 string guitar, due to be released soon, and of course I will be reporting on that.

Toby's Website

Toby Hay. The Summer the Sky Cried for Rain

and here we have the very tune that Toby recorded for the Charity Album. (Link to Strings That Nimble Leap)

Toby is playing his first Fylde, with another inlaid bird, this time my version of a Red Kite. It's not Red, it's Pearl

Bill Bailey. Extraordinary Portraits

We met up with Bill a few years ago, before he won Strictly Come Dancing, and we really enjoy watching anything new that he gets involved in. In the "Extraordinary Portraits" series he picks subjects that can be quite emotional, but he lightens up each episode with a few notes on one of his collection of instruments. This time, it was his Fylde Mandola--"A nice rich tone, feels more like a solo instrument"

We love this series; Bill is always a delight and both Moira and myself enjoy art in various forms “we know what we like”.

We don't particularly like the photograph of us but Bill was being "director" that evening, so it's his fault. Alex looks like the only one who isn't on some illegal substance. Or the only one that is!

Sam Fender

The latest mandolin is winging its way to Sam. This one will be for him to play at home, it's his third mandolin from us, two others are purely for stage use, and he has an order for something else in progress as well. Watch this space.

Our children and grandchildren are very impressed.

Irish Bouzouki. Two Reels by Cara

Tijn never disappoints. To me, this looks like one of those strange co-ordination tests, patting your head and rubbing your tummy. Oh, and tapping your feet and running out of breath.

And fitting a capo part way through without stopping! That probably wouldn't have worked if the bouzouki was in Octave tuning.

A Taster for Next Month. Ben Walker, a Pool match, and Heather Cartwright

Sam English has been at it again, this time with a fifty-minute video of me talking to Ben about his guitars, and his next guitar, plus some gratuitous footage of us both playing Pool at the best pub in the world. Guess who won?

Then to satisfy the Music taste buds, he made a few recordings of Ben playing, then Heather playing and singing.

I need to dedicate quite a bit of space to everything that took place on that day, so its having to wait until the next newsletter, sorry. It will be worth it though.

Sam's Website

Ben's Website

Heather's Website

The Old Crown, Hesket Newmarket or their Facebook Page

Custom Guitars 5: Ariel & Others

Continuing with the same theme, a new Gallery every month, this time it's the turn of the Ariel and variations thereof.

We are currently making five different variations of the Ariel for customers in four different Continents. The small size and lower soundhole position help me find pieces of wood that would not suit a different guitar, so it's so much easier to use unusual timbers.

I don't think we will ever exhaust all the possibilities. Each one sounds a little different and tells its own story.

Link to gallery

Jon Wilks, Blues Run the Game

I'm sure I can hear Martin Simpson in at least one of those ten fingers. There's a reason for that - Jon acquired his lovely Gwendolyn Falstaff via a recommendation from Martin.
Martin is due here this weekend to discuss a few guitar related things. It's always worthwhile and massive fun.

Jon has a new Album in progress,

The songs for my new album came together almost without me realising—sunny, melodic, and full of stories about love, memory, and the strange passing of time. Influenced by the music I’ve been soaking up lately, it’s the most joyful thing I’ve made in years. The songwriting is done—now I just need your help to finish recording and bring it into the world.

You can visit the project and read all about it here.

Biréli and Sylvain Luc

More from the master

Biréli's website

Maz O'Connor

Maz has been offline for a while, raising a family, but has big plans for next year.

I am relaunching my music this year which is exciting. I’ll be recording two albums both for release in 2026 when I’ll start touring again as well. I will keep you posted. Guitars are beautiful of course. The nylon string is perfect and shall be the main feature of both of these 2 new albums!

Maz's Website

Elliott Morris. Waves in Ireland and Scotland

Elliott says "Tonnau" means "Waves" in Welsh. He recorded this is Scotland though, so he explains that the Gaelic version is "Tonnan"

He is planning a half marathon in aid of Live Music Now, with a JustGiving link is here.

He has a lot going on, and a new Album with Kyntra.

Elliotts website

Deirdre Galway and Realta

Deirdre sent me this picture, and I thought I'd include a splendid video

Enjoying a 3-week St. Patrick’s Day tour with Réalta in Germany and thought I’d share this pic of me and my Falstaff in this beautiful theatre. I’ve had the guitar just over 13 years now - it just keeps sounding better and better and is always a pleasure to play.

Deirdre's Website

Gareth Evans. Vienna

Gareth never stops. I don't think he will ever run out of tunes to teach us
Gareth's Website

Chris Cleverley. Heraklion

Chris has had this guitar for quite a while, and he's obviously learnt how to get a lovely sound from it
Chris' Website

Five years of the Nature of Music: people and perspectives

I received an email today from Richard Hobbs in Australia, telling me his website had reached the grand old age of five years.

It’s well worth a look, Richard has researched far and wide into timbers and guitar makers, doing his best to negotiate all the opinions and characters involved, with a concentration on the ecology implications of what we do. He travelled here in 2019 to collect his Single Malt Ariel, which is pictured in the story, and there are others who you will recognise.

His website include articles about Ivory, plastic straws, and the Sycamore Gap tree. Fascinating, well written and well worth a good look.

Well done Richard, keep it up.

The Nature of Music Website

Vin Garbutt in Tasmania 1994

Seeing this video from thirty years ago brings back so many memories. It's rather long, so I've put at the end of the newsletter as a reward for making it this far

Tony Rees uploaded this from a concert at the Wheatsheaf Hotel, Hobart, organised by the Folk Federation of Tasmania (introduction by Dave Joyce). This is a direct copy from the original master tape which is on Beta Hi-Fi (audio and video from a standalone tripod mounted camera). Uploaded for your listening and viewing pleasure with permission from Pat Garbutt, January 2025.