Welcome to Fylde Guitars Newsletter

Second Hand Custom Bouzouki for Sale
Martin Simpson and Chris Packham "Folk On Foot"
New Guitar for Martin Simpson
Fair Liberty's Call. Billy Broke Locks
Chris Foster and Bara Grimsdottir.
Second Hand 1978 Oberon For Sale
New Price list
Dave Holmes. Bourrée 1 from Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major by J.S. Bach
Dave Holmes' Two "new" guitars
Gordon Giltrap, Troy Donockley, and THAT guitar

Roy Harper at Glastonbury: Girl from the North Country
Roy Harper Final Tour Part Two
Nick Harper's New Album
Jack Haigh: Never Going Back Again
Gareth Evans: Perfect
Chris While and Julie Matthews on BBC
Findlay Napier. Joanne
Galleries no 9: Unique Instruments
Sam Fender, Martin Barre and a Bouzouki
Martin Barre: Classic Blind Mandolin Solo
Fairport Convention

Second Hand Custom Bouzouki for Sale

Made in 2016 and in excellent condition, just a few tiny marks that we will tidy up before we ship it out.

It's a slight variation on our long scale Arch Top, the soundboard being Cedar rather than Spruce, and the inlaid lines are blue rather than the marquetry we usually use. Even the neck has a thin blue line running the full length.

The long scale bouzouki always has a warm deep sound, and the Cedar softens that a little more. I'd expect this to wrap the player like a warm duvet. Perhaps I should start describing tone in terms of "tog" rating?? The long strings do give it plenty of power as well.

Its unison strung that being the most practical for a long scale to help avoid intonation issues.

It's for sale at £3,500, including case.

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Martin Simpson and Chris Packham "Folk On Foot"

“The music is transcendent, the sense of place is transporting and if you need escape...it’s a restorative breathing space in sound.”
The Telegraph

I've been keeping this under wraps for quite a while and aching to see the video. There are some lovely shots of Martin's Fylde Orleans guitar, and it does sound rather nice.

"Where does Chris Packham want his ashes scattered after he dies? Find out as he takes Martin Simpson and host Matthew Bannister for an enlightening walk in sun-dappled woodland near his home in the New Forest. He points out a goshawk on her nest and other glorious flora and fauna and is delighted when Martin sings his songs “Ken Small” and “Skydancers”. The most emotional moment comes when Martin sings “Ridgeway” under the special tree where Chris wants his ashes scattered (along with those of his dogs Itchy and Scratchy). Listen for beautiful music and spellbinding stories of nature, history and the indomitable human spirit."

The whole episode is rather splendid, its over an hour long, and you can listen to it via the Folk On Foot Website

New Guitar For Martin Simpson

Martin and I usually have a guitar project on the go, sometimes for one of his musical friends, or this time for himself.

It's a bringing together of several ideas that we've tested out over the last eight years or so.

Dreadnought guitars can be rather uncomfortable and parlour guitars don't cover the tonal range he needs. Most of Martin's guitars, and he has A LOT, fall rather in between. The shape of the Falstaff suits Martins playing very well, as you can see in the Chris Packham video where he is using one of his Orleans models. Having a shallow body is an important feature, Martin needs a sound that is clear and defined, without the coat of dark paint over each note that can come from a deeper body.

You might not notice straight away, but the neck join on this new guitar is at the 13th fret, rather than the more usual 12th or 14th. This is an idea we tried on the guitar we made for Louis Campbell. There are very good reasons for choosing either 12 or 14, so it made complete sense, to us anyway, to have this one at 13. Time will tell.

Martin's choice of timber was African Blackwood, and Adirondack Spruce. It's a well proven combination and I have a lot of Blackwood, so we processed several sets to choose the blackest, densest material. The Spruce came from a specialist supplier in America who helped me choose the best material without worrying about it winning every beauty contest.

The bracing is also Adirondack Spruce and positioned rather "looser" than in most Fyldes, and I've shaped it high, hollowed out on the sides to reduce the mass. Paul took over on this when the pesky phone rang or when I needed a little lie down.

Despite having very wide necks on nearly all his custom guitars, this one is different. Martin has acquired a Vintage TJ Thompson Martin and discovered that he loves the old neck shape on that guitar, so he left it with me over a weekend while I took measurements and made templates.

We made the neck from an ancient Honduras Mahogany Snooker table leg. The laminations are Mahogany, with Ebony and red lines. Being an unusual shape, Alex and I had to be very careful not to spoil the little differences while it passes back and forth between us

Of course, we used Snakewood for the bindings and head veneer, nothing beats Snakewood for pure luxury.

Then one more difference. We finished this guitar with Nitrocellulose lacquer. My decision, I didn't ask Martin. It's been the standard for American guitars for a hundred years or more but isn't used much in the UK because our climate doesn’t suit it. So far I’m very pleased and it feels lovely. Time will tell.

Its rather lovely, Martin hasn't seen it yet. I'm nervous.

Martin's Website

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Fair Liberty's Call. Billy Broke Locks

I love this part of my job!! What a delight to find this track, and it has reminded me that we made a baroque guitar many years ago, I wonder where it is?

Lindsay of course is an old (young) friend who seems to be able to fit her Bouzouki into several centuries and at least two continents

Lindsay's Website

Chris Foster and Bara Grimsdottir.

Chris bought his Oberon guitar in 1975, and this week brought it to us for its second refret.

He used it to record a lovely version of " Geordie" on the Fylde Acoustic album in 1977.

He has been living in Iceland for many of the intervening years, he and Bara are currently on a short tour in England, and I thought this would be a nice opportunity to show him playing his other Fylde, a Single Malt Ariel.

Chris' Website

Second Hand 1978 Oberon For Sale

This is nice. We have reset the neck and refetted it to give it a whole new lease of life. Of course, it's one of the original "fixed neck" models with a hefty aluminium extrusion running through the neck, which has the characteristic chunky slightly V shape from that era. Not to everybody’s taste but there are a lot of players out there who love them.

It has a fair number of small scratches on the soundboard, there's no point in trying to remove them, it's in overall good condition and deserves a good home.

It’s for sale at £2,800 ono - SOLD

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New Price list

Yes, it’s that time again I'm afraid. It’s a very low overall figure this time but it has to be done.

Link to Price List

Dave Holmes. Bourrée 1 from Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major by J.S. Bach

This is a lovely sound, I'm so pleased with the tenor guitars.

When the Tina Turner Show in London comes to an end later this year, Dave might have more time on his hands and I might have to give him a job demonstrating the whole range of our products, he owns just about one of each.

Dave is first and foremost a guitarist, so he isn't used to playing instruments tuned in fifths and has had to learn new fingering. I think he does an excellent job. I think professional guitarists are born, not made, just look at the length of Dave's fingers. I’m sure his pinkie has an extra joint.

Dave's Website

Dave Holmes': Two "new" guitars

Dave has recently become the proud owner of his very own Gordon Giltrap Signature model, AND he bought Gordon's 12 string from the recent auction. So that’s one guitar fifty-two years old and one brand new.

Dave says that Gordon was his first inspiration as a guitarist, and that of course lead him to Fylde Guitars and a rather special relationship with all of us.

Gordon Giltrap, Troy Donockley, and THAT guitar

I could probably fill a newsletter with stories and videos about Gordon. This guitar was the highlight of an exhibition in Sleaford many years ago, a fan fret 12 string no less. Gordon decided that he couldn’t get along with it and sold it to our mutual friend Troy, but has regretted it ever since, and they have now "come to an agreement".

The end result from my point of view is that I hope to see some Videos of Gordon playing it, and we get to make Troy something equally interesting to replace it. Watch this space.

Gordon's Website

Troy's Website

Roy Harper at Glastonbury: Girl from the North Country

I've had several people tell me about these videos of Roy. I know the sound isn't good, but the story is important to me. Roy is a regular at Glastonbury, although he is about to embark on his "final tour part two" so who knows what the future holds.

I bought my first Roy Harper album nearly sixty years ago and during that time we have made him three or four special guitars.

In this video he is playing the custom model that we featured in the August 2021 newsletter. We reshaped the neck and changed the pickup last year and when he came to collect it we had a competition for who had the best hat. Who won?

The song sparked a memory. On our flight to Australia recently, I watched the Bob Dylan Film "A Complete Unknown". It was excellent, and I remember Eliza Carthy's recent comment, that Dylan based this song on Scarborough Fair, learnt from Martin Carthy, and that the timeline in the film didn't quite fit.

Good point, but I suppose it can't be easy to fit seventy years into one plane journey.

After Glastonbury, Nick Harper Emailed me about his dad's guitar. “Complete with snazzy signature on the fingerboard. Mr Bucknall does make exceedingly good guitars".

Thanks Nick.

Roy's Website

Roy Harper Final Tour Part Two

Nick Harper's New Album

One of Nick's recent mails was to say he'd been "thinking of me recently". He'd been playing the "that beautiful guitar you made for me--I’ve written a fair few riffs and hooks and songs on it and just wanted to say how grateful I am for the inspiration".

So, I thought it only fair to publicise his new album in return.

If you ever get chance to see him, make the effort, he is unlike anybody else. If you are lucky you might get to see him break a string and change it without stopping playing, including getting the string out of the packet.

I suppose it's like PJ Proby when he first split his trousers on stage. He had to split his trousers every night after that.

Nick's Website

Jack Haigh: Never Going Back Again

Has everybody had a go at playing this at home? It must be the modern-day equivalent to "Anji". I've seen it in various tunings, and if my memory serves me well, it's the timing on the top strings that causes the biggest problem. Jack seems to have nailed it here, and the running tab is a massive help. Jack's guitar is an Alchemist.

Jack's Website

Gareth Evans: Perfect

What a good song to choose to demonstrate your tutoring skills? Gareth gets a solid, warm tone from his Falstaff and uses video "perfectly" to present the most popular current songs right to your fingertips. Job well done Gareth

Gareth's Website

Chris While and Julie Matthews on BBC

Julie visited recently to have her beloved Falstaff brought up to date. She's been playing it hard for about fifty years and while she was with us, she let us into a little secret, but it's out now:

“We’ve been keeping this under wraps and bursting to tell you… We’re absolutely thrilled to finally announce that we’re one of the five acts taking part in this year’s 21st Century Folk for BBC Radio 2!

This incredible project pairs songwriters with real people who have extraordinary stories — and this year’s theme is trains and railways.

We had the absolute honour of meeting Tom Yeo, who shared his incredible journey with us. Tom was left at Reading station as a newborn baby in 1965 and has spent a lifetime discovering who he is. He’s a beautiful soul and spending time with him and his wife Danniella was deeply moving.

We wrote a song inspired by Tom’s story, called The Waiting Room, and the first time he heard it was in a very emotional moment, filmed for the project. You’ll be able to see and hear it all when 21st Century Folk launches on the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2, 28th July – 1st August.

We’ll be live in the studio with Tom on the 29th, performing the song and chatting about the whole experience. And we’re in such amazing company – alongside Richard Thompson, Kate Rusby, Findlay Napier and Bill Ryder-Jones!

And… it gets even better…

The One Show have picked up Tom’s story and our song. We’ve just finished filming a feature that will air on Monday 28th July — our primetime TV debut!

To coincide with the broadcast, we’re releasing The Waiting Room as a single at 7pm on the 28th July across all platforms.

This whole experience has been powerful, emotional and unforgettable. We can’t wait for you to hear the song and meet Tom".

Chris While and Julie Mathews' Website

Findlay Napier. Joanne

It’s a similar story with Findlay, he will be performing his song "Joanne" at 13:30 on 28th July on the Jeremy Vine show. Probably on the Folk Show too.

"Joanne lives in Darwen, Lancashire, and is an accountant by day, but in her spare time volunteers as a ‘steam locomotive fireman’ on the Llangollen Railway in Wales. Joanne survived a rare form of cancer in 2019 and is an activist for diversity and inclusion within the Heritage Rail sector".

Findlay's Website

Galleries no 9: Unique Instruments

This gallery shows more of the weird and wonderful instruments than any of the others. I think everybody knows that time passes faster and faster as we get older, and it’s difficult to see how we managed to do anything at all.

Link to gallery

Sam Fender, Martin Barre and a Bouzouki

Martin asked me to help sell his bouzouki. He still loves his Mandola and Mandolin but doesn't need all three.

This came just as we were due to deliver a new bouzouki to Sam Fender, but Sam's Schedule got pushed forward and we were running late, so I offered to lend him Martin's Bouzouki for his rehearsals. Guess what happened? He now has the new bouzouki and an older one with massive rock and roll history.

When I told Martin, he said this was "very cool"

Sam's Website

Martin Barre: Classic Blind Mandolin Solo

This reminds me of some of the duets from Fairport Convention many years ago. Usually, Dave Pegg and Dave Swarbrick.

Martin's Website

Fairport Convention

Just a handy excuse to show you this bit of silliness from my youth.