July 2021

And to remind you of how this style of guitar sounds, listen to this video that Ben recorded on his own guitar, twin brother to the one above.

You'll notice Ben's massive smile as he waits for the first note to fade away, he waits for a long time. His guitar is fitted with the rather super, but complicated Baggs Dual Source pickup system.  Don't for one-minute think that explains all the wonderful tone- a lot of that is from Ben's style, but an even bigger part is the guitar!

I asked him to explain how he recorded it:   "it's all DI'd in that video - no external mics at all. The pickup has both piezo and mic, and I'm doing some splitting of it all. The piezo goes to an octave pedal (since the mic tends to mess the octave pedal up) which in turn splits the signal into two outputs of piezo and octave. The piezo part then goes through a rather whizzy sustain pedal thing, and then all three signals (piezo, octave and mic) are mixed together. No idea how I'm going to pull it off live though".

Bens site. 

One of the rarest, most expensive, hardest, stiffest, most difficult to work timbers in existence. Nevertheless, I'm always looking out for suitable pieces - it usually comes in "half logs" cut lengthways down the centre so it's possible to see the figure and any possible (frequent) internal problems. The foresters put deep chainsaw cuts in the surface in order to check that the particular tree has enough "figure" to be worth cutting down, unfortunately, that makes about half of the log pretty much useless, so one way or another, this wood has more than its fair share of issues. Fortunately, it's strikingly beautiful so it's usually worth the effort and expense. Did I mention that I wrecked a new chainsaw just cutting it to length?

This picture was taken by Phil Carter at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2018. Lots has changed since then of course. If you haven’t already done so, you should sign up to John's newsletter, where you will read little snippets like this: "The project that has anchored my creative life in the past couple of weeks has been the launch of a Patreon page. I wrestled with the idea for months, finally realising that it’s a platform designed to facilitate a deeper connection between artists and those who follow their work. I’m able to offer music and videos in a way that invites conversation, without vying for attention on social media." It's a very good idea, apart from anything else, you will be able to access a number of John's guitar instrumentals. "Meditations (Montreal)". Guess what? Even without the voice, you won't have any difficulty deciding who is playing. Dark and moody but hardly any murders.

John's website

As luck would have it just as I finished writing,  John posted this video. 

See what I mean about dark and moody? Click on the image to see the video.

Two days that won't leave Will's memory for a long time. He was sitting at home when he wanted to be with his wife and son.

Will's piece is a track from his latest album "Miniatures" - available from Will's website.

If I were a composer, I'd probably write similar reminders of my own stressful times, with titles like "ow, that hurt”, “don't bleed on the wood" or "now where did I put my pencil"

Many years ago, one of Andy's main instruments was a Fylde Octavius Bouzouki, in fact, he had two. At the time, it was the only bouzouki style we made and in recent years we have more or less stopped making it, the Arch Top instruments have taken over. But- Andy was hankering to revisit such things and, in for a penny etc, decided to upgrade to the Signature version. He hasn't seen it yet, don't tell him.

Andy's website

I'm hoping to show some new videos from Ken before long, so I thought perhaps I'd whet your appetite with this from ten years ago, played on his Fylde Oberon rather than his own signature Fylde guitar. As with most of Ken's titles, there will be a logical but very deep explanation for the title, but I don’t know what it is.  

Ken's website

John never tells me when he has posted a new tune, sometimes I have to tell him - "John, did you know you've posted a new tune?" 

It's always good to see him play.

John explains everything in the video notes. John's website

I love to hear someone concentrating on tone. It's all in there somewhere, just a question of bringing it out.

"Here’s a quick one-minute raw video of me playing my Falstaff just so you can hear the guitar without any effects at all. Every note is evenly balanced and the long sustaining notes and harmonics are so pure. (You can probably tell why I asked for a cutaway:)"

Thanks Bill.

Bill's website.

Adam has found yet another stage persona, as if playing alongside Biréli Lagrène,  Al Di Meola and Tommy Emmanuel were not enough for him. 

Adam's Website

Findlay Napier rehearses on the roof of Skypark in Glasgow with the SSE Hydro as a back drop, getting ready to record the first Skypark Music Sessions with the band Mc Doubt. The sessions will stream on August 13th. 20th and 27th

Picture by Kris Kesiak

Can't see much of your guitar Findlay!

Findlay's website

I've lost count of the number of electro plating companies I have used over the years, it's a nasty process using strong acids and other horrible chemicals and I'm sure it does no good for the environment or the staff, none of the companies have survived long.  It is often a bottleneck for us as well, we have to wait for tailpieces to come back from the platers before we can finish the instrument, I had a brilliant idea. Stop using plated tailpieces. 

So, from now on, that is exactly what we will be doing. No Gold or Chrome, just polished bronze - with no chemical plating. That's two "green" things in this newsletter.

The picture has prompted me to start making a new style of bouzouki tailpiece. It must be ten years since I changed something, mustn't stand still.

This is nice, a Touchstone mandolin, and an Alchemist guitar bouzouki. Click on the image to go to the video.

Two "Thuja". trees in our garden being brought down to a sensible height. Every tree is a wonder of nature, but some of them are greedy and steal all the light from others.

These two trees had a surprise - they are actually one. It's a massive catapult.

I've been wondering if I could find a huge piece of elastic and a parachute, there is a pub just the other side of that hill and everything seems to point in the right direction. I'd have to walk back though, so it's not the best Idea I've ever had. Also, there is a better pub in the other direction.

The aboriculturist is Jake English. Jake's website.