August 2021

"A tribute to Ken's Mother Alice who loved to dance and passed away in 2012. The tuning for the piece is Open C"    

I know Ken is planning to post some new videos soon, so I asked him to practice on the new Personal Selection Falstaff described above, that way I can give him some well-deserved publicity, and show people what this very special guitar sounds like. This is a slowish tune which Ken has recorded before, but I thought it showed off the guitar’s velvety tones rather well. I have another video of Ken playing a faster piece, which shows off the "sparkly" end of the tone range. I'll feature the new video in the next newsletter. 

Ken describes the guitar: "I loved the guitar from the very moment it arrived, and I unboxed it - pleasing to the eye, extremely comfortable to the touch, an absolute joy to play … and what a sound it produced.”

I like that word - "sparkly". I think I'll use that again 

Ken's website

John does like a low tuning, it's asking a lot of a guitar to be accurate with such low string tensions, and over the years we've tweaked and experimented a lot to accommodate different artist's needs, music is always changing and I don't think guitars will ever become a fixed design.

I noticed one lovely comment on the video- I hope it's ok to quote it: "This guitar makes our soul vibrate deeply"

Ours as well

John's website

This isn't exotic like the guitar played by Ken, but it is very very nice. I'm not allowed to tell you who it belongs to, but once it is sold that might change. The owner is not a professional guitarist, but he is a music professional, and I think he had certain dreams, but arthritis etc has got in his way. 

It's been played, but I can't see any dents or scratches. It's been well looked after since it was made in 2006. In fact, it's spent the last few years in its case, which probably explains the golden tint of the soundboard.

Fitted with a Baggs Element Pickup, and it comes with its custom-made fibre glass Carlton Case, the choice of just about every travelling musician you will ever meet.
I can offer the guitar in two ways. First, the guitar, and its Carlton Case at £4,300 ono. New, this would all be about £5,500. SOLD

Or, the guitar, in a brand new Hiscox ProGad case instead of the Calton at £3,600 ono. THE GUITAR IS SOLD

And if the guitar sells without the Calton case, I can offer the case, by itself for £800. It’s unmarked, and you won't have to wait six months for a new one to be made, sent from the USA, and costing a lot more. THE CASE IS SOLD

This isn't the same guitar as the one for sale above, but it's the same model and materials. If you can play like Gareth- buy the guitar and you can sound like this!

Gareth will help you as well, he works extremely hard and makes his living by producing quality videos and instruction, he will supply the tab and helpful notes- just visit his site.

Goliath Tutorials

You may know Henry from his Primal Scream days. After many years of making music and composing for film he has now created his first album – a limited edition Vinyl with a download included.

"Dock Street is in Sunderland. It used to be the site of Dock Street Methodist Church. It is where my mother and father first met and where they were married …"

It has been a massive project, with Mike English contributing large amounts of time and expertise in graphics and production, while Sam English's video work takes the project from an "album" to an "experience" 

It isn't a guitar players album, it's a musician’s album. The website section "The making of the album" tells the whole story which I found fascinating and illuminating, and - there are two very unusual Fylde guitars in the mix, you can see snatches of them at various points. 

And Henry's website

This is Henry talking about the Album and his instruments

Every time we make a guitar for Chris, we get a good story. He took delivery of this nearly two years ago and took it on tour in the USA last year, but the tour was quickly cancelled due to Covid, and the guitar was stranded, all alone, in New York.

Eventually we helped with complicated paperwork to get it shipped back, but there were more difficulties and the guitar is currently having a holiday. It seems to have picked up an American accent, and probably a bit of an attitude as well "I was played at Madison Square Gardens you know, and my cousin is on a postage stamp in Ireland, and my Uncle is "Postman Pat", did I tell you about my brother …" 

Apologies to those who don't know what that was all about. I don’t know who  "andystrings" is by the way, perhaps someone can tell me?

Chris' Website

Another video that I came across in my regular trawl through YouTube. It would be a lot easier if everyone told me when they have a new video out. This one is unusual - an acoustic tune, played on electric guitar. John sneakily fits a capo before he starts playing, and I imagine the electric guitar action helps a little as well because the tune is obviously not at all easy to play.

He has usually gone for "heavier" actions so that he can "dig in". I'd love to see him play this on one of his Fyldes.

John is one of the few survivors to have known Davy Graham in his earlier years, and the story told here rings very true.

John's website

Jack visited us recently to have his guitar serviced, and there are new videos now, but I haven't used all the earlier ones yet so the new ones will have to wait. Jack uses a two-part Di Marzio "Black Angel" pickup which I hadn't come across before, and it's rather good. Acoustic guitar amplification isn't standing still and magnetic soundhole pickups are gaining more fans. Nobody thought they would work on acoustic guitars, but they do, and it's good to see they are still developing.

Jack's website

To be honest, I don't understand Facebook, I recognise that many other people use it as their main means of communication, and I do like to look on "marketplace" but whenever I try to use Facebook myself, I manage to send messages to all my children’s friends by accident, or press the wrong key and send half a message. before I've finished typing ... I'll stick to pigeons and smoke signals thank you.  Email does work though

But for those of you with a digital brain, there is now a "Fans of Fylde" Facebook page          

Just a tiny little bit from Remi - he's rationing himself at the moment. Remi's website

I try to keep up with any news on endangered species, not just rare timber, but also Ivory and live animals, because the problems and possible solutions are all connected at many levels. I found this article particularly interesting, although I had to get my dictionary out a few times. Forgive me if this is a little patronising.

Carceral - relating to or suggestion of, jail or prison

Fungible - easily exchanged for something of a similar value.

On a slightly different note, for some years I've been making the point that rare woods will disappear, not because guitar makers (or others) will cut all the trees down, but because the trees will burn or die before we ever get the chance. I've been re reading "Six Degrees" by Mark Lynas. He makes the point that if Global warming goes much further, it won't be just forest fires in Greece, Australia, Siberia and California. The Amazon Rain forest itself will catch fire and it will impossible to stop. It will all become smoke. That thought is unbearable for all sorts of reasons. We can't make guitars out of smoke, but at that point, I think we will have other things to worry about and even guitar playing won't help.

That story above is very depressing, so now let's have something more fun. I love Uilleann pipes, something about the slight wildness and freedom in the playing. Plus - a Fylde cittern. I made this connection through a friend at Dusty Strings in Seattle, I don't know much about the musicians

Dusty Strings Website

There has been a massive advance in my project. I have managed to fit glass to some of the windows so now I can see out of them.  Can you imagine how much extra light there will be when I have glass in all of the windows?  Very soon I hope to fit a door so that at long last I'll be able to go in and out, it's been very hard not having a door, I've had to carry all the wood through the window … Nurse!