• Ullapool Guitar for Sale Soon
• Three More Special Guitars on Show, and For Sale Soon
• Fundraiser For the Ullapool Festival
• Left-Handed Falstaff For -SOLD
• Second Hand Ariel for Sale - SOLD
• Time for some Music
• David Gray
• Will McNicol.  Lamplight with Innotet
• Lindsay Straw

• Gordon Giltrap
• Gordon Giltrap with Bert Jansch's Fylde
• Gemma Hayes. These Days
• Lisa Hannigan. Passenger
• Remi Harris
• More New Guitars for Ullapool
• And there are more!
• John Smith. Too good to be true
• Dinting - Steam Locos to a Fylde Guitar Soundtrack

It's that time of year again. The festival is only five weeks away. We will be displaying this lovely guitar at Ullapool and selling it to raise funds for the festival.

It's unique. The back and sides are made from Quilted Sapele, timber that was found in a big pile of standard material at my local sawmill. They all know who to ring when this happens. It's an intriguing place, a family business, passed from father to son, who stub cigarettes out on in the sawdust on the floor, never seem to trim their amazing beards, and sometimes actually do hold their trousers up with baler twine. Real people, wonderful.

I love it there. When I say, "I'm going to the sawmill", Alex and Paul know they won't see me for an hour or more even though it's only five minutes away.

I digress. The Sapele was only big enough for a small guitar, but I do have a few more pieces for future orders. The top is made from Yellow Cedar which arrived by mistake in a parcel of wood from Alaska many years ago.

These timbers are rare and highly prized amongst guitar makers, but I don't buy material in the same way as other makers, as you can tell from the above story. I'm able to put different woods together in ways that others can't.

I've chosen Ebony bindings and red lines to bring the colours together plus a laminated mahogany neck and an Ebony fingerboard. It was all looking so gorgeous that I decided it deserved Gold Gotoh 510 tuners.

It really is an exceptional looking guitar and perfect for starting the newsletter. It will be for sale at £4,900, but it will not be sold before the Festival, I want the ticket holders there to have a chance to see it, they deserve that much for battling through the current economic gloom to get there. If you are interested before that happens, tell me and I will keep a note.

Some of the professional players have worked together to produce this video and start a fund raiser to keep the festival going, that's how much they all care about, value and enjoy that special weekend in October. It's the annual "meet" of so many wonderful musicians,  we mere mortals get to watch them play, and if we behave, we might even be allowed to speak to them and buy them a drink. 

GoFundMe Link

Ullapool Guitar Festival Website

This is one guitar from a collector who is slimming down the number of guitars he owns. He gave me first choice from 22 Fylde guitars, all in very good condition. 22!!! I might be going back for more. It's a standard model, made in 2009.

For sale at £2500 on - SOLD

"I’m loving my new Curlew Guitar" That's what we like to hear. David is keeping the guitar in his studio for the time being so I’m hoping we will get to hear a lot more before long.

David's Website

Another track from Will's latest Album, details below.

I can't count how many different camera angles there are in this video, I'm imagining the videographer crawling round on the floor. I'll try and find out the whole story, a video of the videographer would be fun.

But I should be talking about the sound shouldn't I? That Ariel is clean and pure, just the right balance with the string section. Will loves working with this group of musicians, all pulled together by our friend Innes Watson. It's another one of those stories where different connections with Fylde go back a long way,  Innes' father is an old friend and musician from the Borders, and everybody in this video have been regular participants in the guitar festival.

Will can't make it to Ullapool this year, the first one he has missed for many years, he will be back next year! 

Will's Website

We hear a lot about Lindsay via various friends in America. As well as being a musician in her own right, she demonstrates guitars , including Fylde, for several shops and publications.

I first noticed her quite some years ago while searching for "Fylde Bouzouki" on the net. I really should make contact and say hello.

Lindsay's Website

Gordon in a video shoot with Julia Fordham and his Prospero 12 string. "A bit windswept"

This sounds so massive, almost as if it's being played in a Cathedral. Gordon has been interviewed by Guitarist Magazine about this guitar, and my thoughts were included. That's due for publication soon, so I'll save any other comment for then. I'll just say that the match between Gordon and that guitar seems perfect. It's not just the guitar itself, it's Gordons history, my history , and the long history between Gordon and Bert.

Gordon's Website

Gemma is a recent Fylde customer and I'm really pleased. The connection came via Lisa Hannigan, who is Gemma's next door neighbour! She and Gemma often sing and play together, I suppose rehearsals are easy over the garden fence.

Gemma's Website

So it seems only fair to include something new from Lisa as well. Here we have Lisa, with her lovely Fylde mandolin, and her Big Band!  

Lisa's Website

There can never be enough Remi.
Remi's Website         

These weren't quite ready for final photographs, but they will be polished and strung up in plenty of time ( I hope) . There might be time to show them finished in next month’s newsletter.

I suspect  I've overdone it this year, it's the only marketing we do in the whole year, and I always want to make an impression. Fortunately, Alex and Paul are young, fit and keen, and taking an ever-increasing part in all of this.  I've even been known to give them bottles of whisky now that they are old enough. 

There will be Sam English there as well, helping to move heavy objects and probably making videos. Keith Beardmore has his usual role of Jenga master when it comes to packing and setting up, plus various logistics. Moira, Janet and Margaret all have essential parts to play. It's a massive effort. I'm getting excited now.

A few more from the collection of Fyldes that I mentioned, plus one or two that I’ve been offered over the last year.

We aren’t able to make as many guitars as we used to, the order book is stretched and I never have anything on show nowadays, so I've been looking for top quality used guitars to make a good display. Each one is checked, adjusted, tweaked, cleaned, and set up before sale. Older Fyldes are starting to attract quite impressive sale prices and I'm trying hard to keep track of all that. Some of the guitars are fifty years old now, if the three of us here can step in between owners, we hope to be able to keep them in best condition for another generation.  Old guitars are fantastic.  So much history, so many notes!

Can't leave Mr Smith out of a newsletter.

We tried gold panning together a few weeks ago, it's a bit like fishing without a rod. Chances of success are negligible, but it's massive fun. I think so anyway, nobody else agrees. Story of my life. 

John's Website

I obviously spend far too long searching for unusual Fylde links. The video is accompanied by one of the “University” Fylde Falstaff guitars, the Indian Rosewood model, composed and played by Pete Skellon. He sent the full history of this wonderful project, but it's easier if I refer you to the website. Link to website