This is the slightly smaller twin of the Falstaff we offered last month, which was quickly sold and is waiting for its passport to be approved before winging its way overseas.

This one is Alexander size, with a 648mm scale, in fact, very similar in principle to John Smith's custom model, one of the best guitars we have ever made.

The Brazilian Rosewood was cut from the same log as the Falstaff, quite exceptional material in every way, simply stunning. Finest quality Swiss Pine Soundboard, Marquetry purfling, Snakewood bindings with red borders. 45.5mm fingerboard with Abalone Diamond inlays and Gotoh 510 tuners. Neck laminated from the finest, densest Mahogany I have ever seen.

Quite lovely. For Sale £8900 - SOLD

Almost identical to the Alexander above, but with different timbers.

Malaysian Blackwood has been gaining a reputation as one of the best alternatives to Brazilian Rosewood or Madagascar Rosewood, but without the ecological and legal restrictions. It's almost like Ebony in structure, so I've paired it with a Yellow Cedar top, because the combination of Ebony and Cedar is one of my favourites, and in this guitar, I've changed those just a little. Yellow Cedar is stiffer and stronger than the usual Red Cedar, producing a strong, slightly brighter tone.

46 mm laminated mahogany neck to the same standard as the guitar above. Snakewood bindings again, I'm becoming addicted to that.

I've tried to hold the price of this guitar down a little by fitting simple dot inlays and the standard Gotoh tuners, so I’ve probably under-priced this guitar. Every year I tell myself I must stop doing that.

For sale at £5900

Soul Limbo on a Cricket Bat.

Dave Holmes was busy during the Ashes test so we missed that opportunity, but he has recorded this just in time for the World Cup, and if I don't use it now, it might be just too late. In fact, it might already be too late. I'm leaving it in anyway. Thanks Dave.

Dave's Website

What a lovely time we all had. Sam English made a last-minute dash to come and help, generally mucking in and taking photos, videos etc. 

My first ever employee, from 1973, Bill Astley, came along to celebrate 50 years of Fylde. We have many stories, in fact, a huge number of stories, some of which I've been trying to forget.

Ullapool Website

Until the very last minute, I was worried that I wouldn't have enough guitars to make a good display, so we prepared a lot of wood samples to fill the space and generate a talking point. I numbered them, thinking I might offer a prize to the person who could identify the most. But then I thought - "do I want to spend my weekend marking exam papers". No. So I didn't.

As it happened. we did have lots of guitars to show, but we took the wood anyway.

We had 73 different species. I have more than that but I couldn't find them!

These two could be twins and are certainly musically connected.

Will and Soenke spent a lot of time on the stand, and Soenke took delivery of his new Alexander, so I'm hoping for lots of news about that before long.

Will's Website
Soenke's Website

Jule was her usual effervescent self. She has named her new guitar "Moira" and introduced her to the audience before she played.

Jule's Website

These two were a big part of the festival this year, we had lots of conversations. There aren't any videos of them from Ullapool available yet, so I'm using this one.

Clive's Website

Celtic Gypsy Jazz perhaps?  Recorded on a windy day in between various rainstorms.

Remi's Website

Tris has found a niche for himself in playing instrumental versions of Classic songs. It takes musical talent, playing skill, plus interpretation and dynamics to get the "feel" of the song across without using the words . Well done Tris.

Tris' Website

John has a new single, taken from his upcoming New Album. He says it's the best thing he has ever done, which is a big claim, but going by his headline performance at Ullapool, I can see what he means.

John says ...

"At the start of this year I went out to frozen Maine to make a record with my brother Joe Henry, songwriter supreme and grammy-winning producer. It was a deeply satisfying and vivid experience, painting with colours I had only really imagined in my fever daydreams of album-making.

The first song from this record is The World Turns and it’s out on Friday

This song marks the start of a new chapter in my musical life. I can't wait for you to hear it. The recording process was fast and concise. We cut it live, overdubbed a couple of instruments and before lunch that day we had this track, one of the best things I've ever done. 

If you have a moment to pre-save the song to your preferred streaming service here it will really help to give this song a chance of reaching as many ears as possible. Thank you folks!

John's Website

Four more instruments we took to Ullapool to show the breadth of what we do. We will be getting more photographs soon, but the instruments are for sale now.
I'll keep this brief. If anyone has any questions, do ask. 

Bear in mind it's nearly Christmas. If your loved one leaves their computer open at this page, there is a reason.

I have an order for this from the USA, but we can't work out how to ship it, so we built it anyway and took it to Ullapool for part of our "showing off " section. Also, I rather fancied hearing Tom Moore play it, I did ask him if he could manage a right-handed bass. It sounded splendid. 

It's exactly the same model that Dave Bronze - Tom Jones' and Eric Clapton’s side man plays. It's for sale at a special price. £4500. It’s worth a lot more but I do know the market is limited, plus it's taking up a lot of space! I'll need to think about a case or bag for it.

Second hand but in splendid condition, with a fitted pickup and in the very best fibre glass Calton case, itself worth around £1,000

For sale together at £3900 - SOLD

Specially built to demonstrate our new cases! Just to make sure - this is a "conventional" mandola. tuned CGDA.

We only just finished this in time for the Festival, helped along by using a matt finish, which some people will love.

We had Chas Mackenzie and Adam Bulley play it a lot, it sounds really really good. Deep and warm.

For sale at £2000 plus special case £170 - SOLD

With pickup and case. Very Good condition.

For sale £950 - SOLD

There have been a few changes since we had the previous team photo. There are two new young signings who will need to go through our boot camp but the same older midfield players and the same well-seasoned manager. Transfer fees are under discussion but are likely to be very small.

If you meet up with Tristan, he will probably tell you all about how brilliantly he played. I'm telling you now, grudgingly, just so I can say it before he does.

After the Traditional Pool Match, there was the traditional after show Curry, plus two new competitive events, Chilli pepper eating and Whisky drinking. I think John Smith and Clive Carroll won those. I excused myself from the Whisky drinking because I have an unfair advantage, but also because a man in my position can't allow himself to come second.