• Wenge Tenor Guitar for Sale - SOLD
• Blackmore’s Night. The Clock Ticks On.     
• Martin Simpson's Mojo
• John Smith. Lily
• Maple Ariel for sale - SOLD
• Adam Palma and Jose Torres. "Independence Day"
• Chris Herring - Swallow Flight
• New Galleries and Website update 
• Will McNicol Workshop
• Richie Carr. Your Song

• Jon Wilks. Scarborough Fair. Simon and Garfunkel or Martin Carthy?
• RIP Bill Puplett
• Antonio Forcione and Sarah Jane Morris. Superstition
• Gareth Evans. Dancing in the Dark
• The Crooked Fiddle band. Deadly Nightshakes      
• Elliott Morris. As It Was Then
• Owen Spafford and Louis Campbell. 102 metres East
• Nic Jones. Ten Thousand Miles
• Refretting a 1978 Falstaff in Canada

Not the film with Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum, just the tune by Chopin, and I didn't get the relevance of the title, so I asked Adam ...

"Poland’s Independence Day is on November 11th. After being missing from the world map for 123 years, we finally regained our independence in 1918.

So, this year on that date, I played the Chopin’s Polonaise live on Polish National TV. Why Polonaise A major by Chopin and not the National Anthem, you may ask ...

during the occupation, the national anthem was banned from being played or sung. This rule applied during wartime and when our country didn’t exist.

So, the Poles would play this Polonaise instead … "

Thanks Adam, a very good answer.

Adam's Website

I chose this track because I happened upon it just one day after Chris posted it. He is a wonderful player; he concentrates very much on John Renbourn's music and you might notice that the classical guitar is one that he made himself.

SATURDAY 15th FEBRUARY 2025

This had probably sold out before you read this, but Will has since added an extra day, so you might still have a chance to book a slot. Don't delay.

And he also told me about this, to be released in a few days.

"Snow on the River" - Oscar McLennan, arrangements by Martin Tourish feat. Will McNicol on acoustic guitars

"The title comes from a line in a poem by Robert Burns, the Scottish ‘national’ poet, where he talks about the pleasures of life being like snow that falls upon the river, a moment white then gone forever".

Will told me this - "From my point of view, it's been one of the most special projects I've been involved in".

There is a lot more to tell you, but I'll save that until next month when I have all the links.

Will's Website

This was a surprise; I hadn’t heard from Ritchie for a while until he sent this to me this week. I met him at Ullapool while he was one of Will's students. The music seems to have rubbed off on him, this is very nice indeed.

I've been talking to Jon about this, Simon and Garfunkel were very much a part of my teenage years. At the time, I didn't know the back story to the arrangement. If I were working for the BBC, I would be required to say that I like both “versions”. Which is true.

In the middle of our emails, I remembered that I had played the guitar part to this at our school music competition in about 1966, and we won! I remember sitting awkwardly on the back of a school chair with my feet on the seat. I had to find a way through printed Piano music to get somewhere near the right sound - video lessons hadn't been invented then. I'm desperately trying to remember the names of the two school friends with me who sang the pretty harmonies of Paul Simon's version.

Jon's Website

There are quite a lot of guitar repair people around nowadays but when anybody asks, I never know who to recommend. Mostly I work from who my most experienced customers use.

Bill was foremost amongst those. I knew he was ill and I intended to ring him. I left it too late. So sorry Bill, you will be missed.

Antonio Forcione has written this and given me permission to use it:

I was deeply saddened to hear of Bill Puplett's passing. He was a true craftsman and a kind, old-fashioned gentleman in the best sense of the word. Bill had an extraordinary talent for understanding guitars, not just as instruments, but as living, breathing works of art. Whether it was a delicate repair or an intricate adjustment, his work always reflected his exceptional skill, patience, and passion.

His love for his craft was evident in every conversation. He was always eager to share stories, insights, or simply offer a warm shy smile. Bill approached his work with a meticulousness that is all too rare these days, treating each guitar as if it were his own.

The music world has lost not just a master repairer, but a truly good soul. Bill’s legacy will live on in every guitar he lovingly restored and, certainly, in my memory.

Antonio

Speaking to Antonio about Bill Puplett prompted me to see if there were any new videos, and I found this. We've seen a slightly different recording of this before, I do like to keep up to date.

Sarah Jane Morris, Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles (yes, that one), were of course, from the Communards. There was a Communards track on Strictly Come Dancing at the weekend. Just saying.

Antonio's Website

Another classic song arrangement made available to you. There's no doubt that video has transformed  the learning process.  Gareth has made it his business and has an impressive catalogue, do take a look.

Goliath Tutorials

The mandola (and mandolin, both Fylde) player from the band, Gordon Wallace, sent me this. We all "had a blast" when they were over here from Australia years ago, playing their wild exciting music in our little workshop. We don't get that so much since Covid, it hasn't returned. I'll have to see how I can encourage more wild exciting musicians to visit us. Any suggestions?

I might wish I'd never written that.

Crooked Fiddle Band Website

Elliott seems to have been lying low for a while.

We did see him play at a splendid venue not far from where we live, but the last time we did that, we all caught Covid! That wasn't Elliott’s fault though.

He has teamed up with Henry Webster to form Kyntra, "a new band performing electrifying music with traditional sensibilities for contemporary ears.”

“Together they contrast reflective original melodies with frenzied, driving rhythms designed both to calm and to whip up a storm. Kyntra promise a sound that’s as timeless as it is cutting-edge - a captivating mix of tradition and innovation that will leave listeners wanting more".

“The duo will be releasing new singles every six weeks, culminating in a full launch of the album next summer. Their second single, the eponymos “Kyntra” will be released (with accompanying video) on 22nd November. You can pre-save here”

https://kyntra.ffm.to/kyntra

I don't know why I haven't shown this before, Louis is a student of Martin Simpson and pops up in various different musical disguises. Do you notice anything unusual about his guitar?  It's yet another design  that the variable trio of Martin, myself, and a carefully selected excellent musician and fellow nice person came up with.  It sounds lovely.

Owen's and Louis' website

Love the picture!

I haven't featured any of Nic’s songs for a while. I find this song incredibly sad, It's a good job there's no video, I wouldn't cope.

I've used the John Peel sessions version, as it has special memories for me.

This would be Nic's Oberon. It has a "harder" tone than his later and much admired Orsino, and he missed that character in his music, so he traded his Orsino for a Falstaff, sort of halfway between the two. He didn't get much chance to use it before his horrible accident. In more recent years I helped him get the original Orsino back, but I've no idea where the Oberon is.

Nic's Website

Quite a few people have told me about this, and I've been in touch with Ted Woodford. He has quite a following amongst  my customers and his videos get an impressive amount of views. I told  him how pleased I was that he pronounced  "Fylde"  correctly and was able to identify the Hemlock soundboard. That comes from a spell when nothing was available to me in England, I boiled bones to make nuts and saddles,  cut position markets from raw oyster shells.  Strings were in short supply. The only bridge pins I could get weren't long enough.  I cut the Rosewood myself on my own resaw, the logs were not very big, hence the three-piece backs. There wasn't a suitable case maker in the UK. It was all very hard and had its consequences.

Some of the comments on the video are interesting and illuminating, and others of course are just "wrong" or badly misinformed. That's the way of social media and explains why I try so hard to avoid it.  That might (only might) be about to change, but you will have to wait for future newsletters. 

Ted told me that when the customer came to retrieve his guitar he brought along a packet of Eccles Cakes. Or as we call them up north "Fly Pies"