I’ve just been asked about a used Model 1 currently advertised on Craigslist. The photos are genuine and are of the guitar advertised.

But the seller claims to be ‘Ann’ living on Shetland and to be the first owner. In fact the first owner was a Finn who tells me he sold the guitar to a man in Essex who tells me he still has the guitar, is very happy with it, has not advertised it and is not selling it.

In addition, the asking price is very low. Also, the guitar is advertised on the London Craigslist but is supposedly on Shetland, requiring a huge journey including a ferry crossing. Craigslist recommends buying locally to avoid scams. Clearly not possible in this case.

If whoever placed the ad cares to contact me and explain, I’ll pass on any information. In the meantime it’s a case of buyer beware.

I am now re-organising my order book. Having lost some computer information in the past, if you have an instrument on order with me I’d be greatful if you would email me with your details. Thank you in advance.

On another note, spring is arriving and heather is burning on the moors around us. This clears the way for new heather shoots, these are food for grouse and pheasants. These days the fires are kept small so as not to get out of hand as sometimes happened in the past.

Burning heather on Kings Law in the upper Devilswater valley

I’ve been building Martin Simpson and New World model guitars with Wengé necks for a while now with great success. Wengé is stiff, light and resonant and beautiful when laquered. Wengé necked guitars have been amongst the best I’ve built, for example the Blackwood MS model I built for Darrell Scott (see my news item 6 September 2010).

Over the last couple of months I’ve also tried Wengé back and sides on guitars. The first was a New World and was a great success. It went to John Lynch in California who loves it, as did everyone else who saw and played it. The second is a Martin Simpson model which I am still evaluating and is quite as impressive as the New World.
The rich Wengé colour running along the length of the guitar from the back and sides to the neck and head is also very satisfying.

Both guitars have an impressive depth of sound, precise and clear without a hint of boominess. And an excellent bass/treble balance. I love them and am building more of both.

Martin Simpson playing new Wengé MS model

Both Wengé and African Blackwood, another great tonewood, sound a little different to Brazilian rosewood but neither better nor worse. Different woods suit different guitar designs, Wengé suits mine wonderfully.

While in theory it’s possible ship CITES legal Brazilian rosewood (as is mine) to the US, in practice no-one can find out how to do this. However, like African Blackwood, Wengé can be shipped to the US without problems, is fully acceptable under the US Lacey act, and looks and sounds wonderful.

Today Joseph Sobol collected his 12 string large bodied cittern. With polite persistence he eventually pursuaded me to build it from Koa and Port Orford cedar, woods I haven’t used before. The lower four pairs are octave strung.


This combination of woods turned out to be an inspired choice. Although I could play nothing on so many strings, Joseph makes it sound wonderful, like a church organ. He’s a great player (and not just on cittern – he also plays his own beautiful Bach arrangements on steel string guitar).

Here am I with the cittern, photographed by Joseph. I’m not even trying to play it because all those strings look as confusing to me as a railway goods yard.
And if I’m looking puzzled, it’s because I’m wondering, how a man who can play instruments like he does can have such trouble pressing the shutter button on a camera?

For those curious as to how so many photographs could be taken in so short a time, I should point out that the wall clock had stopped. Either that or we took one photograph every twelve hours.

Franck Benoualid has contacted me with what he tells me is a scam warning. This concerns one of my guitars advertised on Craigslist.

See my ‘available now’ page for details

After far too long, I am finally building large bodied citterns and octave mandolins again. Here is Darrell Scott playing his octave mandolin at his Blackfriars gig in Glasgow, a few minutes after taking delivery. Quite astonishing to me that he could take an unfamilar instrument from its case and accompany one of his own songs without a second’s rehearsal or sound-check. And make it sound not just good but also effortless.

Blackfriars in Glasgow is a tiny subterranean venue where you stand to see and hear the act. Tricky to get a picture of Darrell as the stage isn’t raised and there were five rows of tall men standing shoulder to shoulder in front of me. But Glaswegians are friendly and did their best to lean out of the way.

I’m now working on small and large mandolins and plan to be producing them soon. After them will come small bodied citterns.

Yesterday Darrell Scott took delivery of his Martin Simpson model guitar. Darrell is currently in Britain as a multi-instrumentalist member of Robert Plant’s ‘Band of Joy’ which tours the UK in October.

This guitar has African Blackwood back and sides, a German spruce soundboard, ebony fingerboard and bridge, a Wenge neck and a fitted Highlander pickup.

Here is the guitar in yesterday’s item with binding taped in place. The ebony binding on this MS model is shaped to the guitar before being fitted, but even so can resist being pulled into place. Hence the need for so much tape. Maple binding is more co-operative, and plastic binding is easier still to fit.

Because I don’t shellac the soundboard before taping the binding in place I’ll remove the tape carefully using a solvent to soften the adhesive.

When the tape is removed the binding stands proud and has excess glue around it. Next I’ll scrape and sand it flush with the body before scraping and sanding the back and sides. The shellac coating will help me see areas sanded and areas still requiring sanding.

The soundboard will be sanded smooth at a later stage.

I now fit solid linings to all instruments. These are neater and more rigid than kerfed linings, though fitting them takes a little longer.

Linings are the strips running round top and bottom of the sides which give a greater gluing area when gluing on the soundboard and back.

I clamp these linings in place with strong steel spring clamps before sanding smooth. I then notch them to receive soundboard and back braces.

Before fitting the binding I coat the back and sides (though not soundboard) of the body with shellac lacquer. So when I tape the binding in place (while the glue dries), I can later remove the tape without it pulling out fragments of wood. I use a solvent to soften the tape adhesive when removing it from the soundboard.

The lacquer also shows where I have and have not sanded during later sanding, and acts as a partial grain-filler before final lacquering.