13 Apr2015

Mark Knopfler in Guitarist Magazine

I get a couple of mentions in the Mark Knopfler interview in this month’s Guitarist magazine. The first is in relation to finding suitable apprentices. After saying John Monteleone couldn’t find one, he goes on to say

“And I was also asking [luthier] Stefan Sobell about that in Northumberland a couple of years back. There was a young guy making a guitar in Stefan’s workshop, and I said, is this your apprentice? And he said ‘Oh no – he’s a perfectly nice young man. But no, I’ve never been able to find anybody”.

Incidentally, the ‘young guy’ (very pleased to be called young) was my friend Jack Hind. But Mark was right, and I’ve still not found anybody.

The second mention is about the guitar he bought from me. After talking about his mid 30s Martin and a Froggy Bottom parlour guitar, he went on to say:

“…and the other one is a Stefan Sobell flat-top guitar. It’s a beautiful guitar and you’re conscious that to be worthy of a thing like that you’ve got to play it. So I pick that up and play it a little bit. It’s like getting a guitar from John Monteleone or something. You’ve got to play it in to try to bring it on, which is what I’ll try to do every now and again. But they’re all so beautiful.”

08 Mar2015

Denis McKeown’s Martin Simpson model

16 Jan2015

Rens van der Zalm and MS model guitar

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Rens with his new MS model

Rens van der Zalm visited on Monday to look at guitars and decide whether to take the New World guitar he saw a couple of months ago, or a Martin Simpson signature model I’ve completed since. Both had bearclaw Sitka soundboards and Wengé necks; the NW had African Blackwood back and sides and the MS had Malaysian Blackwood back and sides. These two Blackwoods are not related, but have similar characteristics, both being dark and heavy and both making excellent sounding guitars.

Rens had already seen and liked the NW, but chose the MS for himself.

Rens van der Zalm is a wonderful guitarist (as well as a great mandolin and fiddle player). His playing has great attack and tone, and his arrangements are always just right, not flashy but absolutely perfect. He plays with several bands and musicians in the Netherlands, as well as with Andy Irvine and Mozaik; he is a musician’s musician and a guitarist’s guitarist.

Rens has played every guitar going, factory and hand made guitars, modern and old guitars. When he tells me this is the best guitar he’s ever played, it’s a terrific compliment, of which I’m very proud.

Rens also plays in a band made up of family members. His cousin Walter’s wife Marjolein plays and sings in the band, and Marjolein is taking the New World guitar after hearing and playing Rens’ MS.

Incidentally, we named our (sadly departed) Westie after Rens because both slept so well in the back of cars.

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Rens checking the MS through its Highlander pickup. It’s a great sound, he said. Ben looks less impressed.

11 Dec2014

Bouzouki in Japan

Hiroshi Hasagawa has send me this picture of himself and his fixed bridge bouzouki (as shown in previous post) with friends playing music in Tokyo.

I should add that following the previous post, several people corrected me. It seems I’ve built at least three flat-top fixed bridge bouzoukis since the one I built for Andy Irvine all those years ago.

03 Sep2014

Flat-top bouzouki

I last built a flat-top bouzouki in around 1985, when I made one for Andy Irvine, of Patrick Street and many other bands. Just a little after this I built him two guitar-bouzoukis, the second of which he still plays.

So when Mr. Hiroshi Hasegawa, who already has one of my guitar-bouzoukis, asked me to build one I designed it from scratch. It’s built on my large bouzouki body and the soundboard is based on my current flat-top guitar soundboards. The bridge is a shorter version of my New World bridge, and the neck is as specified by Mr. Hasegawa, narrower than my standard neck.

There is one other difference between this flat-top and my arch-top bouzoukis; I used my guitar bouzouki headstock, so as to match the head on Mr. Hasegawa’s guitar-bouzouki.

13 Jun2014

Filming with Martin Simpson

Today Martin Simpson arrived from Sheffield to collect his new mandola.

Martin was also filming part of a Radio (!) 2 show for Trevor Dan. Trevor and camera men John and Tom were in my workshop for nearly three hours, filming Martin playing and talking about his Martin Simpson Signature Sobell.

They also shot footage of the workshop and me whittling in the background, some of which might be used behind the music.

I was intrigued to discover that these three hours will be edited down to exactly three minutes of the finished program. This program will be available in the UK on line and on the red television button while BBC 1 is playing. I don’t really know how this works, but hope to have a link when it’s out.

Martin mandola front

Admiring back
Martin with new mandola

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Trevor, John and Tom filming Martin playing his Martin Simpson Signature Sobell in my workshop

Another couple of pictures of Trevor and the boys. Outside the sun was shining; early June is the most wonderful part of the year in Northumberland

Martin also brought me the African Blackwood New World guitar he is selling to look over. It’s perfect and as new. Pictures up soon on my ‘available now’ page.

12 May2014

Visit from Keith Potger

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Today Keith Potger visited; Keith is best known as the 12 string guitar player in the Seekers. He was travelling between gigs on the current UK Seekers tour, commemorating 50 years since the band formed.

Keith played Martin Simpson and New World Model guitars, and also my original 1981 arch-top, as shown here.

Keith is returning to Hexham on 10 June to join Frank Ifield at the Hexham Queens Hall.

Incidentally, fellow Seeker Bruce Wardley had one of my mandolins for many years, but this was wrecked by the Melbourne floods of around four years ago.

The 1981 arch-top Keith is playing was my first guitar, built after I’d been making mandolin family instruments for about eight years. It was heavily influenced by my 1931 Martin C1 arch-top, with its round sound-hole and flat-top style non carved back.

By the time I built this guitar the Martin C1 was fifty years old. The neck was still perfectly straight (despite having no adjustable truss-rod), but the soundboard had sunk around the sound-hole.

So on this first guitar I modified the design of the soundboard bracing around the sound-hole, and thirty-three years on, the neck is straight and the soundboard has not moved or sunk.

Most of the arch-top guitars I build now are my arch-top 12 strings, large bodied with 12 frets to the body. The arch-top sound suits the 12 string particularly well; the rather hard arch-top sound is softened by the pairs of strings but the arch-top punch gives good separation and a clean strong bass.

02 May2014

Mandola for Martin Simpson

I have built Martin Simpson a maple bodied mandola and Martin is selling one of his four Sobell guitars to make room for it. The guitar he’s selling is his African Blackwood and Italian spruce New World, photos to follow on the Available Now page.

29 Jan2014

D guitar

The Model 2D is a long scale (28.5″ – 725 mm) guitar designed to be tuned one tone below standard.

Fitting a capo to the second fret gives standard pitch at standard tuning and standard tension. Played open without a capo it has a magnificent depth of tone; played with a capo higher up it blossoms as a different guitar, bright and ringing.

2020 German spruce and African Blackwood Model 2D.
Click on this photo for video link: ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ arranged by Mark Thomson, played by Jonny Moss on this guitar tuned CGCFGC, no capo.

History

A few guitarists keep their guitars tuned permanently low, sometimes a semitone below concert pitch, sometimes a full tone. But tuning low on a standard scale has limitations, so in 2004 I built a long scale guitar to tune a tone down from standard. In standard tuning the 1st and 6th strings drop from E to D – hence the name ‘D’ guitar. (It turned out to be another case of re-inventing the wheel; there were already D guitars in existence).

My first D guitar was built on a 12 fret version of my Model 1 guitar, and the next few built on 12 fret versions of Martin Simpson and New World models.

When Maurice Condie came to see me about having me build him a D guitar, he suggested I base it on my Model 2. This has a longer body and was designed as a 12 fret, so needed no adaptation – a really good idea I should have thought of earlier.

The 2D has now become my standard D guitar. It is available with a German spruce, figured Sitka spruce and now also Douglas Fir soundboard and Maysian Blackwood, African Blackwood and Brazilian rosewood back and sides.

Not only does it play a tone lower, but whatever the tuning the D guitar has a wonderful deep resonant sound, a sound you just don’t get from a standard scale guitar.

Darrell Scott in 2019 playing his 2D. He tunes it a tone and a half below standard, making it a C# guitar.

Maurice and his 2015 2D ‘Still loving the guitar. It has become my most used live guitar. It really does do everything.’

Model D specifications

Scale: 725mm (28.5″)
Soundboard: German spruce, figured Sitka spruce or Douglas Fir
Back and sides: African or Malaysian Blackwood, Brazilian rosewood
Neck: Wengé
Fingerboard: Ebony
Bridge: Ebony with bone saddles
Body shape: Model 2
Max body width: 410 mm (16.14″)
Max body length 525 mm (20.66″)
Tuners: Gold plated Gotoh s, Gotoh 510s optional
Nut width: 45mm (1 25/32″)
String spacing at bridge: 60mm (2 3/8″)

Martin Simpson playing the original Model 1 Sicilian based D guitar in 2004

‘This is one of the very best guitars you’ve built, which means it’s one of the best guitars on the planet’ Martin Simpson with 2D July 2016

14 Jan2014

Two new guitars

Figured Sitka soundboards

For many years I’ve not used Sitka spruce for soundboards, having had indifferent success with it when first building instruments. However, it turns out there is Sitka and there is Sitka. While visiting Pacific Rim Tonewoods in the Cascade Mountains near Seattle I saw sets of lovely looking Sitka spruce, both straight grained and figured. They looked so good I bought two of each, and I’ve recently built two guitars using the figured sets. These are a Martin Simpson D model (long scale tuned a tone low) and a New World model, both with African Blackwood back and sides, Wengé necks, ebony fingerboards and bridges, and figured Sitka soundboards. Both are a rich colour and extravagantly figured. And they sound wonderful; I’m so pleased to have another combination of woods I’m really happy to offer. I plan to keep the D model for a while, but sell the New World model (see my ‘available now’ page).