18 Feb2016

Jonathan Moss and the Steinbeck guitar

Jonathan Moss and his family visited over the weekend to pick up his new ‘Steinbeck’ guitar – so named by Paul Hostetter, referring to a passage in John Steinbeck’s ‘Grapes of Wrath’. Jonathan is an outstanding guitarist.

Summer photo ps 1200 c

Jonathan visited in the summer and played Paul’s guitar, after which he decided to sell his MS model and have me build him a Steinbeck. Here we are in my workshop yard; I’m holding Jonathan’s MS model, he is playing Paul’s Steinbeck, his daughter Emilie is tormenting my dog, and my son Jason is chatting with my neighbour Annie. Jonathan’s son Louis took the photo.

Jonathan has sent me the following text.

In this golden age of luthiery I’ve played guitars by some of the world’s most respected builders (Greenfield, Somogyi, Traugott, Olson etc). But I’ve now just bought my second guitar from Stefan Sobell, replacing the MS he built me ten years ago.

I visited Stefan to have my original MS guitar checked over, and on a balmy day in early August, kids and dogs playing around us, Stefan nonchalantly said “here, try this” and handed me one of the greatest guitars I’ve ever touched. I couldn’t put the guitar down! Beautiful sounds seemed to just flow from my fingers with ease. It was the guitar he’d built for Paul Hostetter, who called it the ‘Steinbeck’ model.

I’m a guitar player and not a collector – a guitar to me is a tool to express my music, and tone production is the most important thing. It’s easy to be impressed by the initial loudness and bass response of a guitar, but on its own this doesn’t satisfy long-term; the subtle nuances, clarity and balance are what make a truly rewarding guitar. When played quietly, I want every note to be crystal clear and when played hard, I want it to seem as if the volume has simply been turned up, with no loss of definition – this makes a great guitar. Stefan’s ‘Steinbeck’ model really does this.

What marks Stefan out as unique is his ability to create the most resonant thick trebles, especially when they are fretted around the twelfth fret, and what is magical about this latest guitar is that he’s augmented the bass frequencies to match. Lots of makers can create a deep thunderous bass, but the trebles usually disappoint – I want them to sing out above the harmonies and to be complemented by a full, dark, velvety bass, as on my new Sobell.

When I collected my new guitar we met at his home and there was an air of expectancy in the room when I first played it… of course I wasn’t disappointed. Stefan then played it, it’s very rare for a maker to be a top player, but once he’d finished some very accomplished noodling, he made me laugh when he said “I’ll build another if you don’t like it, that way I’ll get to play this one for longer!”. I’m sure he wasn’t joking.

Jonathan playing his Steinbeck through the Highlander pickup.

18 Oct2015

American Luthier visits

Paul Hostetter
Paul with MS 600 Photograph ©2015 Jim MacKenzie

Just before my house move a few months ago, Californian luthier Paul Hostetter and his wife Robin visited. Paul bought one of my Model 1 Sicilian guitars around twenty years ago, and while he was here played my latest Blackwood and figured Sitka MS model. He clearly liked it a lot, and a week or so later Robin called and asked to buy it.

Here is Paul with the MS in sunny California. He pointed out that quite coincidentally the guitar that reminded me of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath (News 22 April) had come home to live in Steinbeck country.

21 Aug2015

House move

After 40 years in a farm house up near the moors, Liz and I have moved down the hill to Hexham. We are both sorry to leave such a lovely house in lovely countryside, but Hexham is a quiet market town on the river Tyne with a pretty market square, good local shops and restaurants, and extensive parks such as the Tyne Green below.

P1190732 R4s 900

This may sound like a travel brochure, but Hexham really is a good place to live. It’s also just a few minutes drive to open Northumbrian countryside; the journey to my workshop in Whitley Chapel takes a whole ten minutes (instead of the previous three).

Having been in Turf House for forty years the move into a much smaller house was a huge undertaking and I took around six weeks out of the workshop to concentrate on it. I’m back at work now, but this time out means waiting time for some of my instruments may be longer than expected, and I apologise for this. I’m also sure I’ve missed emails and forgotten to do things I’d planned, and I apologise for this too. Do remind me if there’s something I’ve promised but missed.

22 Apr2015

John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath

P1520603 ps 900

I was recently reminded of a quote from John Steinbeck’s ‘Grapes of Wrath’. I was playing my most recent guitar (pictured), built to the same specs as Rens van der Zalm’s guitar – bearclaw Sitka top, Malaysian Blackwood back and sides and Wengé neck.

With its full dark bass and clear musical treble, it lent itself perfectly to what we British in the 60s called Clawhammer but is generally known as Travis picking. The sound is not as smooth as my German spruce topped guitars, but strong and full of life and I love it.

I read Steinbeck’s ‘Grapes of Wrath’ nearly half a century ago, and the quote, or at least the gist of it, has stayed with me. Steinbeck is clearly talking about Travis picking when he describes ‘the deep chords beating, beating, while the melody runs on the strings like little footsteps’.

P1520617 450h

From Steinbeck’s ‘Grapes of Wrath’

And perhaps a man brought out his guitar to the front of his tent. And he sat on a box to play, and everyone in the camp moved slowly in toward him, drawn in toward him. Many men can chord a guitar, but perhaps this man was a picker. There you have something — the deep chords beating, beating, while the melody runs on the strings like little footsteps. Heavy hard fingers marching on the frets. The man played and the people moved slowly in on him until the circle was closed and tight, and then he sang “Ten-Cent Cotton and Forty-Cent Meat.” And the circle sang softly with him. And he sang “Why Do You Cut Your Hair, Girls?” And the circle sang. He wailed the song, “I’m Leaving Old Texas,” that eerie song that was sung before the Spaniards came, only the words were Indian then.

And now the group was welded to one thing, one unit, so that in the dark the eyes of the people were inward, and their minds played in other times, and their sadness was like rest, like sleep. He sang the “McAlester Blues” and then, to make up for it to the older people, he sang “Jesus Calls Me to His Side.” The children drowsed with the music and went into the tents to sleep, and the singing came into their dreams.

And after a while the man with the guitar stood up and yawned. Good night, folks, he said.

And they murmured, Good night to you.

And each wished he could pick a guitar, because it is a gracious thing

P1520611 R 900 .

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

P1520267 R2 900

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.

P1210128 R 900b

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

DSC_0568 Rc 900

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.