At 7.30 pm on Friday 17th May I shall be giving a talk on instrument building in Whitley Chapel village hall. Called ‘The Art and Craft of Guitar Building’, it will be an extended version of the talk I gave there nearly five years ago – I would never have believed it was so long ago before I checked.
I’ll be talking about how I became an instrument maker (quite by accident), some of the difficulties and set-backs I encountered, and some of my customers. I’ll be showing images of guitars in various stages of construction and bringing along completed instruments, together with examples of work in progress. At the end of the talk I’ll be happy to answer questions.

As before, all are welcome; for my last talk we had visitors from as far as London, Manchester and Aberdeen as well as a large local audience.

Ben

Tickets cost £10 for adults, £5 for under 16s, and are available on the bar or from Austin on 01434 673325
There will be a bar selling wine, beer and soft drinks.

As before, all profits will go towards the maintenance and improvement of our village hall, which is such an important part of local life.

A couple of weeks ago Rod Sinclair called in on his way from the Lake District back to Newcastle. He played several guitars, including a recent New World model and my original arch-top, built in 1981. He seems to have found a few hedges in the Lakes.


Today Mark Knopfler visited. He played a New World and two Martin Simpson models, eventually choosing one of the MS models. He said he plans to use it at home and for recording, so didn’t want a pickup fitted. And he wouldn’t let me fit strap buttons because he couldn’t bear to have holes drilled in the guitar.

On my recent trip to northern Italy I took the opportunity to visit Massimo Raccosta in Verona. Massimo recently bought a Model 4 Dreadnought from me (see news 27 March 2012) and plans to open a guitar museum in the near future.

He greeted me in his apartment with the sight of seven guitars lined up on stands. It took me a moment to realise they were all Sobells.

Massimo Raccosta with Parlour, New World, MS model, Model 1, 6 string Arch-top, MS D version and Model 4 Dreadnought guitars

Somewhat to my surprise, Massimo told me the one he plays most is the arch-top (third from right). ‘You can play anything on it’ he said.

Most of his collection is stored awaiting the completion of his museum premises, but I had the opportunity to look at and play some that weren’t buried too deep. My favourite was a Franklin built in the 90’s by Nick Kukuch for his brother, a straightforward OM model with little ornamentation but a great sound.

When the museum opens, Massimo also plans to use it as a centre for concerts and masterclasses.

Today Mark Taylor collected his Brazilian rosewood and Italian spruce New World model. This is my latest version with Wengé neck and modified back braces.

Here I am posing with it for him.

During a recent visit to my technical advisor in Melbourne Australia, I met up with a group of Australian guitar builders. They are fanatical about guitars and guitar design, and build a variety of instruments, from conventional to highly innovative. We got together last year for a social event, but this year made it a little more formal. I gave them my views on life, the universe and guitar building before we had a general discussion covering different aspects of guitar design and guitar building. I showed them a Martin Simpson model in Malaysian Blackwood, and looked at guitars they had brought with them.

The builders included Dan Robinson, Jack Spira, Bob Connor, Joe Gallacher, Trevor Phillips, and Dave Snelling. The convention was organised by Dan Robinson and took place at his lovely house in a lovely setting near Ballarat. I enjoyed the afternoon immensely, as I think did everyone there.

Talking to an audience that’s either spellbound or half asleep

Joe Gallacher playing my MS model, with wife Marge, Daniel Hoban (left) daydreaming and Jack Spira (right) paying close attention

Playing and discussing one of Joe Gallacher’s (I think) guitars

Massimo Raccosta received his Model 4 Dreadnought today at his office in Verona, Italy. He sent me this picture. I have talked and emailed with Mr. Raccosta many times, but only now do I realise he is in fact half man, half chair.

He has a very extensive collection of fine guitars, both old and new, and will be showing them in his private museum late this year or early next year. He had hoped the museum would be ready sooner but was delayed by the discovery of an ancient Roman thermal plant just below the location of the museum.

This is common in Verona, where there is an ancient Roman town two metres below the present town.

For decades and decades, guitar bodies were made from three woods; Indian rosewood, mahogany and, less often, maple. I knew some exotic guitars were made of Brazilian rosewood, but saw only a handful in the twenty years or so I played the UK folk clubs. If other woods were used, I never heard about them.

In the past few years this has changed greatly. Partly because more timbers have become available and offered to builders and partly because of restrictions on previously used woods like Honduran and Brazilian rosewoods.


A few years ago I was offered and bought some Malaysian Blackwood. This could have varied colours rather like Brazilian rosewood or be dark and straight, more like African Blackwood. It was this dark wood I bought. Not only did I like the look of it, it also had a promising tap tone.

I’ve now built and strung two Martin Simpson models with this wood, and both worked out wonderfully well. The sound has the smooth depth of African Blackwood but is slightly brighter overall, and suits the MS model perfectly. So now I’m offering it along with my other standard MS model woods. I’m in process of building a Malaysian Blackwood New World model.[/two_third_last]

My Model 4 Dreadnought page is finally up. Shown is the Dreadnought last seen waiting to be laquered, which is now finished, strung and ready to ship.

Model 4 Dreadnought web page

Next out of the spray booth is a Malaysian Blackwood Martin Simpson model guitar, the first I’ve built with this wood. Followed in a few weeks by two octave mandolins, one Indian rosewood and the other Malaysian Blackwood.

My Model 4 Dreadnought page is finally up. Shown is the Dreadnought last seen waiting to be laquered, which is now finished, strung and ready to ship.

Model 4 Dreadnought web page

Next out of the spray booth is a Malaysian Blackwood Martin Simpson model guitar, the first I’ve built with this wood. Followed in a few weeks by two octave mandolins, one Indian rosewood and the other Malaysian Blackwood.

While in Scotland, Darrell Scott recorded a live session for Radio Scotland: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00c4mjm. This clip shows why Darrell is so widely admired as both a guitarist and singer. Unfortunately it can be accessed only from Britain. There’s also a YouTube clip of Darrell singing his own song ‘Crooked road’ and playing his MS model guitar at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk8W3XuZygc which should be accessible to everyone.