Guitars

I've played the guitar for a long, long time, with varying degrees of enthusiasm and time to devote to it. I plan to use this page to talk about things that catch my eye/ear. For now, I'll just list my guitars, gear and favourite players.

My guitars

I currently have 4 guitars: all 6-string steel-strung acoustic guitars, 2 of which I've commissioned and had made for me.

Brook Taw: a stunning guitar, even if I say so myself, delivered September 2012. 2 special features of this one. First, fan frets: the bass E-string is 660mm, while the treble E-string is 640mm. You can see it clearly here, with precision work on the bridge and frets to get the intonation spot on:

This gives more bass response, which works nicely with the bright wood of north Devon yew sides and back (European spruce top, with some claw marks). The yew is stunning:

A nice touch on the 12th fret: the initials of the family:

Brook Torridge: the first guitar that I had made by Brook guitars, a luthier local to me in Devon, delivered Autumn 2010. It doesn't look fancy but is all the more beautiful for that: European spruce top; walnut back, sides and neck (the walnut tree was planted by Queen Victoria in Kew Gardens in the late 1800s, and fell down during the big storm of 1987); rosewood bindings and purflings. It's non-standard, made to my spec. 12 frets to the body, 640mm scale length (which gets the bridge in exactly the right place on the sound-board), 44mm nut width. It's similar in size to a Martin 00/classical guitar. With the most lovely tone: great clarity and incredible sustain. The construction and set-up make it great to play for finger-style stuff. Here's the back:

And headstock, with lovely walnut burl:

Taylor 814CE: another really nice guitar, made in 1999. All purpose: good for rhythm/strumming, fine for finger-style (although it doesn't have the clarity and balance of the Brook Torridge). Mellow and mature tone.

Washburn Woodstock EA-40: I bought this guitar in 1984 and, with a bit of work a few years' ago, it's still playing fine. It's an electro-acoustic with a very slim body. So, unplugged, it is very muted. The electronics could do with updating, since the under-saddle piezo is a bit harsh; the on-board EQ is crackly. Nice bird's eye maple back: it looks nicer than it sounds. I don't play it outside much, but a good option when I need to play quietly in the house.

My gear

I've accumulated a lot of gear to go with these guitars.

• Pickups: I've had installed the K&K Trinity Western mini on the Brook Torridge. This combines 3 transducers attached the sound board under the saddle, with a condenser mic on a goose neck in the sound hole. The 2 signals are blended by an external stereo pre-amp. The effect is as close to a true acoustic sound as I think you can get. It's better than the Fishman Rare Earth Blend that I have on the Taylor. This combines a goose-neck condenser mic with a sound-hole magnetic pickup. It's pretty good, especially for rhythm, but a bit muddy for fingerstyle. On the Brook Taw, I have a Fishman Ellipse Matrix Blend, which blends an under-saddle piezo pickup with a soundhole condenser mic. A bit on the bright side due to the under-saddle; and a bit prone to feedback if too much mic is added (to dampen the brightness). But I'm pretty pleased.
• Amp: I use an AER Compact 60. The bee's knees. I also occasionally use a Tech 21 SansAmp external pre-amp/DI box, with the Taylor and Washburn, and a Headway EDB-1 with the Brooks.
• Picks: Wegen M150s. The bee's knees again: expensive for a pick, but the best tone you can get. Dunlop and Slick pick for the thumb.
• Odds and: D'Addario Phosphor Bronze medium (13s) strings.

Favourite players

And my favourite players. Three clear ones:

• Tommy Emmanuel: you have to see this guy to believe him. Go to youtube and see.
• Frank Vignola: a wonderful jazz guitarist. And a very good teacher. And a nice guy. This is a lot of fun. Even better, Frank and Tommy together, in a Django classic.
• Gary Ryan: I really like this piece.