news. music. players. instruments.
Babbling
issue 2
spring 2013
The guitar
Jack built...
Brook takes its custom building to ‘nouveau’heights, with this very special model (left).
To find out more about the project – and the Easterbrook Art of Inlay – see page 2...
Welcome...
...to the second edition of
‘Babbling Brook’, our online
magazine for all things ‘Brook
Guitars’.
Hard to believe that almost a year
has gone by since the first issue
was launched – but there’s been
lots going on at our workshops
since then...
wonderful singer-songwriter Phil
Bird – and much more.
As always, we value your opinion
and would love to hear from you,
so call or email to tell us what you
think of ‘Babbling Brook’ – and
who knows, we could even discuss
your ‘next guitar’!
Cheers...
...not least of which is the stunning
custom Taw you can see here!
Also featured in this issue are two
longtime friends of ours – Steve
Yates, a stunningly original and
award-winning fingerstyle
composer/guitarist, and the
Simon and Andy
Founders, Brook Guitars
page 2
www.brookguitars.com
Brook Taw
It is, quite simply, the most stunningly ornate custom Brook guitar ever
built at the Easterbrook workshop. Here, its creator Jack Smidmore
describes how he found inspiration in the work of Czech Art Nouveau
painter and decorative artist Alphonse Mucha – and reveals a few secrets
about the fine art of inlay...
continued on page 3
www.brookguitars.com
page 3
I
’D been thinking about making a really
special one-off guitar for six or seven
months. I knew at the outset that I wanted
to cover it with my inlay work, but I also
wanted the design of the inlays and guitar
to work together as a whole.
The headstock and back inlays were based on a
painting called ‘Dance’ (see page 4) and luckily,
Mucha’s work is in the public domain! After working
on the main inlays I designed the rosette, loosely
basing it on another Mucha ‘nouveau’ border, then
the heel cap and finally, the position markers.
Originally, my plan was to make a Creedy, as I
thought that a traditional parlour size guitar
would suit the whole Art Nouveau idea, but the
back inlay really didn’t suit the Creedy shape, and
by this point I had decided I wanted to repeat the
‘Dance’ inlay on our standard flat headstock.
I really like the shape of the Taw – I have one
myself at home – with its tight waist and wider
lower bout I felt the inlays worked the best with
continued on page 4
“
The project was very much a
one-off, but I really do hope
that the guitar as a whole is
appreciated not just as
something to be looked at in
a glass case, but also played...
“
I started to think about Art Deco or Art Nouveau
as the style or theme and began to research the
Internet for some inspiration. I stumbled across
Alphonse Mucha’s work and basically fell in love
with it: fantastic, stylish, colourful painting and
design, and I could also see that there was a lot of
potential to adapt his work to make some
beautiful inlays.
page 4
www.brookguitars.com
Brook Taw
Inspiration
behind the
instrument
from page 3
ALPHONSE Maria Mucha (above) was born in the town of
Ivanãice, Moravia (the present Czech Republic) in 1860.
this model. As for the sound, the Taw isn’t one of
our larger models, but it produces a great sound
that suits different styles of playing. I’m quietly
confident that this one will too.
Drawing had been his main hobby from childhood, and
following high school he worked at decorative painting jobs
in Moravia, mostly painting theatrical scenery, before taking
up freelance decorative and portraiture.
I had to make a decision about what woods to
use for the back and sides before I started the rest
of the inlay work, because I’d decided that
whatever wood I chose would be used for the
inlays too. Again, the idea was that although the
guitar would be covered in inlays, I wanted the
design to work as a whole, to be beautiful but
subtle at the same time.
We had recently cut up 11 sets of bubinga, which
just seemed to arrive at the right time and
perfectly fitted the bill. Bubinga is quite a hard,
stiff wood with a rich dark orange/red colour; it’s
nicely flamed and worked really well with the
black ebony that we used for the bindings,
fingerboard and bridge.
So, apart from the back and headstock inlay, the
repeated use of bubinga and ebony would
provide the red and black theme that appealed to
me; the front is a beautiful, highly-figured set of
Alpine spruce that is perfectly book-matched; and
the laminate neck is flamed sycamore with a
bubinga and ebony centre stripe, along with a
stacked decorative heel.
The approach I took with the bracing was to try
to do as little different from standard as possible,
to be honest. We’ve made over 1,000 guitars now
Moving to Paris in 1887, Mucha produced magazine and
advertising illustrations. Around Christmas 1894, he
happened to go into a print shop where there was a sudden
and unexpected need for a new poster advertising a play
featuring the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt. Mucha
volunteered to create a lithographed poster, and Bernhardt
was so impressed with the result that she began a six-year
contract with Mucha.
and know what works, so apart from one extra
back brace to add a little support under the large
back inlay, all the internal bracing, blocks, linings
etc. are all as standard. The back’s only slightly
thicker than normal, but since the bubinga is
quite stiff and the back is pressed into a curve, I'm
confident that the inlay won’t adversely affect the
structural integrity or tone of the instrument.
In total, there are 16 individual inlays on this
guitar; the back inlay alone consists of 83
individual pieces and the headstock has 62.
Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room to use
the Brook logo in its usual position on the head
veneer inlay so I incorporated ‘Brook’ into the 12th
continued on page 5
Mucha went on to produce a flurry of paintings, posters,
advertisements, and book illustrations, as well as designs for
jewellery, carpets, wallpaper, and theatre sets in what was
termed initially ‘The Mucha Style’, but became known as Art
Nouveau (French for ‘new art’).
His works frequently featured beautiful young women in
flowing, vaguely Neo-classical-looking robes, often
surrounded by lush flowers which sometimes formed halos
behind their heads.
Mucha’s work has continued to experience periodic revivals
of interest for illustrators and artists. Interest in Mucha’s
distinctive style was strong during the 1960s (with a general
interest in Art Nouveau) and is particularly evident in many
psychedelic posters.
More recently, Japanese
manga artists Naoko
Takeuchi and Masakazu
Katsura have mimicked
his style several times,
while former Marvel
Comics Editor in Chief Joe
Quesada also borrowed
from Mucha’s techniques
for a series of covers,
posters, and prints.
(Right) ‘Dance’, the original
Mucha painting which
inspired Jack’s stunning
Brook Taw Nouveau
www.brookguitars.com
page 5
Brook Taw
from page 4
fret position marker inlay.
The inlay work alone took around 100 hours over about three months,
on top of the 80 hours that we estimate goes into the construction of
one standard instrument.
The guitar is now on display at Ivor Mairants in London, and is for sale at
£5,500, if anyone fancies taking a closer look and trying it out! That’s
obviously a lot of money, but it is a very special guitar – I certainly wish
it was mine.
The project was very much a one-off, but I really do hope that the guitar
as a whole is appreciated not just as something to be looked at in a
glass case, but also played.
I must admit that I haven’t given her a name, I’ve just been calling her
’Taw Nouveau, style 020’ – or perhaps it’s just that I don’t want to get too
attached to her!
(Above) Jack strums the first few chords on his
one-of-a-kind custom Taw
The guitar Jack built...
z Bear-claw Engelmann top
z Figured bubinga back and sides
z Figured maple, bubinga and ebony
laminated neck
z Ebony fingerboard, bridge and head
veneer
z Ebony binding with bubinga
purfling
z Waverly tuners
z Bone nut and saddle
z Elixir Polyweb Light strings
I must admit that I haven’t
given her a name – or perhaps
it’s just that I don’t want to get
too attached to her...
page 6
www.brookguitars.com
A selection of some of the inlay work carried out by Jack over the last 12 years...
Custom builds are the lifeblood of
Brook Guitars. From a slight variation
on a ‘standard’model’s spec to the
choice of timbers used, there are many
ways to make a guitar uniquely your
own. But when it comes to
personalising your instrument through
its inlay, that’s where Jack Smidmore,
Brook’s resident expert, comes in...
Interview: Martin Bell.
HERE was a time when simple
dots on the fingerboard and the
occasional headstock logo were
the extent of the ‘decoration’ to
be found on the average guitar.
Notable exceptions were, of course,
Gibsons – reknowned for the slabs of
abalone and ‘signature’ trapezoid inlays on
many of their instruments – whilst the level
of inlay on a Martin has always been
traditionally increased proportionate to the
price tag of the model concerned!
The fine art of
consigned to a glass case, or – worse still – a
hermetically-sealed vault, locked away as a
valuable collector’s item.
Then there are those for whom an inlay
design affords them the opportunity to
personalise an instrument in a completely
unique way, whether through something
Today, however, the ‘art of inlay’ has
reached new heights, developing as it has
in close parallel to the increasingly high
standards that many modern luthiers
continue to set in their work.
At one end of the scale are the elaborate
designs that span the entire surface of a
fingerboard, front and/or back of a guitar;
arguably, such instruments are rightly
considered works of art in themselves,
though – sadly – seldom destined to be
played, heard and enjoyed in public.
Instead, they are more likely to be
Raw materials:
some of
Brook’s stock
of abalone and
mother-ofpearl, in its
natural state
as simple as their initials at the 12th fret –
or a more poignant motif/illustration.
At Brook, Jack Smidmore has carved out his
own niche as ‘inlayer-in-chief’ during the
past 12 years, initially beginning with...
continued on page 7
www.brookguitars.com
page 7
The fine art of
from page 6
initials (!), and working towards the stunning Brook
Taw Nouveau featured in this issue.
I started by asking Jack whether he had undergone
any formal/informal art training, before or since
joining the Brook team...
JS: Apart from a GCSE in graphic design I have had no
formal training, I have always been artistic and spent
many years drawing before I started doing the inlay and
marquetry work.
I’m proud of all my work,
whether it’s a really
complex piece, some fine
lettering or a fantastic
combination of woods...
Left (from top): Bullrushes and
dragonfly design, from an original
concept by customer Steve, from
South Devon;
Tranors/cranes inlaid into the rear
of the headstock of a custom ‘Tidan’
for Daniel in Sweden;
Rocky Mountains High – a
recreation of the Colorado range for
John Denver fan/Midlands singersongwriter Mark Robinson
Tiger, tiger: Jack has earned his ‘stripes’ at Brook with work such as this...
Bottom: The Larry Robinson book that first inspired Jack’s work
MB: How did you first get into the inlay work?
JS: The inlaying came about solely through work; I
think the first inlay I attempted was maybe a
customer’s initials on the 12th fret, probably about 12
years ago now. From there, it would just be small
things like that, a logo here, a name there, a flower, a
Celtic knot. At first I found the whole process quite
stressful, and I was basically learning as I went along.
After spending years drawing as
much detail into my pictures as I
could with depth and shadow,
drawing every hair etc., moving
onto inlays with solid lines,
edges and a limited area to
work with was frustrating. Over
the years I’ve realised that
inlay/marquetry work is just a
totally different craft. I’m now
much more confident with my
design, cutting and use of
materials.
MB: What is the most
unusual/bizarre request
you’ve had to personalise a
guitar with inlay? And is
there anything you’ve ever been asked to do that’s
not been possible, or that you’ve refused?
JS: There have been things that
customers have wanted that I just
couldn’t do and I must say that I do
prefer to work on my own designs. But
if I can work out a design based on a
customer’s suggestion and it’s what
they want, then I’ll do it. I’ve worked on
all kinds of different designs over the
years: birds, dragons, gargoyles,
mountain ranges, skulls, dolphins,
trees, wolves, leaves, flowers, tigers,
cats, horses, knots, names, faces – and
even a complex copy of a customer’s
tattoo.
continued on page 8
page 8
www.brookguitars.com
The fine art of
from page 7
MB: ...and what about the simplest?
JS: Not sure I’ve done one of those yet!
MB: What are the challenges – technical or
otherwise – in producing fine inlay work
such as yours?
JS: There are three parts to my inlay work;
the design, the selection of materials & the
cutting. As long you get those things right
it’s easy!
No, it all starts with the design. An inlay is
essentially just a complex little jigsaw puzzle,
pieces have solid edges that don’t blend and
as I don’t do any engraving on my work all
the lines of detail are cut in using a saw.
Over the years, I’ve worked out what level of
detail is possible, how to use shadow and
create depth. Material selection is important
for creating depth and detail too, how a
particular piece of abalone reflects the light
from the viewing angle or how the grain or
flame in a piece of wood can add texture or
detail to a design. The thing I most like about
my finished inlay work as opposed to my
Some of my latest
work is based from
source photos. After
printing out a picture,
I’ll lightly trace then
re-draw it, dividing it
up into sections...
drawing is the addition of colour, wood is beautiful and my preference for
inlay work.
As for things going wrong, I try to design an inlay that I will be able to cut
but the cutting is the really hard bit, it’s a case of having to get it right – or
being prepared to start that bit again.
MB: What sort of depths/thicknesses of materials are you working with?
And does an intricate fingerboard inlay create any problems when it
comes to re-fretting, or adjusting the relief on a neck? Does it have to be
able to ‘bend’ with the wood, for example?
JS: I thickness my wood veneers to 2.2mm but after sanding they end up
just under 2mm. The abalone and Mother of Pearl comes in smaller pieces
and tends to be thinner, around 1.5mm.
When the guitar goes together, the neck is glued on and left to settle for a
couple of days. We’ll then level the fingerboard and take out any humps or
dips, before routing out the cavity for the inlay. As I initially leave my inlays
loose, they take on the camber of the fingerboard before we glue and fill
around them, prior to the frets going in. That does mean that when we
eventually come to do a re-fret it’s less likely we’ll sand through the inlay.
Pencil-drawn examples of the artistic skills and
attention to detail Jack puts into his inlay work
MB:To create a design such as, for example, the tiger, the tranors/cranes
or the ‘nouveau’ guitar, where do you start? Do you trace over an
continued on page 9
www.brookguitars.com
page 9
The fine art of
(Right) Jack uses a jeweller’s
saw to cut out the intricate
pieces of an inlay design, and
early alternative headstock
designs for the ‘Brook Taw
Nouveau’
from page 8
original ‘source’ picture and work from there, or is everything
done completely ‘by eye’?
JS: I draw out my designs in both of those ways to be honest. All
of the ‘nouveau’ guitar inlay work was drawn out freehand, trying
to copy the Mucha ‘Dance’ design as closely as I could. The sound
hole, V, position markers etc were drawn out with pencil until I
was happy with the designs. The tiger inlays and some of my
latest work is based more from source photos. After resizing,
editing and printing out the picture, I’ll lightly trace the outline
using a light box, then redraw the image dividing it up into
sections and deciding what changes I want or need to make to
the design as I go along.
MB: Aside from your fabulous ‘Taw Nouveau’ project, what inlay
work are you most proud of over the years?
JS: I’m proud of all of my work, whether it’s a really complex
piece, some fine lettering or a fantastic combination of
woods….the truth is – I’m most proud of the last inlay that I
complete and hopefully the next one I finish will turn out to be
the one that I am most proud of!
MB: Are you hoping that the ‘art nouveau’ guitar will be a
‘player’s instrument’, or do you see it more of a ‘collector’s
item’? It’s definitely not the sort of guitar I’d feel comfortable
handing around in the pub, for example!
JS: I know what you mean, the guitar is very much a one-off but I
do hope that the guitar as a whole is appreciated as not just as
something to be looked at but also played.
MB: Have you been inspired by any other makers’ inlay work
(eg Larrivee, William ‘Grit’ Laskin etc)?
(From top) The work of William ‘Grit’
Laskin, Jimmi Wingert and CF Martin
JS: Larry Robinson’s work is great, he’s been doing inlay work for
longer than I have been alive and it was his ‘The Art of Inlay’ book
that first inspired me and showed me the sort of thing that could
be done. I also like Jimmi Wingert’s work, but as for whose work I
really admire, it would have to be ‘Grit’ Laskin’s stuff, which is
absolutely incredible.
MB: I’m asking you to play ‘devil’s advocate’ slightly now – there
are some stunning examples of the ‘art of inlay’ to be found on
so many instruments – the millioneth Martin guitar, for
example, and some of the Grit Laskin guitars, where there’s so
much inlay involved, no wood is even visible. But is there a
‘good taste’ line that’s sometimes crossed – albeit in the name
of creating a true collector’s instrument? What are your
thoughts?
JS: After making the ‘Taw Nouveau’ this might sound a bit of a
contradictory answer but, yes, I DO think there is a ‘good taste’
line that is often crossed! I’m personally not very keen on guitars
with A LOT of abalone inlay work; I can certainly appreciate the
craftsmanship and work that has gone into these ‘shiny’ guitars,
but I do often wonder what an instrument with as much pearl
inlaid directly into the wood sounds like.
I love the way Grit Laskin uses the head veneer and fingerboard
as a canvas for work that is interesting, well-designed and
incredibly executed, but there is something about how abalone &
Mother of pearl sits with any wood other than ebony that I’m not
so keen on...
MB: And finally, what project is next on the cards?
JS: One of my Harris Hawk headstock inlays is going to be used on
a stock Taw that’s making its way through the workshop now.
Other than that, I’m usually either working on a customer’s inlay
at work, a possible future customer’s inlay at home or a new
design. At the moment, I have a selection of designs ready to go
and it’s just a case of choosing which one to start next...
page 10
www.brookguitars.com
Stories
in the
Strings
“
It would be great
to sit back in the
audience and
watch others
perform my works
without having to
worry about
whether my hands
were warmed up
or if my memory
was on the ball...
“
West Country musician/composer Stephen Yates is one of select group of Brook customers to have won ‘Guitarist’
magazine’s ‘Acoustic Guitarist of the Year’ title. Steve’s challenging solo guitar pieces are showcased on the 2010 CD
‘Stories in the Strings’, and here, in a wide-ranging interview, he talked to Martin Bell about his music, composing on
an ancient Atari computer – and his electric alter-ego, Fieldmarshal Gorsefinger... Photos: Melissa Till
MB: When and how did you first start playing?
SY: When I was 13, my mother was helping to look after
a boy with severe learning difficulties who also owned a
cheap plywood guitar, which ended up lying around
our house. I would sit with it and mess around, playing
bits of music I’d heard here and there, whether it was
erstwhile pop songs or attempts at flamenco or ‘Three
Blind Mice’. I didn't regard it as ‘learning an instrument’, I
was just messing about. After a while, I was allowed to
have a go on a Spanish guitar my mother owned. That’s
how it all started...
loved the sound of the flamenco guitar and my mum
picked up a copy of ‘Flamenco Virtuoso’ by Philip John
Lee (who sadly died recently), which I listened to
incessantly and which gave me my first experience of
working stuff out off records. I was also interested in the
electric guitar as the older kids in school had bands
who’d perform occasionally playing contemporary hits. I
remember reading somewhere that in terms of sheer
physical complexity, the guitar was the hardest
instrument in the world and that was another spur. Who
could resist that challenge!
MB: Was music always your primary career goal?
MB: Who/what were your earliest influences?
SY: That year (1973) I do recall hearing Segovia on the
radio a couple of times and being very taken by the
sound of the classical guitar. On top of that, I’d always
SY: In school I flatly refused to study music as I knew it
would ruin my enjoyment of the subject just as it had
done to every other, but I did after about 18 months
continued on page 11
www.brookguitars.com
page 11
Stories
in the
Strings
from page 10
submit to my mother’s demands to get a private
teacher as I had to admit that by that time my playing
had reached quite an advanced level, ( I was already
learning classical concert pieces) armed as I was with fullsized photos of Segovia’s hands and ancient tomes by
such luminaries as Aguado etc. So I studied with David
Stanley in Exeter and subsequently with Douglas
Rogers at the London College of Music. Obviously I
never had lessons on electric guitar, or in blues playing
or banjo, or any of my other stuff, as there were no
teachers of those styles then. Sometime around age 16 I
guess I started to realise that I wanted to be a full-time
guitarist, but I still had to go through the pointless ritual
of A levels in subjects I had no interest in by then and
couldn’t really give the guitar my undivided attention
till I was 18.
MB: How do you make your living today?
SY: Most of my income is derived from teaching but
due to times being as hard as they are I'm actually
forced to put on concerts just to earn a little more
money. Never let it be said that hardships don't have
their benefits.
MB: You reached a point in 2005, when – by your own
admission –you were ‘forced to accept that classical
guitar and me were doomed to part company’. Yet
recently, you seem to have returned to it again, rerecording compositions originally composed/performed
on the steel-string guitar. Why is that?
SY: When I said I had parted company with classical
guitar I was thinking primarily about the whole clasiscal
repertoire thing. I have no intention of going back to
playing programmes entirely made up of other people’s
works, although I always throw in a few when playing to
‘non-specialist’ audiences. My main aim was to be a
composer performer and I didn’t seem to be able to
compose on a Spanish guitar for some reason. Its
particular sonority did not inspire ideas. The issue of the
instrument is also important, inasmuch as I don’t see
why a steel strung guitar cannot be used in this way (i.e.
for through-composed pieces). Barrios used steel strings
and not always out of necessity either, because when
Eclectic
electric...
FOR all his virtuosity on the acoustic/classical guitar,
Steve is equally well-known for his prowess on the
electric guitar. He holds regular electric workshops near
his Devon home, and has produced an electric guitar
ensemble repertoire under the pseudonym
‘FieldMarshall GorseFinger’...
the opportunity to switch to gut came he turned it
down. It’s true I had no initial intention of performing
my works on a nylon string instrument but it became
apparent that many of them would actually sound
better this way, and ultimately it’s the music that matters.
I enjoy the projection and dynamic of a good Spanish
guitar and the fact that I don’t need to amplify. I’m not,
however, abandoning steel string in any way. It’s just
taken me the last nine months to get my pieces to work
properly on a Spanish, and all my latest Youtube uploads
have been on such an instrument. I must admit, they
seem to work well on it!
MB: There are few, if any, other guitarists playing such
complex music on the steel-string acoustic; did you
have to make any technical ‘concessions’ to playing
these pieces on the steel-string guitar, or were they
originally conceived for the instrument?
SY: To date, all my pieces were written on a steel-strung
instrument except those that were written on a
computer, with no specific sound in mind (eg ‘Mr Hyde's
Hop’ and ‘Elegy for a Forgotten Story’). ‘The Girl Who
Touched The Sky’ was written on an electric guitar
originally, although I perform it on acoustic. I have up to
now made few if any concessions to difficulty. I never
ever thought I’d perform ‘Mr Hyde's Hop’ because I
assumed it to be unplayable on a single guitar. The
piece was just written as an abstract piece, and a lot of
work went into finding fingerings that would render it
playable without altering the notes.
My new year’s resolution, however, is to write slightly
easier pieces, as the amount of preparation some of my
stuff requires is something of a nuisance. Obviously,
these pieces are even harder on a nylon string (Spanish)
guitar as the neck is a lot thicker and high fret access
severely limited. I’ll never be able to play ‘The Girl Who
Touched the Sky’ on one, because the high passages
can’t be made to sound smooth – at least not by me.
MB: Do you usually compose with guitar in hand or do
you adopt the view that it's better that technique
should expand in order to play new music?
SY: Composing on the instrument has two big
continued on page 12
MB: Did your electric guitar playing develop in
parallel to your classical/acoustic studies?
SY: It’s worth remembering that the early 1970s were
a period of tremendous musical eclecticism. Electric
guitarists such as Jan Akkerman, for instance,
thought nothing of including a few renaissance lute
solos on their albums, and John Williams was seen
playing a Les Paul! As a result, I played both classical
and rock and saw nothing odd in so doing. I was also
playing bluegrass banjo and masses of blues. In fact,
for a while those two areas were where I spent most
of my time. I still think I’m a better banjo player than
guitarist.
MB: Do you regard electric and acoustic as two
separate ‘identities’or two halves of the same whole?
SY: This is a really interesting question and I could go
on all day but I’ll try not to! I’ve always noticed that I
can’t practice electric in the morning and classical in
the afternoon as when I am enthused with either one
I am consumed by it and have no interest in the other.
Everything about electric guitar seems almost
anathema to a classical sensibility and vice versa. I’d
even go as far as to say that my whole personality
alters depending on which one I’m immersed in so,
yes, they ARE separate identities but it’s not electric
which is the odd one out but classical. I’d lump my
electric playing self in with my steel string, blues and
banjo-playing self, but when I play classical
everything alters and was one reason why I have
always been uncomfortable as a straight classical
player and contributed to why I gave it up.
When I play electric, there’s not a whiff of the
classical or acoustic about it. I play a bluesy fusion
style these days, although I was a hard rock player in
my youth.
I like plenty of caustic overdrive a la Frank Zappa,
although these days I use a Strat. I suppose the
player I most admire at
present is Guthrie Govan and
I tend in that direction but a
little less jazzy.
www.myspace.com/
fieldmarshallgorsefinger
page 12
www.brookguitars.com
Stories
in the
Strings
your pieces appear to be very much
centred on harmonic/theoretic/
technical concepts – others (particularly
a tune like ‘Summers Spent’) possess
more melodic romanticism about
them, and tell more of a story. Discuss!
from page 11
advantages. Firstly, you are able to work directly on the
sonorities and textures that will make the music
attractive. Music written away from the instrument
can often feel awkward in this respect. Much
classical guitar repertoire of the last century was
written by non guitarists and can suffer in this
way. Creating a consistent sonority is vital to
guitar music, hence the reason so many players
these days use DADGAD. Look at the marvelous
sound flamenco players get – they write on the
instrument. Secondly, the music is, as a result of
these factors, usually a lot easier to perform.
On the other hand, writing away from the
instrument is a lot quicker. Put a guitar in my hands
and the fingers will immediately suggest myriad
alternatives to any given phrase resulting in a severe
‘bogging down’ of the creative process. Personally, I can
write three or four pieces using my computer to hold
each idea as it comes in the time it would take me to
get one piece together on the instrument, with all the
repetitive faffing that goes with doing it that way.
MB: Speaking of computers, I know that you have an
old machine to assist you while composing. How does
this work?
SY: I use a truly antedeluvian Atari 1040 running a
programme called Notator, which brings the basic score
on the screen and you click your crotchets and quavers
on with the mouse. The whole thing is only 2MB and
dates from about 1988. I run it into an old Roland
JV1080 synth which can, if I want it to, sound like a
crude orchestra.
My current method of composition is a cunning
combination of on the instrument and off with me
sitting at the computer with a guitar on my lap. I think
of what I want to hear and put the notes in. I then check
the phrase on the guitar for playability and sound and
make what adjustments are necessary to create a
guitaristic effect. This way I don’t have to make
modifications once the piece is finished. I’ll then write it
out by hand on manuscript and learn it as I would any
piece.
MB: How do you approach composition? Some of
SY: Ultimately, it’s all about having a
piece of music in my head that I want to
make concrete and doing so, but the
process can take several forms. A piece
like ‘Io Pan’ has a structural concept that
I decided I would stick to come what
may and use as a backbone for the
melodies, which could then be made to
echo each other as a result of this
common rhythmic relationship. On the
other hand, ‘Elegy for a Forgotten Story’
was an attempt to create a certain sonic
effect of slow floating melodies over a
rather expansive backdrop.
As a rule I find the most important factor
is some sort of cohesive structure.
Above all the music must feel balanced
otherwise no amount of pretty tunes
and harmonies will redeem it from
sounding awful.
I’ve found exceptional delicacy
and lightness of tone in Brook
guitars – very bright but also
sweet and ideally suited to
fingerstyle playing...
There are times when I may map out
whole sections so that I know how long
melodic phrases are going to need to
be. This is one area where working on
the Atari is very helpful. The overall
structure is much easier to monitor. I do
have concepts in terms of melody and
harmony. My first completed solo piece
was ‘The Girl Who Touched the Sky’ and
that is an exploration of the hexatonic
scale using pentatonic in the melody
but referring to a sixth note in the bass
or internal voices. This inspired me to
use this system rather a lot and people
might be forgiven for thinking that that
is my compositional style but in fact it
was just a phase I was going through.
My more typical style would be
exemplified by either ‘Mr Hyde’s Hop’ or
‘March For A Free Man’, especially the
latter with its ambiguous tonality. If you
look on Myspace under ‘Music’, for
‘FieldMarshall GorseFinger’ you will hear
some of my compositions for electric
guitar ensemble. One, entitled ‘Return To
the Sky’, is an attempt to use ‘The Girl
Who Touched...’ style but enriched by the
larger number of notes happening at
any one time. ‘Gorilla Tango’ and ‘Zooch
Thrust Sprool, Caroline Thrust Zooch’ are
highly chromatic and ‘Man Stacks Stone’
was where I first turned on to the
hexatonic thing and was actually where
I derived many of the chord shapes and
ideas for ‘The Girl Who Touched The Sky’.
MB: Do you think of yourself as a
guitarist who composes your own
music - or a composer who just so
happens to play guitar?
SY: I think if I had more outlet for my
non guitar stuff I might start feeling like
more of a composer. It would be great
to sit back in the audience and watch
others perform my works, without
having to worry about whether my
hands were warmed up or if my
memory was on the ball. Hell, I could
even have a drink BEFORE the gig! As it
happens though I must confess to
feeling more of a guitarist who now
performs his own stuff although it does
make a sizeable difference to how I view
performing. When I played standard
repertoire it was all about how well I go
down as a player.( compared to all the
names who have played those works in
the past) Now it's also how well the
pieces go down. I don't feel I’m being
compared to others so much, which is a
relief, but on the other hand I have to
dish up music no-one’s ever heard
before and make them like it.
MB: What music do you listen to and
what inspires you?
My standard answer is that I never listen
to music – but that’s not strictly true. I
enjoy the folk music of all parts of the
world, particularly in its unmodernised
forms; the more ‘primitive’ the better.
I’m developing a Radio 3 habit at
present and I’ve always enjoyed the
Russian nationalists, such as Mussorgsky,
as well as great quantities of early 20th
century stuff like Ravel or Scriabin.
I still like the old blues men and recently
wrote a number of songs in the style of
Charlie Patton, as it’s hard to find
continued on page 13
www.brookguitars.com
Stories
in the
Strings
page 13
beautiful guitar to look at as well. I used to own
a Torridge, but sadly had to part with it some
years ago. At that time I wasn’t playing steelstring acoustic and I also wanted a Strat, so it
had to go. Shame, as it was a very fine
instrument.
from page 12
musicians with any commitment down here
these have never been performed. I adore
Flamenco and keep telling myself to make
time to actually play it as it was my first love
on the guitar. I do like some popular forms. A
lot of 70s prog still inspires me, or a band like
Little Feat, and there’s masses of new stuff I
enjoy too. I really like electronic music if it’s
done well; Aphex Twin, for example, is an
artist I’ve been very impressed by.
I still enjoy much reggae, especially some of
the older stuff like Prince Far I or Augustus
Pablo. It has a haunting quality that’s really
unique.
Two artists in particular have had an impact
on me. One is Don Vliet, aka Captain
Beefheart, who has inspired me in much of
the electric guitar compositions that I’ve
done, even if they aren’t actually using
similar ideas as such. The other – much
more importantly for me, since he’s
greatly influenced my compositions –
is a man who, strangely enough, was a
school friend of Vliet’s, and that is, of
course, the late, great Mr Frank Zappa.
It was hearing his piece ‘G-Spot Tornado’
that made me realise I could compose as
I was able to notate it in my mind whilst
hearing it due to the musical language
corresponding to the one I had become
familiar with through my study of the electric
guitar. This served as a window into wider
musical systems becoming available to me in
the same way as all the myriad bizarre scales I
used while improvising became tools for
composition.
In general I’m not sure if I’ve spoken much
about my compositional influences, but I
definitely feel an affinity with Ravel and
Stravinsky, as well as Mussorgsky, Janacek,
Scriabin, Kordaly and Zappa. Progressive rock
is also something that permeates what I do,
as well as world music and early music. Old
Irish harp music, of which very little survives,
is a good example of the type of thing I like to
play with.
MB: What guitarists/musicians do you like/
listen to?
SY: I’ve probably had a phase of being ‘into’
pretty much every guitarist I’ve ever heard
(well, maybe with a few exceptions). There’s
always something to latch onto. One player,
though, stands out a mile and that’s Paco de
Lucia. He revolutionised flamenco guitar not
once, or even twice, but three times! He has
produced more crossover sub-genres, new
ensemble line-ups and instrumental
combinations and general internationalism
MB: What qualities have I found in Brooks?
than any other musician I can think of – and he’s
a guitarist! There’s something we can all be
proud of. Others who continue to inspire me
include Kazuhito Yamashita; what he did in the
1980s is still unsurpassed and he is in my
opinion the one true original thinker in classical
guitar of the last 30 years. Guthrie Govan is also
someone I am constantly in awe of. What he
can’t do on electric isn’t worth doing.
I could go on, but there are really too many. As
for musicians who are not guitarists: all of them!
All the leading classical soloists, singers, jazz
saxophonists, Mongolian throat singers, Irish
uilleann pipers. Dead or alive, they’re all great...
MB: What musical projects do you currently
have on the go?
SY: At present I just want to build up a
respectable body of solo guitar works. I have a
mass of musical styles and ideas that I’ve yet to
try on the guitar and I’m on the lookout for
what might be the best way forward. Only by
constant experimentation will I discover what I
like to write and to perform, and what will
make the most effective guitar music. There are
other things I’d like to do as well, but I feel at
present that I need to press on with my solo
guitar project. I haven’t composed anything in
2012 as a way of refreshing my creative
energies, so you can guess what my 2013 New
Year’s resolution is...
MB: Besides being a fellow Devonian, what
led you to Brook guitars?
SY: Well, I’ve known Simon (Smidmore) since
1976, so I suppose that is the main reason I
knew about Brook – although I wouldn’t buy
someone’s guitar if I didn't think it was good, no
matter how close a friend they were!
I currently play a custom Taw, with a cutaway
and a slightly short (63cm) scale. It has a spruce
top, Indian rosewood back and sides. It’s rather
‘aristocratic’ sounding, which is in my opinion
one of the strengths of Brook’s instruments.
Very bright and full of overtones. It’s also a
SY: Exceptional delicacy and lightness of tone
and feel. Very bright, but also sweet and ideally
suited to fingerstyle playing. Bright and full of
overtones with an almost porcelain quality,
especially in the basses, which gives great
clarity and definition. They also make a very
wide variety of instruments which obviously
increases the likelihood of finding something
you like.
MB: Do you have any other instruments ‘in
the pipeline’?
SY: If you refer to me getting another Brook
then yes, I am thinking of getting a yew-backed
guitar off them some time, as I’ve been
exceptionally impressed with their use of yew
in guitars and its tonal qualities. In particular, I
love the response that a guitar with back and
sides of yew gives. It’s so light and easy to play,
with a lot of sustain. I feel it gives similar
characteristics as found in cypress, which is
used for flamenco guitars, but applied to a steel
string i.e. lighter and more immediate.
I nearly asked them to build me one when I was
looking at my current model, but it would have
taken time and so I did the ‘bird in the hand’
thing and bought the one I did, but I do still
definitely lust somewhat over other people’s
yew-backed Brooks – so I suspect it’s only a
matter of time before I succumb!
www.youtube.com/user/stephenyatesacoustic
www.stephenyatesguitaristcomposer.co.uk
page 14
www.brookguitars.com
“
The ‘art’ is the inspirational
bit; the ‘craft’ is the careful
working of the initial melody
idea, to bring it out and
realise its full potential...
“
I first met singer-songwriter Phil Bird and his lovely
partner, Anna Georghiou, at the summer party at
Brook’s workshop in July 2012.
It was one of those amazing musical experiences that
often strike one totally unexpectedly. I knew I was
going to meet some lovely people that weekend, and
take part in some wonderful music-making – but the
moment I heard Phil’s distinctive voice singing one of
his wonderfully authentic narratives, I knew I was
hearing someone with a unique gift: the ability not
only to weave truly mesmerising stories, but also
someone who could pen the most gorgeous melodies
and envelop them in a positively orchestral sound of
the most intricately picked, harmonically rich textures,
all backed up by a beautiful-sounding yew cutaway
Tamar.
I bought two of Phil’s self-released CDs, and knew that
I had to find out more about this fine musician, and
share it with fellow readers.
Rob Jessep
Like the Brook guitars he uses to accompany them, modern-day troubador Phil Bird’s songs are
meticulously hand-crafted in the West Country. Here, he discusses with Rob Jessep the art of songwriting, his inspiration and influences – and the general ‘quality’of listening at open mic nights.
Photos: Anna Georghiou
Bird songs
RJ: Phil, how would you describe your music and what you do?
PB: I am an independent singer songwriter. My songs often have a narrative quality, inspired by our
relationship to history, folklore, mythology, the natural environment and each other, and probably 1,001
crazy experiences that defy rational explanation!
continued on page 15
www.brookguitars.com
page 15
Bird songs
from page 14
RJ: Hearing your guitar style for the first time I was
astonished by its intricacy and the orchestral sound
you get from your Tamar – who were your influences?
PB: I first played guitar in the late 60s. I loved the
playing of musicians as diverse as John Fahey, Bert
Jansch, The Incredible String Band, Martin Carthy and a
whole host of influences from that time. I don’t
remember learning much from tablature books, but I
can still see myself in my angst ridden teenage
bedroom slowing down the speed on the latest 33rpm
vinyl to learn the and patterns licks.
RJ: Do you still play any tunes by those great players?
PB: I remember learning John Fahey’s ‘Sunflower River
Blues’ note by note, and many of Bert Jansch’s beautiful
songs. Bert was a massive influence on a whole
generation of guitarists. You could learn the licks but
you couldn’t imitate him; there was very individual soul
at work in his playing, and very different to Davey
Graham, who was a major influence on him. Stuff that I
learned then has influenced me immensely and has
become part of what I do, but no, I don’t play any
specific tunes from that formative time.
Phil with his
Brook custom
Tamar
It’s best to write ideas
down as you have
them, even if it has to
be on a beer mat or a
bus ticket. I’ve lost a
lot of stuff by being
lazy and thinking
‘oh, I’ll write it down
later...’
RJ: Do you think that with the immediacy of the
internet, and other digital technologies, we are
beginning to lose valuable skills such as the ability to
learn songs from actually listening to records?
PB: Today we are immersed in the digital sea of music
and muzac, we are saturated with it and musical culture
has become very mix and match. The problem as I see it
is that many of the younger players can acquire quite
phenomenal technical skills and seem to see this as an
end in itself, but sometimes the technical skills seem to
hide an emotional vacuity.
I had relatively few role models, but what I loved to
learn was as much of the heart as the head, immersed
inside the music and learning to play it from the inside.
Guitarists as musical gunslingers is not what it’s about
for me. Some of the most beautiful songs I have heard
are pared down; the most technically sophisticated
music is not necessarily the most accomplished. Some
songs are moving because they have a pared down
simplicity, heartfelt, with a transparency of technique.
RJ: Your songs seem so perfectly structured and the
lyrics so easy and free flowing. What comes first, the
words or the music?
PB: As a songwriter who runs song-writing workshops I
often get to discuss this question. There are as many
ways to write a song as there are songwriters. When
doodling around on guitar a melody may suggest a
mood and words may enter into that; or a particular
place, memory, or incident may trigger the wish to
write and I bring it to the guitar later. I always keep a
song writing diary, I also sketch out musical ideas with
tablature and record them on the digi studio, so that I
remember them and work on them later. It’s best to
write ideas down as soon as you have them, even if it
has to be on a beer mat or a bus ticket, I have lost a lot
of stuff by being lazy and thinking, “oh, I’ll write it down
later.”
RJ: So do you have studio at home?
PB: Yes, I have a Korg Digital Studio. I use two Sampson
large diaphragm mics, one at the lower bout and one at
the 12th fret to record the guitar, and I also use a Shure
vocal mike. I am having to re-think this, however, as I
like to record live with no overdubs and the condensers
give a lot of bleed-through from the vocals. I’m not very
technically-minded, so I am seeking advice on this at
the moment.
RJ: Do your melodies come fully formed, or do they
require a bit of ‘crafting’?
PB: My melodies may have their roots in a love of folk
balladry contemporary and traditional, but I guess
influences come from everywhere; we are saturated
with music and muzak. When I’m playing with chord
progressions, a melody comes along and weaves
around that. Initially, a melody motif may be a
spontaneous expression of mood. Whatever comes as
inspiration needs to be shaped into a vessel which
supports and carries the song’s narrative and essence.
Beautiful melodies come like a gift from who knows
where! But song-writing is a craft as well as an art. The
art is the inspirational bit, the craft is the careful
working of the initial melody idea, to bring it out and
realise its full potential. It may be a bit of a cliché but
sometimes the really beautiful melodies almost write
themselves.
RJ: I know when I come up with an idea I like, but isn’t
quite fully formed, sometimes the pressure is on to
try to make something of it – the ‘crafting’ bit is where
the real hard work comes isn’t it?
PB: Yes, that’s right. I hope I’m getting better at honing
down and editing songs back to their essence. I’ve
always been a word hoarder, so editing is hard work.
continued on page 16
page 16
www.brookguitars.com
Bird songs
Phil with two of his Brooks, a custom Tamar
and a custom Bovey made from local woods
from page 15
timbers; a rosewood Tavy, and a beautiful
custom cutaway Tamar with a yew body and
extra wide fretboard, which I use as my main
gigging instrument.
A painter once said something to me which I feel
applies equally to music: ‘If you have a precious jewel –
your painting – you might find the whole painting gets
blocked if you just try to fit all your composing decisions
around it. Sometimes, we have to let go of the darling bits,
and then the painting breathes again.’
It’s like that with songs: each part is there to support
the whole, not just to shine on its own.
I have a song box where I put all the lines I like but can’t
use in a particular song. At song-writing workshops, I
offer them out – if anyone is stuck for an idea, they can
use them. It’s a fun exercise and it works well, and gets
interesting results.
RJ: I’m interested in the Bovey being built of local
timbers. Do you feel it is important for luthiers to
explore using materials nearer to home? Andy
Manson, who is also known for using timbers
such as cherry, yew, English walnut, pear and
other fruit woods, once wrote about how lute
makers would always use home grown local
woods. As clichéd as this might sound, do you
think this produces a more ‘English-sounding’
guitar?
PB: I’m not sure; all tone woods have different
qualities, and I guess where they are grown must
play a part, so it’s very possible. I wonder what
Simon and Andy think about this?
RJ: What tunings do you play in and what do you feel
about alternate tunings in general?
PB: I use what may now be seen as the ‘standard’
alternative standard tuning – DADGAD – also variants of
open C and G tunings in, both major and minor modes.
On one or two pieces I have come across an interesting
tuning by the ‘what happens if...’ method, ‘let’s see how
it sounds when I drop the B down a half-tone...’, or stuff
like that. I’m not very scientific or methodical about it. I
would urge people to check out Woody Mann’s ‘Gig Bag
Book of Alternate Tunings’ (Amsco Publications, 1997).
I want to find out what it is I don’t know,
and what a tuning can teach me...
There’s enough there for a lifetime. But I don’t want to
become an alt tuning anorak. If the mood or idea you
are exploring suggests a tuning then you should use it,
but to explore the possibilities of any tuning takes time
and effort and lots of listening. Avoid the flash and
gimmickry, I say – but I don’t always take my own advice!
RJ: As someone who has been exploring Csus2
(CGCGCD) for about 12 months now, I would agree it
takes time to fully explore a particular tuning, but
when you do, it opens up so many creative
possibilities. Is there something you do in particular
to explore a new tuning? For example, do you find out
where common chords and intervals are, or do you
simply allow the tuning to unfold its magic gradually?
PB: Yes, I like your idea of gradually unfolding the magic
of a tuning. I try to let the unexpected have a voice. I
don’t want to superimpose what I already know on a
new tuning – I want to find out what it is I don’t know,
and what the tuning can teach me.
continued on page 17
Tools of the trade
RJ: What is it about Brook guitars that draws you
towards them as your instrument of choice?
PB: I first visited Andy and Simon’s wonderful
workshop when I took a Martin HD28 for repair around
1997. What musicians look for in a guitar is very
subjective, so all I can say is that I fell in love with the
clarity of Brooks’ tone quality across the range of
instruments and their astounding level of
craftsmanship and design. The elegance, lightness of
touch, playability and overall aesthetic feel of the
instruments just resonated with me deeply. I had been
trying out a number of other makers’ guitars, including
Lowdens and Fyldes, and although I had found several
good prospective instruments, the Brooks had an extra
indefinable sound quality and presence. These are
handmade, home-grown guitars with a well-deserved
international reputation.
So, in the end I sold the Martin, and over the years I’ve
come to own several fine Brook instruments.
RJ: How many Brooks do you own?
PB: The Taw, my first purchase, is a really early
instrument that has matured in tone quality over the
years, and kept its structural integrity despite the
tough time it has probably had with me as an owner! I
also have a custom Bovey completely built of local
RJ: I know that Brook seem to be making a
constant stream of instruments with cherry, yew
and English walnut, even recently chestnut from
someone’s own garden. To me at least a Brook
will always sound like a Brook, no matter what
the tonewood, and I remember having a recent
conversation with Simon where he was of the
opinion that the top has far more influence on
the sound than the back and side woods.
So, what would be your ultimate Brook (if you
don’t already own it)?
PB: I guess the simple answer would be ‘the next
one’! A while back Simon and Andy invited me
to play on a small-bodied 12 string, The Little
Silver. I have owned several 12-strings over the
years and always ended up selling them, as
being too heavy, cumbersome and grim to tune.
The Little Silver is different: incredibly light yet
robust and it plays with an ease approaching
that of a six-string regarding string tension and
action. I would definitely like to own one...’deep
inside my heart I carry the dream’. Ha ha!
RJ: I know of another Brook owner who has
written a number of pieces for a 12-string Little
Silver, which he described as ‘Sounds like little
angels tap-dancing on crystals’. It would
certainly make a great songwriting tool.
PB: Yes, without a doubt it would be great, I‘ve
always found that when I play an unfamiliar
instrument, new songs come out. The unfamiliar
tends to enchant and stimulate the imagination.
Sometimes, no matter how good the instrument,
I can fall into a rut with it. New sonorities wake
me up – or maybe that’s just an excuse for me to
obtain yet another guitar!
www.brookguitars.com
page 17
Bird songs
from page 16
I try all sorts of shapes and fingerings out, the major
and minor progressions tend to sort themselves out
naturally in the process. But I don’t start deliberately
imprinting them.
I have doodled around with that wonderful Csus2 tuning
you showed me. It’s sheer delight and I hope I will find a
song in there sometime.
RJ: As someone who has all but convinced himself
that he cannot write lyrics how would you approach
working with someone like me? Do you actual think
anyone can write a song?
PB: Yes, I believe that anyone who really wants to can
write songs. I have run workshops where really powerful
lyrics have emerged from people who thought they
couldn’t write. Once we get beyond trying to write how
a song should sound, and dig into our own real interests
and life experiences, and stuff we really care about,
then clichés dissolve and authentic writing begins.
One thing that makes workshops so exciting is getting
to the end of a session and thinking Woah! I wish I
could have thought of that line. Some people on
workshops write really great stuff – it keeps me on my
mettle.
RJ: You recently performed some new, and as yet
unrecorded songs at last year’s Brook summer party.
They told poignant stories of characters such as tin
miners and witches. Are they going to be on your
next album?
PB: Spirit of place has always been an influence in my
work. Here in Okehampton on the edge of Dartmoor I
have written several new songs.
‘The Tinner’ came about after several visits to tin
workings and mediaeval sites around the awesome
vast, sparse moorland of Scorhill. This song is a fictional
portrait of a miner working during the times of the
harsh stannary laws and iniquitous Lydford jail.
‘The Salmon’ is another recent song inspired by the two
Ockment streams which rise on the deep moor, flow
through the lush oak wood valleys and join in the heart
of the town. Atlantic salmon still return here after many
years at sea to breed in the very stream they were born
in. In the song I wanted to contrast the seemingly
ageless cyclical return of the salmon, with the more
fleeting aspects of our human condition. By the salmon
run is an old kissing gate leading to what was once a
Victorian workhouse, so the song also explores the joy
of youth contrasted with the frailties and cruelties of
old age.
‘The Witch of Litchfield’ came about after visiting the
cathedral city of Lichfield, which has the dubious
honour of being the last town in England to burn a
heretic at the stake in 1566. The song’s harrowing
theme is about hysteria, superstition, and religious
persecution during the era of Europe’s infamous witch
trials. It’s a tale told through the eyes of the husband of
a young wise woman, who is accused of witchcraft and
cruelly put to death. All three of these songs will be on
the new CD, ‘Gleeman’s Tales’.
There are surprisingly very few
opportunities for acoustic players to play
out to sympathetic, listening audiences...
and some folk club singarounds have all
the expectant atmosphere of a dentist’s
waiting room..!
RJ: Can you tell us about the acoustic sessions you run
in Okehampton – what sort of turnout do you get?
How are they run?
PB: We wanted to open an acoustic club, rather than an
open mike, of which there are so many; some are very
good, but others are more like musicians’ cattle markets,
where players are shunted on and off and the music
treated as if it were auditory wallpaper – just a
background to banter. There are so many good
musicians around and they deserve more than that.
RJ: This rings very true for me – I recently went to my
local folk club, which was having a ‘singaround’ ,
where we all sat round in a circle and dutifully played
our little piece, before moving straight on to the next
item. It felt more like a conveyor belt!
PB: There are surprisingly very few opportunities for
acoustic players to play out to sympathetic, listening
audiences. It’s all got very silly. I have sat in open mics
where really fine and original acoustic players have
had to put up with a constant barrage of banter.
Maybe it’s stuffy of me, but I find that so disrespectful,
dumbed down and ignorant. Why can’t people just
stop babbling and enjoy the wonderful experience of
listening? I must be careful not to get on my high
horse here, as there are quality open mics, but the
general level does make me angry when I see fine
music being ignored and some folk club singarounds
do have all the expectant atmosphere of a dentists
waiting room!
It was in response to such dissatisfaction that we
decided to start up our own acoustic club, in a
community centre rather than pub. We have a cafe
style atmosphere with candlelight, people can bring
their own drinks- alcohol or non- and we provide a
performance platform for 4-5 different acts each
monthly session. Each set is about 25 minutes, so
performers have a chance to settle in and give a mini
concert, and the audience of around 30 to 40 people
do come to listen when people are performing.
RJ: As an independent musician, what is involved in
trying to promote your own work and get your name
out there?
PB: It is difficult for independent artists to get their
work out. Making CDs has been a bit of a home-grown
industry for me since the mid-1990s and I’ve produced
several albums – ‘Storm Gold’, ‘Little Vessel’, ‘The
Famous Flying Bedstead’, Shape the Clay’ – and a
poem and narrative album called ‘Snapshot Horizon’.
Websites are important, and my partner Anna has just
continued on page 20
page 18
www.brookguitars.com
The mere thought of going anywhere near a truss rod strikes fear into the hearts of most guitarists. But maintaining your
Brook Guitars’Simon Smidmore explains in this simple ‘how to’guide to guitar set-ups...
instrument’s playability is a lot easier than you might think – as
That’s a relief...
EVERY Brook guitar that leaves our workshop at
Easterbrook does so having been set up for what
we consider to be optimum ‘playability’ – that is to
say, it should be possible to play in any position
on the fretboard without having to exert an
uncomfortable amount of pressure.
In general terms, a guitar with a low action is easier to
play than one with a high action. A very low action,
however, can also reduce the volume of your guitar
and, in some cases, affect the intonation. And if the
action is too low, the strings may also rattle against the
frets, causing that annoying ‘fret buzz’ we’ve all
experienced from time to time.
This ‘playability’ is down to what is known as the ‘action’
of your guitar – the distance between the top of the
frets and the bottom of the strings.
Conversely, a guitar with an action that is too high will
almost certainly be difficult to play beyond the first few
frets – and pretty impossible the higher up the neck
you venture. Fine for slide
guitarists, perhaps, but a
nightmare for the rest of us!
We’re all as different as our
guitars, with different playing
styles, different string gauge
preferences etc. Add to that the
fact that the wood your guitar is
made from is a ‘living’ medium,
susceptible to changes in
temperature, humidity and a
host of other factors, and it’s
easy to understand why your
guitar’s action/set-up will need
periodic/regular maintenance.
Think of it as a ’100,000 note’
service and oil change for your
guitar…
Whilst it’s always best to entrust
these set-ups to the skills of an
experienced repairperson – or,
preferably, the luthiers who
made your instrument! – we can
appreciate that this won’t
always be practical or possible.
But with a little practical knowhow, the right tools and a little
confidence (!), anyone can make
the sort of small, ‘fine tuning’
adjustments to their guitar that
can make all the difference to its
playability, without fear of
causing any irreparable damage.
Three necks take shape, two with the channel routed out ready for the truss rod
It’s a common misconception to
simply think that adjusting the
action on your guitar is a case
At Brook, we build fine ‘controllability’ into
our necks, which allows plenty of scope for
adjustment as and when necessary...
of EITHER raising/lowering the height of the saddle (the
bit slotted into the bridge that the strings rest on!) OR
cranking the truss rod in one direction or another.
Very often, the correct set-up on your guitar will be
achieved by a subtle combination of the two, in greater
or lesser degrees – and, in more extreme cases, other
remedial action best left to the professionals.
But before we get into the ‘how to’ part of the article
then, it’s perhaps first best to understand the
‘mechanics’ of what we’re dealing with, and how it all
works within the context of your guitar’s set-up’.
Sometimes, looking down the neck of your guitar can
give the alarming impression of a ‘bow’ or a dip in the
neck, when in reality there isn’t really any more than
there should be. Neck bow is often talked about in
hushed tones, as though it’s one of the worst things
that can happen to a guitar. Certain companies, such as
Martin, have always built in a certain amount of
intentional bow into their necks – although that was in
the days when a non-adjustable reinforcing metal bar
was embedded inside Martins’ necks.
At Brook, we build fine ‘controllability’ into our necks,
allowing plenty of scope for adjustment as and when
necessary.
As part of this short article on setting up your Brook,
we thought it might be helpful to show a few photos of
the stages of the building process we use at the
workshop by way of an explanation.
We initially cut the neck blanks from large boards and
store them until they’re at the same humidity as the
rest of the woods we’ll be using on the guitars. When
we’re satisfied the neck blanks are stable we’ll square
the top edge along with the top of the headstock and
face the headstock with an ebony head veneer (see left).
The next stage is to rout a curved channel centrally
continued on page 19
www.brookguitars.com
page 19
1
That’s a relief...
from page 18
along the neck blank and cut and chisel out a
housing for the adjustment nut one end.
When the body end of the neck has been
dovetailed another housing is chiselled out to
trap the locked nut which stops the rod turning.
2
Andy cuts to size and threads each end of the
stainless steel rod. He makes up a brass nut and
washer on his lathe for the adjustment end.
We wax the bar to allow it to move in the slot
then glue and press wooden fillets tightly over it
so the rod follows the curve of the channel.
There is a strip of ebony at each end of the fillet
to give the nuts and washers something solid to
draw up to.
3
After the excess wood from the fillet is removed
and the top edge is squared off we fit the
dovetail to the body and position the
fingerboard with pins before gluing and
clamping it.
Now we have the truss rod under tension – as
you tighten the nut the rod tries to straighten
out and we have an ideal means to control the
neck when the 150lbs tension of a normal set of
guitar strings at pitch is added to the equation.
It’s important to understand the truss rod is NOT
there to adjust the action – it’s there simply to
set the neck relief. The action is adjusted by
raising or lowering the saddle...
essential that the fingerboard has a small forward bow.
Firstly, with the strings tuned to pitch, we check the relief on the
neck. An easy way to do this is to put the guitar into the playing
position and put one finger behind the first fret and another
behind the 12th (see picture, below).
Roll the clock on and we have the new guitar on
the bench with its first set of strings on and we
now want to set the guitar up for optimum
playability using the same sequence of
processes that you or your luthier will carry out
setting up the guitar in the future.
The important thing to understand is that the
truss rod is NOT there to adjust the action – it’s
there simply to set the neck relief. The action is
adjusted by raising or lowering the saddle.
4
Checking the relief on the neck is simple and straightforward
If the fingerboard is set flat when you fret the
guitar, you’ll find you have a lot of unwanted
fret rattle behind the point of contact, so it’s
We’re looking for a small gap, perhaps the thickness of a
business card, between the underside of the sixth string and the
top of the sixth fret.
Left, from top:
1 – Andy makes up the hexagonal brass nut
2 – He threads both ends of the stainless steel
truss rod
3 – Here’s the fixed end of the rod and the
housing on a standard neck
4 – Pressing and gluing the fillets on to the rod
before the fingerboard goes on
If the gap is larger it’s time to tension the truss rod – give it a
small clockwise turn with a 1/4” ring spanner. If the fingerboard
is too flat and the strings touch the frets, knock the tension off a
touch by turning the nut anticlockwise.
When the relief is set correctly the action (height of the strings off
the frets) can be optimised by raising or lowering the saddle by
adding or removing shims.
continued on page 20
page 20
www.brookguitars.com
Bird songs
from page 17
produced a wonderful site for the work we do together
now as Troubadour’s Garden.
This year, festivals have included Croisant Neuf in Wales,
Buddhafield Living Arts gathering, and fringe events,
gigs on the acoustic circuit and benefits. Independent
and regional TV/radio are very useful when you can get
a slot. We also do music and visual arts workshops, often
connecting them to our performances in some way.
RJ: What music inspires you? I sometimes sense quite
a range of subtle influences on your songs – maybe
elements of jazz and world music creeping in?
PB: Roots, classical, jazz, folk and world, I listen to a
wide range of music, often instrumental stuff more
than song based work, I try not to be too self conscious
about analysing what influences me. If something
sounds moving, compelling, beautiful, crazy, mood
driven, magical or whatever, it may find its way into
what I do consciously or otherwise.
RJ: ‘Carry the Dream’ is one of my favourite songs on
your latest album ‘Shape the Clay’, with a strikingly
beautiful melody, and poignant, thought-provoking
lyrics – tell us how you came to write this song.
PB: Thank you for liking that song. I wrote it in Cyprus
as a sort of positive defiance to all the negativity that
assails us, and that we absorb from world events. If, in
our personal situations, we allow the large issues to
break us down and we lose our dreams of how life
could or should be, then we score a home goal.
RJ: You work with various other musicians on your
albums, including your partner, Anna, on woodwind.
It must have been extremely satisfying to have had
Steeleye Span bass player Tim Harries play on your
‘Little Vessel For A Long Journey’.
Tim gave generously of his time and musical wisdom in
playing on the ‘Little Vessel’ album and producing ‘The
Famous Flying Bedstead’. He’s a very gracious man. I
began a musical learning curve (which I’m still on) by
listening to what he had to say and more than anything
else by hearing the sheer beauty and economy of his
playing.
I have always loved the flute playing of Anna
Georghiou, who is an international painter as well as a
self-taught flute player. She has contributed
immeasurably to the musical landscape of my songs.
Tim Averik, the Swedish classical violinist, enabled my
work to express more emotional depth, on ‘Shape the
Clay’. We recorded that CD in Larnaca and played
several concerts before he had to return to Sweden.
RJ: The title track from ‘Little Vessel’ is unusual in that
your are accompanied by just mandolin. Do you play
any other instruments?
PB: Guitar is my main instrument, I play a little
Neapolitan mandolin and a bouzuoki made by John
Hathaway. I also have a love of Northern Indian and
Carnatic music, especially sitar and sarod. I have played
sitar during performances including an Asian world
music festival in Nicosia, where Anna and I played with
the master tabla player Ravi Sandanker. It blew me
away that he asked, as my sitar playing is both
elementary and eccentric!
I have never played sarod in public; it’s such a difficult
instrument, but I love its concise elegant, rich and
hypnotic sound. And to hear the work of masters such
as Ali Akba Khan and a whole generation of younger
players is as good as it gets.
RJ: Can you explain what a sarod is?
PB: The sarod is a medium-necked lute with a metal
fretless fingerboard, with four main strings and 18
sympathetic strings. I think it evolved in the 19th century
from an earlier instrument, the rebab, which had
wooden neck. It has become a ‘royal’ classical Indian
instrument, on a par with the sitar, and it’s really
difficult for a guitarist to play, as it requires long nails on
the fretting hand to press the strings down. If you play
it with short nails it makes a very unsatisfying ‘plinky
plonky’ sound.
Mohan Bhat plays an adapted guitar with sympathetic
strings in a slide-like fashion, which to me has some of
the beautiful qualities of the sarod. Listen to ‘Meeting
by the River’, a very beautiful improvised musical
encounter between Mohan Bhat and Ry Cooder, or any
of the sitar/sarod duets between Ravi Shankar and
Akba Khan, or the younger generation of players on the
Sense World Music label.
RJ: Where can we hear you play, and how can we buy
your CDs?
PB: As Troubadour’s Garden, we’re in process of
organising touring dates, and also look out for us on the
acoustic circuit, festivals, village halls and Art Centres,
etc. Each month we play a set at our own club,
Okehampton Acoustic.
Check us out on
www.troubadoursgarden.wix.com/music
and www.okehamptonacousticclub.moonfruit.com
And thank you, Rob, and Brook Guitars for giving me
the chance to stretch my few remaining brain cells to
attempt to answer these questions...
A small turn clockwise or anticlockwise with the 1/4”
spanner will adjust the tension on your guitar’s truss rod
That’s a relief...
from page 19
The only other item for consideration in the nut
height – well, the height at which the strings leave
the nut slots. The slots have to be cut as low as
possible to avoid having to stretch the strings in the
lower positions; however, if these are too low the
strings will rattle on the frets.
We cut these slots very carefully before the guitar
leaves the workshop so it shouldn’t be a problem. But
if work needs doing to the nut, it’s really a job for the
professional and you should let either us or another
competent luthier look at it.
And that’s pretty much it for a simplified instruction
on the set-up! There are, of course, an awful lot of
subtleties that it’s not necessary to go into at this
stage, but for the moment all you have to remember
is the simple rule: use the truss rod to set the relief,
then adjust the action by raising or lowering the
saddle.