Gary Potter
Nearly twenty years ago I sometimes travelled to Liverpool with a group of friends to watch Gary play in a little back street pub. He mostly played a Telecaster, and had a neat little trick of playing fingerstyle while keeping a plectrum tucked into his hand, then swapping mid tune. I've never really appreciated electric guitar, but even I couldn't deny Gary's talent, and I just had to hold my breath until he picked up his acoustic, then I would just grin.
Last year, Gary left a message for me at one of the shows, and when we met up at Ullapool, we talked about Laurel and Hardy, and he ordered a guitar. It's that sort of place.
Its taken a while to make, but here it is. Its a hybrid, a bit of the Leonardo, a bit of the Egyptian, plus my take on Gary's needs. I've tried to reflect Gary's music as I see it, Django Reinhardt and Chet Atkins certainly, but so much more.
Gary played it in my office all afternoon, I just sat and grinned. Here he is as I used to see him all those years ago. Video Link
John James
John has returned from Denmark, and he has collected his nine string. He can play nine strings as clearly and as fast as he plays six, very unsettling. I can tell he likes it, because he stopped cracking jokes. I notice that his music is appearing on Youtube a little more now, here he is playing his old Oberon.Video Link
He practised the final piece of this clip a lot at my workshop with John and Tony, two mutual friends no longer with us. Hopefully we will see more of JJ on Youtube soon
2 New Bouzoukis
John Littler from Headway pickups and Chris Leslie from Fairport Convention have a cunning plan for a new bouzouki, and I agreed to try it out. One of the prototypes is almost entirely curly maple, the other is very simple, but both have the same principle - a very slim neck, and a scale length quite a lot shorter than usual. The Maple one is going on show and will be for sale shortly, the other should be touring with Fairport very soon
Nic Jones
Nic is at long last receiving some of the acclaim he deserves. Here he is in instrumental mode.Video Link
Guitar Festivals!
Dont forget, we will be displaying at these events. The Cumbria Guitar show is on Bank Holiday weekend 29th & 30th August.
Fylde Folk Festival is the 3rd, 4th & 5th of September, and Ullapool is 8th, 9th & 10th of October.
