Babbling - Brook Guitars

Transcription

news. music. players. instruments.
Babbling
issue 4
autumn 2015
page 2
www.brookguitars.com
Welcome...
Writer/contributor Robbie Jessep generously shared his arrangement of a beautiful traditional
Scottish tune in the last issue of ‘Babbling Brook’. This time around, he presents an original
composition for readers to try their hands at on their own – or even a borrowed! – Brook...
...to the latest edition of ‘Babbling Brook’, our online magazine for
all things ‘Brook Guitars’.
Post-apocalypse Prelude
It’s been a while since the last issue – but we’ve been as busy as
ever at Easterbrook, with both building and the repairs side of
things!
“
Speaking of ‘the repairs side of things’... our striking cover
photograph probably needs no introduction for regular visitors to
our website ‘News’ section.
The piece was
originally written
for classical guitar
in standard tuning,
for a school
production...
a post-apocalyptic
modern setting of
‘Romeo and Juliet’!
It’s a well-used and certainly well-loved Taw, which belongs to TV
Smith – both of whom are regular visitors to our workshops.
You can read more about TV’s successful career – which goes all
the way back to the heyday of punk – starting on page 3.
His guitar, meanwhile, has the distinction of being the most
overhauled of all the instruments we’ve built over the years, and
dovetails (see what we did there?) nicely into a feature on some of
the major repairs and restoration we’ve been called on to do.
Whilst one guitar might well be sufficient for TV, there are other
customers for whom – as we saw in the last issue – ‘one just isn’t
enough’. We meet two more such players – Steve Bennett and
Tony Kerry – inside...
There’s also more music for you to play from ‘Babbling Brook’
writer Robbie Jessep – who also begins an in-depth series of
articles de-mystifying the process of home recording, for those of
you wishing to ‘immortalise’ the sound of your Brooks!
Whilst we’re always more than happy to deal direct with
customers, our guitars reach a potentially far wider audience and
client base thanks to a small but dedicated band of dealerships
up and down the country. Meet Lee St Pier, who runs Project
Music just down the road from us in sunny Exeter, on page 35.
And last, but by no means least, jazz guitarist and music therapist
Andy Lale talks about his fascinating career – and the very special
custom instrument we built for him – on page 16.
We always value your opinion and
would love to hear from you. Please
do call or email to tell us what you
think of ‘Babbling Brook’ – and who
knows, we could even wind up by
chatting over the spec of your ‘next
guitar’!
Cheers...
Simon and Andy
Founders, Brook Guitars
“
Another Tony next, and while Tony Hazzard’s name might not be
immediately familiar, the list of pop ‘royalty’ he’s written songs for
throughout his career certainly will be! The first of a fascinating,
in-depth two-part interview with Tony – who, we’re proud to say,
is a good friend AND customer – begins on page 39.
Hi, Brookies!
I thought I would share with you in this
issue an older original of mine, simply
called ‘Prelude’.
This piece appears on my album ‘The Road
to Easterbrook...and other journeys’, on which
it’s played on a wonderful custom Brook
owned by my good friend, Leon Palmer.
The guitar is actually a baritone Tavy, with
English walnut back and sides, walnut neck,
and European spruce top. Another allEuropean wood instrument, it avoids
tropical ebony by using the wonderfully
named ‘bog oak’ for fingerboard, headstock
and bridge. The guitar was tuned C to C but
in the equivalent of ‘standard tuning’.
The piece was originally written for a guitar
in concert pitch/standard tuning – actually,
for a classical guitar. It is by far my oldest
original that I still regularly play, having
been written some time in the ‘90s (I forget
exactly when!). It was composed at a time
when I was writing music for our school
productions, mostly of Shakespeare, and
indeed this one was written for a ‘postapocalyptic’ modern setting of ‘Romeo and
Juliet’. Whereas most of the soundtrack I
wrote was fairly electronic and orchestral,
this was the only piece written specifically
continued on page 43
page 3
Tim Smith a.k.a TV Smith is, quite literally, a walking advert for Brook Guitars. Fronting The Adverts in the 1970s, he helped the group to become one of the first English
punk bands to enjoy chart success. Thirty-five years on, TV is busier than ever, constantly touring, playing a lifetime’s worth of intelligent, raw-energy songs to generations
of fans around the world on his seemingly indestructible road-worn Taw. Here, he talks to Martin Bell about his career, music – and his family link with Brook...
“
My playing is
generally a very
aggressive and
percussive style;
It’s very much a
punk attitude to
acoustic playing
– but I also play a
few ballads that
need a lighter
touch...
“
Photo: Steve White
TV Advertising...
MB: Firstly, Tim, tell us a little about yourself – your
background, your musical roots, your earliest
musical experiences and when you began to play.
TVS: I was born in Romford, on the outskirts of
London, and later moved to a small town on the
edge of Dartmoor when my parents, who were both
teachers, decided they’d had enough of urban living
and wanted to pursue a new life in the West
Country. Like most kids, I was fascinated with pop
music from an early age. I grew up with The Beatles
and have early memories of miming ‘She Loves You’
with a friend, both of us playing tennis racquets.
There was often music at home; my brother Simon
(co-founder of Brook Guitars) is a few years older than
me and was always playing guitar. He showed me a
few chords to start me off and I carried on from there.
I never felt like a proper guitarist, but I wanted to fit
tunes to my poetry and tried to learn enough to do
that.
MB: Who/what were your main influences etc?
TVS: Growing up, I would just listen to what was on
the radio – any pop or rock bands that got played
really. Radio 1 was all there was; unlike now, that was
the only place you could hear music – one outlet! If
you were lucky and the weather was good, you
could pick up Radio Luxembourg late at night too. At
the same time, Simon was listening to more obscure
stuff – old blues records and that kind of thing,
Dylan, all sorts. I suppose it was quite an eclectic mix
to be exposed to. By the time I hit my teens, I was
mainly listening to the more experimental end of
glam rock, particularly the stuff with interesting
lyrics – the first few Roxy Music albums, Bowie. By
the late Seventies there was a lot of edgier stuff
continued on page 4
page 4
TV Advertising...
from page 3
coming in from the US, too: Velvet Underground, The
Stooges, New York Dolls, finally the Ramones. That all
filtered in.
MB: Born in Romford…how/when did you move
to Devon, and what was the music scene like
there at the time?
TVS: I was about nine years old when we moved to
Devon. It was a great place for a kid to grow up, but
there wasn’t a music scene at all. I started to miss
that as I became a teenager and started getting into
bands. Most touring bands never came as far as the
West Country, and even when they did it was likely
to be either Exeter or Plymouth – both a good 30
miles away from where I was near Okehampton. We
might occasionally get a disco with a local band
playing cover versions, or hard rock if you were
lucky, but that was it. One of the younger teachers at
my school started a band up and I went to see them
play in a barn they’d hired, but almost no-one came.
I ended up writing lyrics for one of their songs
though, and that was the start of my feeling that I
could somehow be involved in a band. Later, I heard
that they’d wanted me to join but hadn’t asked
because they were afraid it would disrupt my O
levels! Around that time I got together with some
school friends who were into music too, and taught
them some of the songs I had written. We rehearsed
in the lunchtimes on borrowed gear from the music
class – later, we moved on to our first performance
in the school assembly hall, and then our first
‘proper’ gig, which we put on at a local village hall.
Then, when I left school and moved on to Torquay
Art College for a year, the first thing I did there was
put together another band.
MB: Tell us about The Adverts – how the band
formed etc.
TVS: It was a natural follow-on to the Torquay band.
That had been going reasonably well; we’d
rehearsed a lot and were pretty tight, we’d played a
few gigs around the area and had even financed the
recording and a pressing of an album – just 50 copies.
But there were some disputes about the direction of
the band, I saw it as a vehicle for my songs but the
others weren’t so sure. Anyway the college year was
coming to an end and we were inevitably going to
be going our separate ways. At the same time I met
Gaye – later to become Gaye Advert – and we
became partners. She told me she wanted to learn
bass guitar, so it seemed the obvious
thing to do to form a band together. I
moved back to Okehampton after art
college and she was back in her home
town of Bideford. It was obvious we
weren’t going to be able to get
anything going where we were, so we
made the decision to move up to
London in early 1976, fortuitously just
as the punk rock scene there was
starting to develop.
MB: What are your memories of the
punk ‘explosion’ in the 1970s? All
the bombast of the ‘progressive
supergroups’ was due for a bit of a
shake-up, wasn’t it?
Photo: Janette Decker
TVS: It had all become very stale and
conservative, and it seemed like the
music these bands were churning out
was totally out of touch with normal
people – and out of reach for anyone
who actually wanted to be in a band
themselves. I mean, it was all very
well having these increasingly overthe-top shows in stadiums and
arenas, but most people who liked
Photo: Stefan Klein
these bands’ music couldn’t even get to see them.
They seemed to have lost all touch with reality; it
was all about spectacle and how many buses they
needed to transport their gear, how many thousands
were turning up to the shows, how high the ticket
sales were, excessive backstage behaviour, each
band trying to outdo the other. Meanwhile, the
content of what they were playing seemed to
become less and less important. That’s why the
shock of a band like the Ramones turning up in 1976
was such a game changer – suddenly, it was back to
short songs, dumb and fun, people just like us who
could play a few chords and simply got out there
and did it. It was proof that you didn’t need the
expensive laser light show and the walls of Marshalls
to make a good gig, it put the emphasis back on
attitude and energy – not to mention, songs.
MB: A lot of the punk movement was about the
idea that kids could simply pick up instruments,
form a band and play, but it was also about
rebellion and political commentary; how much of
that spirit was present in The Adverts and the
bands you followed them with?
TVS: For me the political commentary, or at least
the social commentary, was vital to it. As I
mentioned already, I started out writing poetry, and
the lyrics were always the most important thing
about a song for me. As a general rule, if it didn’t
continued on page 5
page 5
TV Advertising...
(Clockwise, from left): The Adverts’
best-known hit, ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’;
a young TV Smith lying down on the
job with the band; and (second from
left) on an Adverts promo picture.
from page 4
have good lyrics I wasn’t interested. That isn’t to say
every song has to be a grand statement – it’s just
that there has to be some thought behind it, some
attempt to craft the words and not just let them be
tacked on as an afterthought. One of the joys about
punk was that there was such a diverse approach to
lyrics; you had the entire spectrum, from the
Ramones making you laugh with ‘Beat On The Brat’,
right through to the worthy posturing of the Clash,
the everyday love songs of the Buzzcocks, the
garage goth of The Damned – every imaginable
style of lyrics, really. Punk put words back in the
forefront, it meant that bands were expressing
themselves again – we hadn’t really seen that for a
long time.
MB: How, when and why did you start out on
your solo career path?
TVS: I struggled through the Eighties with various
band projects that never really took off. I think it was
Photo: Thomas Hassler
I don’t have a
manager, so I do
everything myself,
from booking the gig
to winding up the
cables at the end of
the night...
stand there without a band behind me, but once I’d
tried it I was hooked.
MB: Have you carried the same ideals/spirit of
‘the early days’ throughout your solo work?
TVS: Absolutely! In fact, I think you get a better
understanding of exactly what those ideals and that
spirit is all about as you get older. As the music
scene turns more and more into an entertainment
business, dumbed down and run by massive
corporations simply to make money, the original
punk ‘DIY’ ethic becomes more important than ever.
MB: How difficult/easy is it/has it been
maintaining a solo career? Is it a life of constant
touring, for example?
at the beginning of the Nineties that Attila The
Stockbroker, a ranting punk poet and musician who
played a lot of gigs himself, came up to me at one of
my gigs with the band I had then called Cheap, and
suggested a solo gig. He was promoting an acoustic
evening in a little café in North London, so I thought
I’d give it a go, even though I’d never considered
playing solo before. It was a terrifying experience to
TVS: The really difficult thing was starting it. After
the heady days of Top Twenty hits with The Adverts, I
was literally back to square one. I spent years
looking for gigs, playing wherever I could, building
an audience. Slowly – and particularly with the
arrival of the internet – it gained a sort of
momentum of its own; people were coming to gigs
and spreading the word, and at the same time other
people were finding me on the internet. When a fan
started a website for me, it became a hub where all
the people who were curious about what had
happened to me could find out. It started a new core
of fans who started turning up to my gigs and called
themselves the TUTS – the TV United Tour
Supporters! Then, Facebook arrived and that helped
to spread it even more. Now, I play around 130 gigs
a year – more than I ever did with The Adverts – and
maintaining that is just a question of putting a lot of
time into it. It’s basically a life of constant touring,
and whatever other free time I get is spent on
booking and more mundane things like
administration and doing the accounts. Somewhere
in amongst all that, I have to find time for writing and
recording. I don’t have a manager, so I do everything
myself, from booking the gig in the first place to
winding up the cables at the end of the night.
MB: What sort of audiences are you playing to
these days? Do you have fan bases all over the
world – and is there any country where you feel
especially ‘at home’?
TVS: I’m happy to say it’s a very varied audience.
Sometimes, I get three generations of one family
come to a gig. It’s a great feeling to know I’m getting
across to so many people! The beauty of playing solo
is that, in the end, it’s just songs, and that crosses all
genres and all age groups. It crosses all geographical
borders too, and I feel at home pretty much
everywhere I go. I guess I will always have a special
affinity for Germany, because they were the first
country to pick up on what I was doing when I
turned solo. If it hadn’t been for the amount of gigs I
was initially playing out there in the Nineties, and
the positive reactions I was getting, I don’t think I
could have sustained myself to persevere over here.
The UK picked up on my ‘revival’ much later than
Germany.
MB: Are there folk who’ve followed you right
from The Adverts days/younger fans who are
discovering your music for the first time?
continued on page 6
page 6
Photo: Jamie Palmer
MB: Where do you draw your songwriting
inspiration/creativity from?
TVS: Anywhere I can find it! If I knew the formula I
would definitely bottle it and sell it – but there is no
formula. I think you just have to keep your eyes and
ears open to what’s going on around you and take
the inspiration wherever it strikes. The curious thing
about inspiration is you can’t go looking for it, it has
to find you. What’s important is, if you get even the
slightest suspicion of an idea for a song, write it
down – or if it’s a musical idea stop everything and
record the riff or the chord sequence, whatever it is.
Don’t let it get away. Once you have that, the hard
work of crafting it into a song starts.
MB: What do you think about today’s music
scene? Are there any artistes/bands that you
particularly admire?
from page 5
TVS: For sure. Like I say, it’s a complete mix of
people. I still get people coming up after a gig and
saying, “that was the first time I’ve seen you since the
Adverts at the Marquee in 1977” – or whatever – but
there are also teenagers who’ll say, “I’m sorry, I’ve
never heard of that band you were in, but tonight was
fantastic…”
Basically, I’ll play anywhere. It’s all about the people
who come, and in the end a song is a song – who
needs the categories?
MB: Is there a particular song/album etc that
you’re especially proud of?
TVS: That’s a question I avoid. It’s a bit like asking a
mother, “which is your favourite child?”
TVS: I think the mainstream music scene is now
dire. Happily, there are still plenty of creative
musicians out there, but very few of them are in the
mainstream, in my opinion. I see a lot of them on the
same bill as me at gigs. It wouldn’t be fair to single
any out, but there is a lot of talent – most of it
underground and struggling to get noticed. You just
have to go out and find it, and the live circuit is
where it’s happening. It’s almost a direct equation
that the more mainstream it is, the less chance there
is of it being any good...
MB: The Adverts burned brightly for a couple of
years before splitting, but their music has
continued to inspire a generation of younger
bands (Amen, for example,) – how do you feel
about that?
continued on page 7
My natural home is in
the punk clubs, I
suppose. I like my
shows to be loud,
edgy and kind of
bristling with energy
– not generally the
atmosphere folk clubs
are aiming for!
TVS: It’s good to know, obviously. When we were in
the band, we never thought about having a legacy,
but the fact that people still like it and are influenced
by it must mean we did something worthwhile. I’m
proud of that.
MB: How would you categorise/classify your
music? For example, is it still ‘punk’? ‘Acoustic
rock’? ‘Folk’, even – in the broadest sense?
TVS: Well, I wouldn’t categorise it. My natural home
is in the punk clubs, I suppose. They really get the
attitude and the energy of it. I’d be quite happy to
play folk clubs too, but I don’t know if they’d have
me. Personally, I think what I do comes from the
same tradition, but I like my shows to be loud, edgy
and kind of bristling with energy – that’s not
generally the atmosphere folk clubs are aiming for!
Photo: Jeff Moh
page 7
TV Advertising...
from page 6
MB: Could a punk-style ‘musical revolution’ ever
happen again, given that individuals can express
themselves, be creative and get seen/heard all
over the world via the internet these days?
TVS: I don’t think there’s the same kind of pressure
cooker intensity now that there was in the late
seventies. The arrival of the internet has actually
made it less likely for a music revolution, I think. We
didn’t have that in 1977, we had to break down the
doors. The need to get your music out there can now
be relieved by putting your song up on your website
or social media, making a cheap video on your
phone and posting it on YouTube, whatever. That’s a
more subtle revolution than the punk revolution,
but just as important, and it helps stimulate the live
music scene, which is the most important thing of all.
I think punk was probably the last of the ‘old-style’
music revolutions – the whole music industry is now
safely locked into big business hands and I don’t see
them letting it out of their grasp again.
MB: Do you ever get nostalgic for ‘the good old
days’?
TVS: I honestly feel these are ‘the good old days’
right now. I’m playing more gigs than ever, don’t
have any record labels or managers telling me what
to do, so I have complete creative freedom, I travel
the world, get to play my songs, meet fabulous
people and have some amazing experiences.
Admittedly, it’s hard work, exhausting and depressing
at times, and when things go wrong you only have
yourself to fall back on, but I wouldn’t change a
thing. This way of doing things just feels right.
MB: What’s next for you musically/professionally?
Photo: Steve White
My Taw’ing – and touring...
TV Smith talks about his workhorse Brook – and how well it’s coped with ‘the trials and tribulations of touring’...
This is probably a very obvious question, but…how
and when did you first discover Brook Guitars?
Well, right from the start of course. Before Simon
and Andy started Brook I used to go into the
workshop and see them when they were still
working for Andy Manson.
What had you been playing up to that point?
I had a big Takemine EN 20, which I bought
second-hand from a guitar shop on Denmark
Street in London. It was already pretty beaten up
when I got it, but nothing like as beaten up as my
Brook is now!
Is your Taw the first/only Brook you’ve owned?
Yes, first and only. I’m not a guitar collector, so one
is enough for me. I use it live and for recordings.
Was it a custom build or an ‘off-the-shelf’ model?
TVS: More of the same, I hope!
MB: Where can people find out more about you/your
music etc?
TVS: Surprisingly – tvsmith.com. I also have a couple
of Facebook sites. Most important of all...come to a
gig!
It was custom. Simon chose all the woods and
designed it with my touring in mind – thinbodied, and with extra strutting under the front.
As far as I remember, it was the first Taw ever
made.
Willy Nelson has ‘Trigger’; Pierre Bensusan has his ‘Old
Lady’…have you ever christened your faithful old Taw?
www.tvsmith.com
Rather disappointingly, the answer is no.
www.facebook.com/TVSmith77
How many gigs have you played with it over the years?
It’s hard to say. It was built in 1995 so it’s over 20
years old now. These days I’m playing around 130
gigs a year, but when I first got it I was just
starting out solo and playing much less. A few
years ago, I had a stab at trying to work out how
many hours it had been on stage and came up
with a figure of at least 1,000 hours – obviously
it’s notched up considerably more since then.
How would you describe your playing style (eg
‘heavy’, ‘rhythmic’, ‘rough’ etc)?
It’s generally a very aggressive and percussive
style, I try and fill up the space all the other
instruments would take up and make it sound
like the whole band. It’s very much a punk
attitude to acoustic playing. I also play a few
ballads that need a lighter touch, but there’s not
a lot of room for frills when you’re alone on
stage.
The Taw has been a regular ‘patient’ at the
Easterbrook workshops over the years; can you go
through some of the repair/restoration work it’s
needed…
Most of it has been cosmetic work on the front to
repair the holes I gouge out of the wood by
playing so hard. Simon put on a pickguard,
which wasn’t in the original design, to try and
minimise the damage I was doing but I managed
to gouge around it. So then he put on a bigger
one, and I gouged around that too. I’ve also had
a few re-frets, but then I realised that the frets
seem find their own level and not wear down
past a certain point, so I haven’t had one for a
few years. The guitar also needed a few set-ups
over the first few years to keep the action low,
but that’s settled down now too.
continued on page 8
page 8
from page 7
What are your thoughts on Brook guitars in general?
What’s the worst accident/damage that it’s ever
suffered?
They’re beautiful guitars, and each model has
its own sound and character. Once you’ve
played one, you can never go back.
Undoubtedly, when a sound man in Germany
dropped it on stage from head height and
broke the neck off. He didn’t even tell me. I
went up to the stage to start playing at
around midnight and he was hanging around
there. He said, “There’s been a slight
problem…” I looked on to the stage and my
guitar was lying there in two pieces.
The guitar’s appearance has certainly changed
over time; has its sound improved with age?
I would say so, certainly. Of course, you don’t
get the chance to compare, but my feeling is
that it’s become much warmer and more
resonant and has a developed more character
somehow. It seems to respond well to the
trials and tribulations of touring. I was afraid
that after the neck was broken it would never
sound the same again, but the weird thing is,
after the repair it sounded even better.
Do you regard your Taw as an indispensable part
of your own musical identity that you couldn’t do
without – or just a ‘tool of the trade’?
Indispensable.
(Below) ‘There’s been a slight problem...’ But TV said his
Taw ‘sounded even better’ after it had been repaired!
Damage
limitation
When is the Taw next due for a ‘100,000-gig
service’?
Simon Smidmore gives a breakdown of some of the work carried
out at the Brook workshops on TV Smith’s battle-scarred Taw...
I take it in to the workshop on an ‘as and
when’ basis, really. Generally, it doesn’t need
much maintenance, so until the next time I
gouge another hole in the front of it or a
soundman breaks the neck off, it will probably
be fine!
MB: Of all the guitars you’ve built over the years, is TV’s
Taw the most used and abused/‘well-loved’/most
travelled?
How long do you think it will continue to hold up
– and would you ever consider another Brook?
I can’t see why it shouldn’t outlast me, to be
honest. I do sometimes think I’d like to have
a bigger-bodied guitar for playing at home –
but the Taw is just so perfect for travelling
with as it’s thinner and lighter than most
guitars. It still sounds great on stage and is
arguably better for studio work too, as it
doesn’t have all those troublesome
frequencies flying around that you get with
bigger guitars. I think there will come a time
when I’m tempted to supplement it with
another model, though; maybe one I will
treasure at home and not beat the shit out
of every night on stage. What do you give
the man who has everything? More of
everything!
SS: Tim’s Taw is by far the most used, abused and widelytravelled guitars we’ve built; we’d like to think it’s one of the
most loved as well!
MB: Can you go into some detail about some of the
work you’ve had to carry out on it over the years – and
what has been amongst the most tricky/worst ‘injury’?
SS: Most of the work is taking care of the damage caused
by Tim’s heavy use of a pick, as he’s largely a rhythm player.
There’s no particular subtlety in the repair, unlike most of
the guitars we get to work on. It essentially means either
pooling super-glue into the gouges and holes and/or
extending the pick-guard area. The neck’s been off a couple
of times – once when an airline managed to break it,
secondly, a worse break, when a soundman knocked it off a
stand in Germany. The Taw has outlived half a dozen Hiscox
cases, which have essentially kept it safe over its 20-year
lifetime.
MB: Are you surprised it’s held up as well/as long as it
has so far?
SS: We did build Tim’s Taw with a slightly thicker top and a
double interlocking cross-brace, as we knew it was going to
have to take rather more stick than our Celtic fingerpickers!
It’s also quite a lot narrower that our standard Taw to fit into
an electro acoustic case.
MB: Are there any other Brooks over the years that have
come close to being this ‘well used’?
SS: This is certainly the only one I know of, in an era of
‘relic’ed’ guitars I think it’s amusing and refreshing to see the
real thing. I love the look of the guitar – it’s honest and not
trying to be something it’s not.
MB: Finally, if you weren’t his brother and TV approached
you in a pub asking to borrow your favourite guitar for a
couple of songs…would you lend it to him?
SS: I’m not too precious about my own guitars, so I
probably would; if it were Amrit Sond, however, I possibly
wouldn’t – but on the other hand, I love his playing, so I
probably would as well! But I can fully appreciate that the
majority of our customers might not feel the same way.
page 9
The guitar took up
much less room than
most couples’ two
suitcases. Why this
discrimination against
musicians..?
Breaking news...
Stories of precious musical instruments – especially
guitars – coming to grief at the hands of uncaring
airline baggage handlers are, sadly, all too common.
And even as this edition of ‘Babbling Brook’ was being
completed, yet another serious accident befell TV
Smith’s treasured Taw.
This time, the culprit was easyJet, who managed to
inflict (another) broken neck on the hapless six-string.
Fortunately, however, it wasn’t terminal – and, thanks
to a flying repair at Easterbrook, TV’s Taw was back in
his hands and gigging five days later at the Rebellion
Festival in Blackpool. But, back-tracking slightly, TV first
broke the news – no pun intended! – on his Facebook
page in July...where he continued to post updates...
That proved impossible in the time I had, so I had to
buy a new guitar. I didn’t realise that failure to log
the damage in the arrivals hall means any attempt to
complain afterwards will be met by a complete
blank from the easyJet staff. No-one in Nice was
prepared to help when I checked in for the return
flight, same again when I landed in Bristol.
I queued on the ‘phone to customer services for half
an hour earlier today only to be told they couldn't
deal with it, then they gave me another number to
call – which turned out to not be in use at weekends.
easyJet – great when everything is going well,
appalling if something goes wrong.
The sickening thing is, myself and my companion
had no other hand luggage and the guitar took up
much less room that most couples’ two suitcases.
Why this discrimination against musicians? I will
never fly easyJet again. and strongly urge other
musicians to do the same. A cheap flight is not worth
it if it means the destruction of a £2,000 guitar.
My guitar is now back in the Brook workshop in the
hope of getting it repaired in time for Rebellion...
July 31
I am not happy with easyJet after my custom-built
guitar was smashed when it was refused space in
the overhead lockers and had to go in the hold on a
flight to Nice last week.
August 5
Back From The Dead! Here she is (above) – amazing
work from Brook Guitars who have rebuilt the guitar
in only five days...ready for Rebellion and sounding
better than ever. Many thanks to them and to
everyone here for all the messages of support and
offers of help. As for easyJet...still getting nowhere.
Today they asked me for the PIR report, which I
explained to them five days ago neither of the
airports involved would give me. How come
everything I say – is on Replay? See you at Rebellion!
August 6
Although I had it safely stowed overhead, and
despite my explanations as to why it needed to be
there, the cabin crew refused to listen and took it
away from me.
August 3
Inevitably, it arrived on the luggage belt in Nice
broken into two pieces, despite being in a Hiscox
hard case. As I had to play a gig the next evening I
had to rush out of the airport in a panic and find a
music shop in the hope of getting it repaired.
Some good news – while the guitar is up on the
workbench anyway, Brook Guitars are taking the
opportunity to do some long-overdue maintenance
work...
For those of you following my trials and tribulations
with easyJet – I just wanted to let you know that they
have just agreed to foot the repair bill. So, for me the
war is over...unfortunately, due to the discriminatory
way they deal with instruments on board, and their
inept ‘customer service’ – for many others it’s only
just begun. Thanks to you all for your support,
sharing of posts and re-tweeting. I’m sure it helped
and made them sit up and notice. People power!
page 10
TWISTED necks, cracked ribs, split sides, broken backs, deep abrasions, scrapes and scratches...the list reads like the day-to-day work of a
typical Accident & Emergency Department. And, in a way, it is. Except that this particular ‘casualty team’is located right in the heart of the
Easterbrook workshops...
Can we fix it..?
Some appear at first to be at Death’s door, their
playing lives almost certainly over; others seem
destined to face a quiet retirement and to spend the
rest of their days consigned to a dusty corner or left
leaning against a wall somewhere, whilst they’re
fondly reminisced over.
But – as readers will also know – despite the initial
worst fears of their owners, virtually nothing is
beyond repair…and there have been some
remarkable recovery stories along the way…
Certain ‘patients’ need fairly radical and extensive
major surgery, whilst others often require nothing
more than the equivalent of an outpatient
appointment under local anaesthetic, and
allowed home the same day!
“In our situation, our confidence in taking on the
difficult repairs has come with our experience in
guitar construction, rather than the other way
round,” explains Simon Smidmore, one of Brook’s
two senior ‘consultants’.
“You can read all the books under the sun, but
it’s only really by building, taking stuff apart,
examining it, fixing whatever’s wrong and
then putting it all back together that you
can really develop a proper
understanding of how things work.
“We’ve had owners coming to us in
sheer desperation with what they
honestly believe is a ‘terminal case’ –
“
What Simon and Andy achieved left
me in a state of total disbelief;
it looked just like a brand new
instrument, yet it was my old guitar,
as good as ever, if not better...
“
REGULAR visitors to the Brook Guitars website
over the years will be only too familiar with the
painful and often heartbreaking catalogue of
injuries suffered by treasured instruments.
and a few weeks later, they’ll be back to collect what
we hope they’ll regard as their instrument ‘reborn’,
with a completely new lease of life!”
One such recent case is that of West Country
musician/songwriter/artist Phil Bird (profiled in
‘Babbling Brook’ Issue 2), whose precious 2002
Tamar suffered devastating damage when a studio
monitor dropped onto it late last year. Phil takes up
the story…
“It happened in my home studio; I accidentally
knocked one of the monitor speakers off the wall as I
walked past it.
“As it fell, I just seemed to comprehend slowly that it
was attached by a wire to the other speaker, which
was simultaneously dragged off the wall, right onto
my Brook, which was on its stand below the speaker.
“The whole thing happened in a split second, yet it
...yes, we CAN!
page 11
Can we fix it..?
from page 10
seemed like I was watching it in slow-motion –
and it was absolutely impossible to prevent it or
do anything about it. It was hideous – I could
have cried, to be honest!”
The photographs here (right) show the extent of
the damage to Phil’s beloved guitar; a gaping
hole smashed straight through the upper bout
of the instrument, exposing its ‘innards’.
“I was completely convinced that it was a writeoff when I showed it to Simon, but he said they
could do something with it, so I did at least feel
a little better,” continued Phil.
“For the next two days, they had me crawling
around on the floor of the studio, trying to find
every last bit and splinter of the damaged
wood, which I then handed over to them…”
Simon and Andy had to spend a considerable
amount of time painstakingly reconstructing
the damaged segment of Phil’s guitar, piecing it
together like an intricate wooden jigsaw
puzzle, before fixing it back into place with
glue, cleats and some filler.
Rather like the Tamar’s owner, the repair project
even brought out Si’s more painterly artistic
skills, in order to recreate the original pattern
of the wood (English Yew) grain on the newlyrestored guitar side, before handing it over to
Andy to apply his refinishing expertise.
And when Phil turned up at the workshop to
collect his guitar, the finished result was beyond
all his wildest expectations…
“When it was first damaged, I didn’t really care
what any repair work would have left it looking
like, so long it was still playable,” he said.
Now you see it –now you don’t... Phil Bird’s cherished Tamar before (top) and after (above, left) Andy and Simon
worked their magic on it; and (above, right) Phil with partner Anna, putting his ‘new’ guitar through its paces at a
festival in Catalonia shortly after the repairs.
“It has been my very favourite, ‘workhorse’
guitar for more than a decade – the one I use
for all my gigs and always my first choice in the
studio.
BROOK have never been a company to do things
by halves – until the day that South Devon-based
jazz guitarist Rich Hamer presented them with an
unusual and interesting challenge.
“What Simon and Andy achieved left me in a
state of total disbelief; it looked just like a
brand new instrument, yet it was my old guitar,
as good as ever, if not better – and it really is
impossible to tell that it was ever damaged. In
fact, I’m still in complete awe and so grateful to
them.”
Rich had recently taken delivery of a seven-string
hollowbody f-hole Eastman guitar from America, but
found that the depth of the instrument presented a
physical problem for him.
has really taken its toll on my back and shoulder,”
explained Rich.
“I loved the guitar, but as beautiful as it was it really
aggravated the problem and I had to find a solution.
It would have cost far too much to send it back to
the States, so I approached Brook to see if they could
make it narrower for me.”
The job was executed to perfection by Andy
“I’ve been playing for over 20 years now, and the
amount of time I’ve spent practising and performing
page 12
Can we fix it..?
from page 11
Petherick, who describes the particular challenges of
this piece of ‘surgery’:
“The main problem was plucking up the courage to
make the first cut into what was a perfectly good
guitar. So, using the old maxim ‘measure twice, cut
once’, I carefully marked out where the cut was to be
made and set to with a Japanese saw.
(Below) Reversing the damage:
Phill Ecclestone’s gave Willie Nelson’s ‘Trigger’ a run for
its money for a while after this accidental damage.
(Bottom) Work starts to re-top the instrument
“Once I’d made the initial cut through the centre of
the sides, I made a similar cut to separate the back
from the ribs. I made the second cut just below the
bindings in the unwanted section, so I could remove
this piece of ‘surgery’:
“A trip to the spray room saw it looking factory fresh.
The tailpiece was now too long, so I made a new,
shorter, section and riveted it to the existing
tailpiece. On the home straight now, so it was then
just a re-string and a set-up and before handing it
back to the happy customer.”
turned on the ignition and started reversing – then I
heard this bloody great dragging noise...”
And the customer was, indeed, happy...
“I never expected them to do such an amazing job –
it was really impressive, and looks exactly as though
it was made that way,” said a delighted Rich of his
new, slim-line jazzer.
“It hasn’t affected the sound one bit – and I still keep
the other half that Andy cut off it on my wall at
home. My students are always asking about it!”
MUSIC teacher Phill Ecclestone needed Andy and
Simon to reverse the drastic damage caused to his
custom Taw after he...reversed over it in his car!
“I’d just finished teaching at a school, and had come
out to the car when I realised I’d left my keys back
inside,” he explained.
“My guitar was in a soft case, and I left it leaning up
against the back of the car while I popped back to
retrieve the keys.
“Of course, I forgot all about it, got into the car,
The first cut is always the...most nerve wracking!
(Left) From the top, the various stages of Andy
Petherick’s remarkable ‘halving’ of Rich Hamer’s
hollow-body Eastman jazz guitar, and (bottom) a
delighted Rich with his new, slim-line instrument.
Phill rescued the guitar case from ‘just underneath’ the
rear of his car, and couldn’t spot any obvious signs of
damage. But when he arrived home and opened the
case, he was faced with the painful truth of what
tends to happen when a large, heavy, moving metal
object meet a small, delicate, static wooden
instrument.
“I could see that the neck and headstock were intact,
but as I pulled the guitar out of the case, it became
apparent that I’d done more damage than I thought,”
he said.
Phill wasted no time in getting his Taw down to the
Easterbrook ‘casualty department’, where Simon and
Andy assessed the ‘patient’.
page 13
Can we fix it..?
from page 12
“The nature of the damage meant that we
couldn’t possibly expect to carry out an invisible
repair this time, so the only thing for it was to
replace the entire top,” said Simon.
It’s the sort of repair that falls squarely in the
category of ‘major surgery’, but nevertheless a job
that Brook have carried out on numerous
occasions.
The work, not surprisingly, entailed removal of the
neck/fingerboard and bridge from the body of the
guitar – definitely not one for the squeamish to
watch over!
But the resulting repair – as with Phil Bird’s guitar –
went far and beyond Phill’s hopes, as this email to
the team illustrates:
Hi Simon and Andy,
A delighted Phill Ecclestone
with his re-topped and
re-born Taw.
It’s a better guitar
than when it went
in for repair; louder,
more responsive and
immaculate. It’s an
amazing job...
DAMAGE to other guitars is sometimes not so
easily explained as that suffered by Phill’s,
however...
Just to thank you for such an amazing guitar repair
you did on my guitar.
Thierry’s Tasmanian blackwood Taw (what is it about
these accident-prone Taws!? – Ed.) received a rather
nasty break when it was apparently attacked by a
particularly aggressive sofa in 2012!
I know you have put 11s Elixr guitar strings on instead
of my normal D’Addario 10s, but even so the guitar
feels so much more responsive and louder than before.
Did you put Elixr 11s Bronze or Phosphor Bronze on?
The neck came off, and part of the rosette pulled
away with the end of the fingerboard.
The guitar is now immaculate. Whoever (I presume
Andy?) took the dent out of the headstock (just
above the design) I owe a couple of drinks to.
The first week I got the guitar I made the dent which
had always bugged me, so to see it gone was an
extremely pleasant surprise, as I had not mentioned
this in the repair.
“Thierry was at a bit of a loss to tell us exactly how it
happened, other than to say that it had been on the
sofa and somehow ‘got knocked’,” said Simon.
“We got it all back together again, though, and
playing just as well as before.”
Thanks again for such an amazing job on the repair
and also please thank Andy for making the neck so
silky smooth with the satin finish – it makes it so
lovely to play.
Have not put it down since I got it back and have lost
myself in Grade 7 RGT pieces (as well as other stuff).
Apart from gigs my guitar is now not leaving my
music studio.
Thank you all once again for the repair. I am really
over the moon with the end result!
All the very best,
Phill
Sofa, so good...Thierry’s Taw before (left) and after
(above) the repairs to its ‘mystery’ injuries.
page 14
Can we fix it..?
Simon Smidmore talks to Martin Bell about some of
the work carried out at Easterbrook when the team –
quite literally – take a temporary break from building fine
instruments...
MB: Building fine guitars is obviously Brook’s
‘raison d’etre’ – but how important is the repair/
restoration side of the business, too? For example,
what sort of percentage of the company’s total
workload does it account for, on average?
SS: About 10% of our time is taken up with repairs and
set-ups.
Money-wise it doesn't make a lot of sense but we’ve
gained a bit of a reputation for success with tricky jobs
that everyone else has turned down so I guess it
appeals to a sense of pride in our work.
There’s also the important point that someone has to
keep these vintage and historical instruments playing
well so they don’t purely become museum pieces.
However, it would really make economic sense to drop
the restoration work completely and concentrate on
making our own guitars.
MB: Is repair/restoration work one of the best ways
that a luthier can really learn ‘the trade’, in terms of
discovering what goes on ‘under the bonnet’, so to
speak?
SS: I don’t think we've discovered anything through
repair-work that has greatly changed the way build our
own guitars, we started with the benefit of Andy
Manson’s 20 years’ previous experience and have
continually changed small aspects of the build, but I
can’t think of anything particularly that we’ve come
across and felt the need to incorporate into our own
designs.
When you regularly work on lots of similar repairs to
guitars made by the same few major manufacturers,
you do begin to wonder why they haven’t addressed
these obvious defects. It certainly suggests they don’t
have a great deal of respect for their customer base.
(From top) A common problem...some of the many
broken Les Paul headstocks Brook have had to repair,
including someone’s previous and rather inelegant
attempt to fix the damage with a couple of nuts and
bolts – and our eventual remedial work (above).
MB: What tend to be your ‘bread and butter’
repairs/maintenance jobs? (set-ups, re-frets etc?).
SS: There aren’t really any ‘bread and butter’ repairs;
customers usually have to travel a fair way to bring
their guitars to us, so even simple set-ups don’t turn
“
Every repair is important to the
owner. We don’t discriminate
between a cheap guitar with
pure sentimental value and a
vintage instrument...
“
from page 13
around that quickly. People usually like a look around;
we’re pretty sociable and like a chat and a coffee as well!
People don't realise that most guitars leave the factory,
then retailer without ever having a proper set-up. A setup by a competent guitar tech or luthier can transform
an instrument for a reasonably small outlay.
MB: What are the most common ‘injuries’ that you
get to treat? Broken Les Paul headstocks, for
instance, seem to be a fairly regular feature on the
‘News’ pages of the website…
SS: The usual – broken Gibson headstocks, Martin neck
resets and finish problems, badly attempted fixes by
other people.
MB: What about describing some of the very
worst/most difficult/challenging repair jobs you’ve
had to carry out over the years?
SS: Andy did a great job reducing the depth of a sevenstring arch-top a couple of years ago (see pages 11-12).
Generally, the cheaper the instrument the harder it is to
repair, we’ve rebuilt old Stellas and recently had in a
number of old Kalamazoos which have required
extensive work.
MB: Has there ever been a time where you’ve been
faced with an instrument that was ‘beyond help’?
SS: Nothing is usually beyond help. If a neck’s broken
and can’t be repaired, we can build a similar
replacement; the same, of course, goes for top or a
back that can’t be saved. Occasionally, though, it just
doesn’t make economic sense to go ahead with it.
MB: How do you share out the repairs/restoration
workload between yourselves? In other words, are
page 15
(Right) The
legendary
Wizz Jones’
Epiphone
Texan.
Brook
re-finished
the back of
the neck –
and the old
Texan was
back on the
road again,
along with
the old
Croydon lad,
who seemed
delighted at
how the work
turned out.
The guitar is a thing of beauty and a
tool; some customers hate the slightest
mark on their guitar, some take dings
and scratches in their stride...
We’ve rebuilt several harp guitars for the Cornish
Harp Centre and got those playing again as working
instruments.
each of you specialists in particular aspects of the
work?
SS: Andy takes on the more complex
repairs; his engineering background
and skill at problem-solving make him
the best person for the task. He also
gets the electrical problems – pickups
and wiring and, of course, finishing issues
I’m really the guitar player, so I get the
simpler stuff: guitar set-ups, re-frets,
fingerboard, fret and bridge work.
MB: What about some ‘famous’/historic
instruments you’ve been called on to
work your magic on over the years?
Wizz Jones’s old Epiphone Texan, for
example...
SS: Every repair is important to the
owner. We don’t discriminate between a
cheap guitar with purely sentimental
value and a vintage instrument with a
real monetary or historical value.
Wizz’s neck repair we did as a favour
as we’ve enjoyed his playing so
much over the years. He did insist on
bringing us down a crate of wine, all
the same!
With Phill Ecclestone’s, we took the neck off and
replaced the top.
MB: And were the lads pleased at the outcome?
MB: Of the more recent casualties brought in to
you, Phil Bird’s Tamar and Phill Ecclestone’s Taw
looked particularly upsetting. Like their guitars,
it’s easy to imagine the two Phil(l)s being in bits
over the damage.
SS: It is very satisfying to see the reaction of
customers when they get their beloved guitars back
(particularly if they’re Brooks!).
MB: What did repair jobs like those involve
(without giving away ‘trade secrets, of course!)?
from page 14
(Left) It’s not
just guitars
that need
some TLC –
repair work
and building
takes its toll
on our hands!
SS: Phil Bird’s guitar involved solving the jigsaw of
shattered pieces of yew from the broken side and
some creative brushwork before re-lacquering.
SS: Both had thought initially that the guitars were a
write off, so – yes – they were very pleased with the
outcome.
MB: Has doing the repair work led to you
developing any new building techniques/refining
the way you build your own guitars?
SS: No, but each repair adds information on to how
to do it better in the future.
MB: Presumably, you’ve seen a few botched/DIY
jobs done on instruments too? Care to mention a
few?
SS: Too many to mention! We get a lot
of with a badly-repaired neck breaks, a
totally unsuitable adhesive like Araldite
and a badly-aligned join. Whenever
possible, we'll try to re-break it to clean
all the old glue off before lining it all up
again with a far more appropriate adhesive.
We recently had a vintage Les Paul in with
two steel bolts sticking out each side and a
terrible glue job; the customer ended up
with a virtually invisible repair.
MB: There’s a line between looking after
a guitar and enjoying/playing it; do you
like to see (Brook) guitars coming back to
you in pristine/showroom condition, or
with a few signs that they’re ‘out there’
working hard and being loved/
appreciated/enjoyed out of their (glass)
cases?
SS: The guitar is a thing of beauty and a
tool; some customers would hate to
see the slightest mark on their guitar,
some take dings and scratches within
their stride – and if you're a working
musician, you have to. I can respect
both views...
page 16
For jazz musician Andy Lale, realising his ‘post-jazz dream’ required a very special and unique instrument – an eight-string nylon-strung ‘crossover’guitar with full MIDI (Musical
Instrument Digital Interface) capabilities. Martin Bell spoke with Andy about commissioning Brook to build it, his band and music – and his fascinating day job as ‘a psychoanalytically-informed psychodynamic music therapist’...
“
I wanted to be able to
have that double bass
range to make giant
chords and do bass lines
– but it took me three
years to learn to play
the b@$%@%d..!
The Power of Eight
AL: First off, I want to introduce my group: the working
title for the band is ‘Undiscovered Television’ but if, after
listening to our music (see page 21), people can come up
with something better, we’re open to suggestions…
This quartet is a post-jazz dream being realised…right here
and now; I’m really excited about the skill level of the
playing and that people seem to like the tunes I’ve
written.
8
I’m playing the fabulous eight-string classical/jazz acoustic
that Brook built for me, and I’m joined by a fabulous
soprano player, James Arben; a great cellist called Martin
Teshome, and all-round dude drummer Phil Clarke. Our
album is tentatively called ‘New Themes’, because I wrote
the pieces as themes and variations that are then
improvised over, in the main, in the classic jazz tradition.
“
from page 16
But the forms are unique and also lean on rock and
folk idioms – hence the ‘post-jazz’ label.
I first started playing guitar when I was seven, but that
was curtailed due to some unpleasant family business
and I returned to it at school at the grand old age of
11. I remember being intimidated by the faithful
renditions of Led Zeppelin and Beatles tunes
emanating from a very talented and slightly mad older
pupil as he jammed with the thrilled guitar teacher in
the music room. I seemed to spend more time in the
music cupboard – I can still remember the smell…
MB: You started out as a musician…and are now
a ‘psychoanalytically-informed psychodynamic
music therapist’! What inspired/led you from being
a musician to the career path you’re now following?
AL: I’m still in that music cupboard really…as a
‘psychoanalytically-informed psychodynamic music
therapist’ I spend a lot of time in a small airless
basement room – that I’m apparently lucky to have –
with people who have really suffered, trying to find
out what happened to them and improvising music
mostly, but sometimes creating and composing, too,
depending on whether that is important to them.
MB: Can you tell us something of the ‘day job’ –
what it involves, how music plays a part in it, and
the ways in which music helps your clients?
AL: Music therapy is a means of working with music
to overcome the limitations of a disability or health
problem, or to resolve personal issues.
Music therapists work in group or individual sessions
with a broad range of clients, including adults,
teenagers and children with learning disabilities,
mental health problems and physical issues. Music
therapy can be an alternative to psychotherapy,
especially when people are finding verbal
communication difficult or inadequate, or are having
problems relating to others.
The music therapist and client make music together,
often through improvisation. Music therapists don’t
teach how to sing or play an instrument, but develop
a relationship through music-making with clients.
The aims are to increase well-being, alleviate pain,
improve communication and relationships with
others, express feelings, increase concentration span
and facilitate emotional development.
Music therapists also support recovery and
management of physical impairments: playing with
page 17
page 18
The Power of Eight
8
from page 17
balance and strength, as well as to develop motor
skills needed for holding and making use of objects.
I work for the NHS in adult psychiatry in an inpatient
unit, but I also see people straight from the
community. I see on average five to seven patients a
day – one group (of four) and three individuals. As I
now have a more senior role, I also line-manage an
arts therapist and provide clinical supervision for a
music therapist and several honorary music
therapists and trainees.
Music therapy is client-centred in its philosophy, so
the interaction will change depending on the client
group (learning disabilities, child autism and
delusional ideas create problems for verbal
interaction, for example). In adult psychology there
is usually a verbal component, but in my work this is
usually psychoanalytic and interpretive rather than
psychological – i.e. rather than counselling the
patient we are reflecting on unconscious themes or
motivations. Most of the time, we use music as the
The original plans for Andy’s custom-built instrument.
means to communicate and to manage the distress
that can’t be expressed in words...
MB: Returning now to your musical roots, what
are your earliest musical experiences and when
did you begin to play yourself?
AL: I’ve done quite a lot of Jazz guitar classes and
pursued my own study in theory, but my main
interest has always been composition. It’s a bit
grandiose, but I love the excitement of finding a form
that works and refining it into a piece that moves
MB: Is the guitar your main instrument, or do
you play anything else?
AL: I play double bass badly and my cello playing is
worse! Sometimes people think I can play the piano
and I let them carry on…I sit behind the kit in
sessions a lot too, and sing like a strangled kitten,
but one of the perks of being a music therapist is
that staff think I’m doing it on purpose, so my
confidence has really grown in that area.
MB: Who/what are your main influences etc?
AL: Grandiose – moi? Stravinsky, obviously, and
Ornette Coleman, because I lived in a squat for a
couple of years burning the furniture and listening
to the Violin Concerto in D and (Coleman’s) ‘Twins’.
The last guy who had the room left them there – I
often wonder what happened to him…anyway
great music taught me everything… (ok, and Pat
Metheny…)
MB: Do you play solo/work in a group setting?
Which do you prefer?
AL: I love to hear other people play what I’ve written
and then they have to give me a solo you see…
“We decided to make the headstock taper inwards, to help keep its overall width to a minimum...” – Andy Petherick
Stylish individual Schertler tuners complement the overall design.
MB: Do you gig (regularly?) and/or write your
own material?
page 19
I’m very, very pleased with the
guitar! It’s tuned to a low bass E at
the range of a double bass, then an
A, a fourth above that, followed by
the usual six strings a fifth above...
A modified Torres
classical guitar
design was the
basis for Andy’s
custom project –
but the neck width
and MIDI pick-up
requirements posed
their own design
challenges (see
page 20)...
and how to get the low bass voice singing on such
a short scale.
MB: Can you tell us what materials were used:
back/sides, top fingerboard etc?
AL: Some beautiful 40-year-old rosewood for the
back/sides, tight grained spruce for the top, a
mahogany neck and ebony fingerboard.
from page 18
AL: The plan is to take UTV on the road and do
festivals next summer, but the album is still in the
post-production stage, so we might miss those
bookings, but definitely to get out there
somewhere...
approach Andy/Si with that specifically in
mind, or did the design evolve along the way,
and how much involvement did you have in it?
AL: I think I pretty much had the plan in my head,
but they drew it out and thought long and hard
about how to build a guitar under such tension
MB: What sort of a MIDI pick-up did you have
installed, and how do you utilise this in your
music?
AL: I can’t remember the name of the polydrive
(RMC – Ed.), but it’s made in a shed in Canada as far
MB: What does your live equipment set-up
consist of?
AL: I use the one eight-string guitar and, because
it’s also MIDI-enabled, I use a Roland guitar synth
when I want the music to explode; I put that
through a cool AER combo.
MB: Turning to the instruments you play, what
is/are your main guitar/s?
AL: I also have a Victor Baker archtop and a
lovely six-string handmade by Abe Wechter, but
it’s all about that Brook eight-string at the mo –
it took me three years to learn to play the
bastard..!
MB: What inspired you to have Brook Guitars
build a custom instrument for you?
AL: I wanted to be able to have that double bass
range to make giant chords and to do bass lines,
and UTV is proof of the success, hopefully, of the
idea that a guitar and cello can trade roles, and
so with a quartet you can make this big, big
sound, without a (yawn) piano…
MB: The custom nylon-strung guitar was
certainly an unusual ‘one-off ’; did you
The back and sides of Andy’s eight-string features this beautifully-figured 40-year-old rosewood.
page 20
Strutting our stuff on extra strings...
ANDY’S guitar presented a number of interesting
challenges for us...
Firstly, the layout of the guitar dictated that the
fingerboard was very wide, especially at the point
where the neck and body met.
As a consequence, we needed to re-design the
shape of the cutaway. We decided to make the
headstock taper inwards, to help keep its overall
width to a minimum.
We had to consider carefully the layout and size of
the strutting; we wanted to keep the guitar as
responsive as possible, but also needed to be
mindful of the tension of the extra two bass strings
and the effect of playing the guitar through an
amplifier.
So, taking advice from our friend and noted
classical guitar maker, Kevin Aram, we chose a
modified Torres layout because of its inherent
stability and ability to produce an even response
over a wide range of frequencies.
from page 19
as I know, and has gold-plated individual
sensors under the top six strings…
MB: What do you tune the eight strings
to (low to high), and are you pleased
with how the guitar turned out?
The pickup system was a RMC Poly-Drive; Andy’s
intention was for a polyphonic MIDI system.
Unfortunately, RMC only made a hexaphonic
(based on six strings/six separate signals) system, so
after a three-way conversation between RMC,
Andy and ourselves, a solution was found...
AL: I’m very, very pleased with the guitar!
It’s tuned to a low bass E at the range of a
double bass, then an A, a fourth above
that, followed by the usual six strings a
fifth above that.
We installed eight individual pickups (see below),
so that the top six strings would be MIDI-enabled,
and there would also be a mono/analogue, output
of all eight pickups. That left us to solder the eight
pickups into a DIN output.
MB: What are your impressions of
Brook Guitars? Any plans for further
instruments, or do you have
everything you need?
Fortunately, all of the pickups worked perfectly,
first time. Phew!!
AL: Most definitely, I would work with
Brook again – they were really great with
me, and my eight-string rocks! I’ve been
thinking about a hurdy gurdy…
(Right) A single RMC MIDI
pickup, eight of which were
wired to a DIN output (below).
MB: What’s next for you
musically/professionally?
AL: Get this album out and the band on
the road – then it’s the difficult second
Andy Petherick
The Power of Eight
page 21
8
from page 20
album! I've spent the last two weeks with an engineer
readying the album for a final mix, and we are 85% there –
it’s beginning to sound really hi-fi and special. I’ve taken
the path of getting this right as a priority, in the hope that
good things (like decent management and professional
promotion!) will follow.
MB: Where can people find out more about you/your
music etc?
AL: I’ve created a temporary website to host a few pictures
and a sound file of one pre-mix track.
http://phat10.wix.com/antenna
The track is called ‘Slow Day at the Numbers Station’ and is a
good showcase for the eight-string because – as well as
the natural recorded sound of the acoustic instrument
functioning as a bass and as a melodic line and as a
rhythmic comp under the sax/cello – it also shows off the
guitar plugged into my AER and Roland GR55 guitar synth
as an electro acoustic, and then later as a MIDI trigger for
the big surf guitar sound and finally...as an electric synth
under the Rhodes piano in the outro!
The whole album (at the moment called ‘New Themes’) is
intended as a post jazz soundtrack to live to – instrumental
by choice, in order that the listener becomes the star of
their own ‘undiscovered television’...
page 22
THIS issue of ‘Babbling Brook’ features at least two musicians
who have worked long and hard in professional studios to
commit their music to record (and CD!). But – thanks to everchanging technology – achieving quality recordings is no
longer the exclusive (read ‘expensive’) domain of the commercial
studios alone. In the first of a series of articles, Robbie Jessep
gives you the lowdown on immortalising your music at home,
for less than the cost of an Abbey Road tea-break...
Just for the record
WHO could have failed to notice that we now live in a
world where music is more accessible than ever before?
Not only can we have instant access to our favourite music
via any medium we like, but the ability for us all to get our
creative efforts up on the World Wide Web is as easy as it has
ever been. Nowadays, it is fairly easy to get recorded music
up on YouTube, or on Band Camp, and to begin earning
money from one’s artistic endeavours.
Okay, maybe we’re not going to earn as much as those
musicians of old who travelled the ‘recording contract route’
(which, let’s face it, often meant selling one’s artistic rights to
some global conglomerate in the name of commercialism).
However, many of us ‘Brookies’ work in fairly niche circles
with our music – and with the powers of today’s information
technology, we can still succeed in getting our music heard
by listeners across the globe.
It is my aim in the next few issues of ‘Babbling Brook’ to take
a look at the techniques that we, as musicians, can employ
to get our music successfully recorded and up on to the
Web, or, indeed, onto good old fashioned CDs (which, of
course, still have their place when gigging and busking). And
along the way, I also hope to be able to get some people
more expert than myself to write some articles on different
aspects of the recording process...
My own background as a recordist comes from teaching
Music Technology A-Level to students for around 20 years
now. During that time, I have seen various technologies
come and go. Indeed, when I was first asked to teach
recording techniques, it was on a Tascam Portastudio, using
good old cassette tape. Oh, how things have moved on!
(definitely for the better in my view, especially for those that
remember how tedious it was to splice different ‘takes’ together,
a task which can now be performed with a single swipe of the
mouse on a computer screen!)
page 23
from page 22
Over the course of a series of articles, I hope to be
able to give readers an idea for what software and
equipment is available to them, and how best to
spend their cash on different budgets; we’ll look at
how to physically record your guitars and voices,
including ways of making your recording
environment easier to work with so as to get the
best results.
Most of us (myself included!) forget that the room
you are recording in plays a significant impact on
the final sound. Matt Keen, an excellent music
technologist who mastered my own ‘Road to
Easterbrook…’ album was able to work wonders to
remove some of environmental sonic characteristics
of my own home recordings, which were done in my
living room. But there also are some great (and
cheap) ways you can make somewhere like a living
room more conducive to producing professional
quality recordings, which we’ll also cover.
We will look at different kinds of microphones and
try to decipher those funny terms that sound like
they are parts of the Starship Enterprise. What
exactly is ‘a coincident pair’, for example – and why
would you use that pair in ‘an ORTF arrangement’?
What is ‘middle’ and ‘side recording’, and does it
sound any different to a pair of ‘spaced omni’s’?
All will, hopefully, become clear in future articles...
There are some great (and cheap)
ways to make somewhere like a
living room more conducive to
producing quality recordings...
We will look at how we mix your tracks, what effects
to add, what EQ and compression actually does and
how we could make use of these techniques to
improve a mix. The dark art
of the mastering engineer
will hopefully be explained!
At any rate, we will look at
how to get your tracks in a
form that is ready to be
uploaded to Band Camp,
Soundcloud or wherever
and in whatever format you
prefer – including, as I said,
CD.
I recently had the pleasure
to record Phil Taylor who,
many readers will already
know, is an excellent
composer who writes the
most exquisite fingerstyle
instrumentals that receive
many views on YouTube.
Guitarist Phil Taylor during a recording session for his forthcoming album.
He’s also the owner of two
fine Brook guitars, of course.
He approached me with a
view to getting some advice on how to record
himself and get some of his material on to a CD
(which his legion of fans have been crying out for for
years!).
Phil came down to visit me this summer, and we
spent two days recording 11 tracks for the album. I
will be explaining how we went about this, the
problems we encountered and how we overcame
them. I will then look at how we mixed the tracks,
and hopefully Phil’s album will be ready to purchase
by the next issue of ‘Babbling Brook’!
Another reason Phil came to visit me was to pick my
brains about what equipment he should get, so as
to be able to continue the recording process at home.
I’ll conclude this introductory article, then, by
repeating the advice I gave to Phil...
So, what should I get with a £500 budget?
First of all, we will assume that you already have a
computer. If you don’t, then there are many ‘stand
alone’ devices made by Zoom, Tascam and Olympus
(amongst others) that can give very good results.
What you will find difficult to do with these,
however, is to go much beyond the actual capturing
audio stage; mixing on these tiny devices isn’t great
fun (although still possible) – and editing is even
more difficult!
At any rate, you are more than likely to want to put
the results up on the Internet at some stage, or get
them on to CD, so a computer is likely to be needed
in the end anyway.
page 24
Just for the record
from page 23
So, let us first divide the equipment into the
different jobs they will perform:
Audio capture
It may sound like stating the obvious, but for this,
you will need some microphones. Probably two.
These will then have to plug into an audio interface.
This will supply gain and phantom power for the
microphones to work, and will turn all those
wonderful sound waves you’ll be creating into 0s
and 1s that the computer will understand – this is
digital technology we are talking about, after all.
For microphones, I suggested Phil have a look at a
stereo pair of Rode M5s. I love Rode’s stuff – it’s well
made, cheap. Their microphones are incredibly
reliable; I have never broken one, and have used
them in every school I have ever worked at.
Good quality headphones (such as Audio Technica’s
ATH-M50Xs – above) are a great alternative to more
expensive powered monitors.
A stereo pair means that Phil will be able to easily
capture his Brook Lyn and Torridge in full stereo. For
an audio interface, I suggested one of the focusrite
range, such as the two-input Scarlet 2i2. This will be
able to supply 48-volt phantom power to the
condenser Rode mics, and have a healthy amount of
gain. Phil is a quiet player, so the gain will need
turning up more than, say, a noisy flamenco player!
The Scarlet 2i2 is USB and so will plug in to every
type of PC and Apple Mac. They don’t currently plug
in to iPads, but more and more interfaces do, so this
is something worth looking into. With the new iPad
Pro just round the corner (due to be released in
November 2015) I can see more and more musicians
choosing to work with their iPad and ditch laptops
and desktop computers for good.
Mixing
Whilst most computers will
come with some sort
of software that
will
it (such as dealing with different takes, adding reverb,
getting rid of noise at the beginning and end etc.).
Please, please, don’t even THINK
about plugging your hi-fi speakers
into your audio interface ...
I gave Phil a few suggestions for this – for around
£30 to £90, there are options from Steinberg
(Cubase Elements) and Propellorheads (Reason
Essentials 8). In fact, some audio interfaces come
with their own free software that will do a perfectly
good enough job.
Monitoring
It’s no good having wonderful mics and a wonderful
room to record in if you can’t hear what you’re doing!
actually capture the incoming 0s and 1s and
produce files (such as WAV, AIFF or even MP3) that
can be uploaded to the Internet, you will
probably need a slightly more
capable and dedicated piece
of software to be able to mix
(Left) A pair of Rode’s M5 microphones
and (right) Focusrite’s Scarlet 2i2 audio
interface.
Monitoring can take the form of either powered
speakers that plug into your audio interface (please,
please, don’t even THINK about using your hi-fi!), an
from page 24
amp and set of passive speakers to which you connect your interface;
or a set of high quality headphones.
Powered monitors would have come in a little above Phil’s budget, so I
suggested instead buying a good a pair of headphones. I use Audio
Technica ATH-M50s (now replaced by ATH-M50X). They are expensive,
at around £130 (although there are some great deals to be had out
there). Beyer Dynamic are a good alternative, as are Seinnheiser,
although I have found them to be a little variable and sometimes a
little too ‘flattering’. If you mix on headphones which have an
enhanced bass, for instance (such as certain models by Bose and those
ubiquitous ‘Beats’ that most youths seem to wear these days), then you
will tend to over-compensate for this and possible be EQ’ing the bass
out when this isn’t necessary.
Cables, stands...and duvets
Of course, in amongst your budget are the little accessories that need
to be accounted for: microphone cables (try designacable.com)
microphone stands (get them from Thomman.de) stereo bars on which
to mount to microphones, and duvets...
Yes, I DID say duvets! Remember I said how important it is to make
you acoustic space work for you? Well, as much as your partner loves
what you do and is probably itching to see your creative work in print,
they probably don’t want you sticking egg boxes all over the living
room space! (Not that egg boxes work – it’s an urban myth) Duvets hung
from bamboo rods and then a few strategically-placed picture hooks
will be far less intrusive, cheaper – and will probably ultimately save
your marriage!!
By placing absorbent material in an arc behind the performer, any
sound that would normally be reflected from those walls behind them
back into the microphone gets absorbed instead – so, less reflected
sound reaches the front of the mic and the recording sounds much
drier than it otherwise would.
The thicker and more absorbent the material (a higher tog duvet!), the
lower the frequency it will work down to, and by spacing the duvet an
inch or two away from the wall it will work to an even lower frequency.
So, I hope you have enjoyed this short introduction to home
recording, and are already looking
forward to how you can go about
recording yourself cheaply and
effectively.
If you would like to contribute an
article to this series, please do get in
touch...it would be great to hear from
you! See you next issue...
Robbie
(Left) Duvets make a cheap
and effective sound ‘damper’...
page 25
page 26
We like Tony Kerry a
lot – he came to our
workshop to order a
guitar...and ended
up ordering THREE!
L
AST issue, we featured two
‘sufferers’ of BAS (Brook
Acquisition Syndrome), a relatively
new variant strain of the widerrecognised GAS (Guitar Acquisition
Syndrome).
Here’s a photograph
from the 2002 ‘News’
section of our website,
showing customer
Tony Kerry (centre)
with Andy and Simon
trying out his new
(from left) Indian
Rosewood Taw;
custom Walnut Tavy
cutaway; and custom
Bovey.
They spoke openly of their condition
and how they managed it, in the full
knowledge that – for them – there
would never be a cure.
Now, in the second of this occasional
series, we meet two more hapless
victims whose BAS – we’re delighted to
say! – is progressive, to say the least...
These multiple Brook owners have
appeared so many times on our website
‘News’ section that we’re thinking of
giving them their own pages.
For them, a new Brook instrument is
almost an item on their monthly
shopping list – THAT’S how serious it is!
They also have the distinction of
owning Brook collections that are now
into DOUBLE FIGURES.
So, without more ado, let’s read about
why, for Tony Kerry and Steve Bennett
(and countless others like them), one
guitar really isn’t enough.
And for anyone who thinks they may be
showing even the slightest symptoms
of BAS themselves, we offer a full
custom order...sorry, counselling service
on 01647 24139.
Health and Safety adviser and Brook aficionado Tony Kerry explains about how his ongoing love affair with our instruments brings
him back to Easterbrook time and again, and why he feels his ever-growing guitar collection is the result of...
A destiny fulfilled...
I
T was my cousin, who was 10 years older than
me, who really got me interested in guitars; he
owned an acoustic AND a Fender electric, and
made some interesting sounds that inspired me.
My first idol was Lonnie Donegan, closely followed
by Joe Brown. Lonnie was a great entertainer and
had a great influence on a lot of us. Joe Brown was,
and still is, a great guitarist, and I loved his playing
as a kid. I then got interested in The Shadows and
Hank Marvin, who is another great guitar player and
inspiration.
I then got into the Beatles, the Stones and later
Dylan, along with other folkies like Bert Jansch,
Donovan, and many more tremendous guitarists.
I got my first guitar for my 12th birthday and it cost
the princely sum of £6.56. It had a horrible machine
head that never stayed in tune, and apart from the
initial novelty of having a guitar my frustration got
the better of me and I hardly played it.
I visited Spain at the age of 16 and my sister – who
was living there with her friends – bought me a
nylon-strung Spanish guitar that stayed in tune and
continued on page27
page 27
from page 26
so my second phase of guitar playing started! This
instrument gave me a chance to get better and play
a little with friends. Then, a couple of years later, in
Spain again, I bought a better Spanish guitar that
helped me even more.
When I was 21, I bought a Yamaha dreadnought
from a shop in Shaftesbury Avenue, London for £97,
together with my first hard case (£23!), which really
helped my playing to improve for a number of years
then, off and on.
It wasn’t until I was in my early 40s that I bought my
first high-end guitar; on my cousin’s advice, I visited
Ivor Mairants in London, and fell in love with an
auditorium-sized Taylor, with a Spruce top and Koa
back and sides. It was gorgeous, and really inspired
my playing.
My guitar-crazy cousin was talking of having a guitar
custom-made, and said that Brook would be one of
his choices if they were not so far away. I then
discovered a review of a Tavy by Seamus Brady who
I had met and was working at the Acoustic Centre in
I truly regretted not
buying a stunning
spruce and Indian
rosewood Okement
that I’d seen at
Hank’s in London.
From that moment
on, I’ve always gone
with my instincts..!
Tony with Andy and Si during his first-ever visit to Easterbrook in April 2002.
London. He gave the Tavy an excellent review and I
decided I had to find out more, so I ‘phoned Brook
and spoke with Simon, who – as all of us who have
met him will know – treated me as though he had
known me for years.
He sent me the old brochure, which has a picture of
Andy’s now grown-up daughter Zoe playing a Bovey.
Simon advised me that they had recently sent some
guitars to Hank’s in London, so I went over there and
saw a few Brooks...
The one I really liked was a spruce and Indian
rosewood Okement; I loved it and really wanted to
walk out with it there and then, but didn’t have the
funds. Anyway, I went up London again on New
Year’s Eve with my cousin and I ended up buying
another Taylor Concert. Whilst the new Taylor was a
lovely all-over Koa, I truly regretted not buying that
stunning Okement, and from that moment on, I’ve
always gone with my instincts!
I didn’t pursue Brook again until 2002, as I felt it was
a destiny needing to be fulfilled. This was after
watching a documentary video that my cousin
recorded and gave me of Brook Guitars, which
included an interview with Andy and Simon at the
workshop about the business and how it all started
with Andy Manson.
The documentary concluded classically with a visit
and sale by a guitar enthusiast and his wife who just
(Left) Wall of sound: Tony
Kerry’s enviable collection
includes Brooks of all
shapes and sizes.
page 28
from page 27
happened to be in the area whilst the film crew were
at Easterbrook. How lovely it was of this couple to
mention the wonderful narrow Devon roads to the
workshop that we BAS guys enjoy each time we visit.
My association with Brook started, as it does so often,
with an email, and it was me banging on to Simon
about my missed opportunity of the Okement.
I said I was interested in a custom-made Okement.
After several messages back and forth, I agreed to
visit Easterbrook in April 2002. This was heaven for
me! On my arrival I was greeted by Simon, and
walking into the workshop there was Jack working
away with Kev.
(Above) Tony playing his 2014 custom Taw, with spruce
top and a back of stunning English cherry and Brazilian
chestnut (right). The same woods were used to laminate
the neck, while the headstock featured Jack Smidmore’s
Kingfisher inlay, diving for a stickleback at the 12th fret
(bottom, right). Subtle red and black inlay for the rosette
and purfling (below) completed the visual feast.
The smell of wood and the current guitars they were
working on took my breath away. I moved upstairs
to be greeted by Andy Petherick, and then had the
pleasure of seeing the top floor with all the finished
instruments awaiting collection.
Once I started playing Simon’s lovely Taw and Bovey
I wanted to buy both! However, we went downstairs
(From left) A cutaway Tavy with European Spruce top and Rio back and sides, and the Spruce-topped Okement with Red
Gum back and sides that Tony found ‘too much to resist’...
page 29
from page 28
to select the woods for my project. Guided by Simon
and Andy, I decided on a Tavy cut-away body with
walnut back and sides, spruce top and a rosewood
fingerboard.
I also went for a Bovey with the same wood
configuration as the Tavy. Then, I went back upstairs
and had another go on Simon’s Taw...and decided to
order one of those too! It was agreed that they would
build one for stock that I could purchase with Indian
rosewood and spruce top.
A few months later and all my guitars were ready.
I looked at the results of the three instruments and
was emotionally completely blown away – so much
so that I couldn’t play! So, pros that they are, Andy
and Simon left me alone to familiarise myself with
my new instruments.
It was an experience I’ll never forget and that was it:
I was in love with Brook Guitars and its people. No
going back from there – my Brook Acquisition
Syndrome was well and truly with me from that day
on!
A few months later, in February 2003, Simon told me
they had some interesting wood similar to Koa
called Vanatua, which was stunning. By then, I had
also developed a fascination for the different tones
possible on guitars, and I decided to go for a
Torridge with the Vanatua and a Cedar top.
In August that year, the Brook website ‘News’ page
(From left) A 12-fret Torridge with Cedar top and Vanuatu Blackwood back and sides, and a Cedar-fronted Bovey with
Walnut back and sides.
featured a load of guitars, including an Okement
that was about to be shipped to Hank’s in London.
I ‘phoned Simon to see when they were likely to be
at Hank’s, which turned out to be over the August
Bank Holiday. So, it was then off to Hank’s...
As soon as I walked in, there she was: a beautiful
Okement with Red Gum back and sides...absolutely
stunning! The play and feel was too much to resist
after my previous mistake with the earlier Okement.
I’d originally just wanted to look at her and try her,
but as soon as I saw her that guitar had to be mine!
I emailed Simon the next day and he was stunned
that I had purchased the Okement only a few weeks
before collecting a Torridge.
I went down early October, 2003 and picked up my
Torridge and she was and still is absolutely gorgeous
and plays lovely. This time, with Andy’s help, I chose
some woods for my NEXT project – a Tamar.
Jack had just cut a nice piece of Santos Rosewood
that, along with some Bearclaw Sitka spruce,
became my selected woods. I picked the Tamar up
in June 2004 and – as with all my other Brooks – was,
once again, completely blown away.
I then ‘went quiet’ for a couple of years, during which
time many people admired and loved my Brooks,
but didn’t necessarily want to have to wait or pay for
a brand new one or visit the workshop as I did.
One such ‘admirer’ was my boss, also a keen guitarist,
who saw my Tavy, was absolutely enchanted by it
and immediately began pushing me to sell it to him.
I told Simon about this, and his very words were
“flog it and we’ll make you a better one”!
After some thought, I agreed – particularly as Andy
and Simon had just taken stock of some lovely
Brazilian rosewood. It gave me the ideal excuse to
visit Easterbrook again so, somewhat reluctantly, I
did part with the Tavy.
(From left) A Sitka Spruce-topped Little Silver, with Tasmanian Blackwood back and sides, and a cutaway Tamar, with
Bearclaw Sitka Spruce front and Santos Rosewood back and sides.
I knew she had gone to a good home, but getting
page 30
Image courtesy of M. Edward Sparks/Pepperland Productions/Kirk Mathew Gatzka
Producing scripts for television soaps such as ‘Coronation Street’, ‘Emmerdale’ and ‘Holby City’ has enabled professional writer Stephen Bennett to indulge his passion for fine instruments –
and Brook guitars and ukuleles in particular. Here, he tells Martin Bell about how his collecting started – and why, when it comes to collecting, he’s almost certainly lost the plot!
The write stuff
MB: To begin with, Steve, tell us a bit about yourself and
what do you do for a living...
SB: I’m a television scriptwriter (mainly) but I’m also involved
in directing and producing theatre at Cambridge University,
and I write features and album/guitar reviews for Acoustic
magazine.
MB: How long have you been playing the guitar? How did
you get started and what were your early influences etc?
SB: I’ve been playing since I was about 11 years old. I wanted
to be a bass player (being very much into Cream, Free etc.) and
my Dad bought me a second-hand Hofner Professional from a
junk shop in Oldham. Pale blue with a yellow scratch-plate (the
bass, not the shop). A plank, basically, but I kept it for years.
“
The fun of it is having a mad vision of
something then getting the lads to
realise it. Or just visiting the workshop,
picking something up and thinking:
’I must find a way of getting off
Dartmoor alive with this’..!
“
page 31
The write stuff
from page 30
From there – and because it’s what all my friends
were doing – I started listening to Roy Harper, John
Martyn etc. I bought an Eko Ranger 6 from a schoolfriend and that got me going on the acoustic side.
MB: What was your first ‘decent’ guitar?
SB: I liked that old Eko, believe it or not. I suppose
the first ‘decent’ guitar I had was a Fylde Ariel (this
would be around 1980). but I never really got on
with it. I ended up swapping it for a cherry-red Les
Paul Standard – possibly the last thing I needed tone
and style-wise, but it looked very cool.
MB: When did you first start collecting guitars –
before, or as a result of, discovering Brook?
SB: I’ve always liked to trade and upgrade
instruments. I grew up on Oldham market, so it’s
probably in the blood. Almost as soon as I’d got used
to playing something I’d be looking for something
different (and hopefully better).
MB: So how did you first encounter Brook Guitars?
SB: I can’t recall where the initial contact came from,
but I do remember coming to
Dartmoor and buying a Tavy –
possibly in the early 90s. The thing
that I remember most is the road
down to the workshop, to be
honest. It’s an adventure, to this day.
Also, after dozens of visits since, I still
couldn’t find the place to save my
life!
MB: What were your first
impressions of Brook instruments?
SB: Pure, unadorned quality,
basically; the fantastic sound
(especially from woods I
hadn’t associated with
guitars, previously), and the
fact that here were all these
Steve discovered his
‘acoustic side’ with the
purchase of an Eko
Ranger 6 (left).
A brace of Boveys: the first (left) shows off its European Spruce front, while the second features locally-sourced English Yew
back and sides, with a ‘splash’ of creamy sapwood running through it, and star and comet tail inlay on the neck heel.
amazing hand-made instruments that were twice as
good (for the same price) as any nominally high-end
US import.
MB: What was your first Brook? Was it ‘off the
shelf’ or a custom build?
SB: I’m pretty sure it was a Tavy that was in the
page 32
I’ve become a bit of a uke-fiend
lately, which maybe comes from
a gradual leaning towards
small-bodied guitars...
from page 31
workshop. Cherry back and sides – which was a new
one on me. It was loud and bright and suited my
hybrid, sub-Richard Thompson fumblings.
MB: Can you tell us how the (ongoing?) GAS
(Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) – or, more
specifically, BAS – began?
SB: I got on really well with Simon and Andy from
the off (I think). I like what they do, I enjoy visiting
the shop so, if someone's going to feed your
addiction, it's that much more of a pleasure when it’s
done with such style and grace. The guilt never kicks
in ‘til you get home, funnily enough.
MB: What Brook instruments have you acquired
since your first?
SB: I’m currently up to around 15, including ukuleles,
but my instrument collection is a little bit scattered.
Also, I’ve passed a couple on to friends. But Simon
and Andy may well have a record!
MB: Does your Brook collection have a certain
‘direction’ to it (do you, for example, aspire to
owning one of every model)?
SB: I’ve become a bit of a uke-fiend lately, and that
The Boveys reversed: the Spruce-fronted model now displays its Ovangkol back and sides, while the
(in Steve’s words, the ‘blinged-up’) Yew model shows a beautiful Cedar top.
maybe comes from a gradual leaning towards
small-bodied guitars. My last one was an allmahogany, slotted headstock beauty, but I can
never remember the model names; all those rivers!
It’s the one that’s just up from a Bovey (which I’ve
had three of, over the years).
MB: Are your Brooks ‘working instruments’?
page 33
The write stuff
from page 32
Do you play ‘live’ regularly and are they the sort
of guitars you happily take out of the house
(running the risk that someone, somewhere
might ask to try them out!)?
SB: I don’t play live much these days. Come to think
of it, I don't get out much, either, so all my guitars
are pretty much housebound. As a guitarist friend
once said of me, “he just plays for his own amazement” .
I wish!
MB: Do you collect other instruments/guitars, or
is your collecting confined to Brooks? Can you
give us an overview of the rest of your collection,
if it extends beyond the Brooks?
SB: I’ve got all sorts of things ‘cluttering up the house’
(to quote Mrs. B). Highlights (I suppose) include a
Manzer ‘Pat Metheny’ model, a Wingert harp-guitar
and a Dudenbostel F-5 mandolin, but there’s a lot of
other stuff lurking about.
(Above) Steve with his custom all-mahogany Little Silver,
featuring a tobacco-shaded top; he chose a red theme for the
purfling and position dots, completing the look with a set of
vintage-style ‘Golden Age’ tuners and pyramid bridge.
MB: What sort of music do you play on your
Brooks? What music do you listen to/are
influenced by? And which players do you admire?
SB: If I could blend the acoustic technique of Pat
Metheny with the ‘feel’ of John Martyn’s playing I’d
be more than happy...
MB: Do have a different Brook for different styles
of music, or are they all pretty versatile within
the styles you play? And do you have a particular
favourite, which you would never want to part
with – if you had to (perish the thought!) choose
just one, for example?
SB: I’ve got a little black parlour-guitar with a
beautifully-inlayed fingerboard; THAT’S not going
anywhere. I can’t think of the river that it’s named
after. And a blue/green Tavy that drove Andy mad
(‘Blue?’!) but remains a favourite. I used that one a lot
for gigs and it used to excite much drooling
page 34
I’ve got a little black parlour
guitar with a beautifully-inlaid
fingerboard; THAT’S not going
anywhere...
(Above) This custom black Creedy boasts a delicate abalone vine inlay, while the tenor ukulele below is in Bubinga, topped with European Spruce.
from page 33
covetousness from players in the audience.
MB: Have you ever got rid of any Brooks to fund a
new build – then wished later that you hadn’t?
SB: I’ve only ever traded one up, I think (a 12-string)
though I’ve passed a few on to friends.
MB: Any final thoughts on Brooks guitars in
general?
SB: I’d like another one, please! Also, it’s a good
thing they don’t do mandolins or I’d be in serious
trouble/debt.
MB: And lastly – as if that wasn’t enough! – what’s
‘the next one’ going to be (because there’s
ALWAYS a ‘next one’!)?
SB: I’ve no idea. That’s the fun of it; having a mad
vision of something, then getting the lads to realise
it. Or just visiting the workshop, picking something
up and thinking: ’I must find a way of getting off
Dartmoor alive with this’. That, and jamming at
Simon’s house. And the curries, of course...
page 35
Dealership Profile
Exeter-based Project Music is one of a select number of our ‘shopfront’dealerships in the UK, where many
customers first discover Brook Guitars for themselves. In the first of a series of dealership profile articles, owner
Lee St Pier tells Martin Bell how – for him – it’s the perfect way of mixing business with pleasure...
“
Playability, tone
and breathtaking
craftsmanship –
I immediately
wanted a Brook
for myself and
knew I had to be
involved with
them in any way
I could...
“
Project Music Sales Director Phil
Kirk (left) and owner Lee St
Pier, each toting a Brook in the
shop’s Acoustic department.
Serious about Brooks
MB: Lee, start by telling us about your own
musical background, and how/when Project
Music was founded?
music shop in Ealing and quickly fell in love with the
trade and the buzz that you get from working with
other musicians.
LSP: I have always been involved with guitars and
music from a very young age. My father was a
professional musician for many years and then when
I came along he thought he should get a job that
meant he no longer needed to be out on tour or
gigging all over the place; he felt he needed, in his
words, ‘a proper job’. So, he started working at a local
As a small boy on Saturdays and during school
holidays I found myself helping to tidy music shop
stock rooms and generally getting in the way of staff
in various West London music shops. Over time, my
father worked his way up through different
organisations in the trade. In the early 80s he was a
central figure in Roland UK and at this stage I spent a
fair amount of time at the Roland UK headquarters,
once again mainly just getting in the way! He left
Roland in the mid-80s and started his own shop in
London. This shop was very successful and wellknown for many years until he retired.
Through friends and contacts that I had made I
managed to get a job working for Aria UK in
Brentford in the mid-80s, and this was my first full
page 36
from page 35
time job after leaving school. I obtained plenty of
experience working for what was, at that time, a very
busy UK guitar distributor. I then went on to work for
my father until 2000 when I decided to move down
to the West Country and start my own shop. So I guess
you could say that Project Music was started in 2000
– however, the experience and love of working with
guitars and musicians was already well-developed
by then, after many years of involvement and
experience in the trade at all levels.
MB: Can you give us a bit of a profile of the store
(staff etc) and your customer ‘demographic’?
LSP: When Project Music started out it was really
mainly catering for local musicians and we stocked
many different instruments from drums to synths
and studio equipment as well, of course, as guitars.
Over the years, we have naturally just followed a
course that has us now firmly established as an outand-out guitar specialist. These days what we are all
about is quality guitars and quality guitar equipment.
Project Music always has a varied range of Brooks in stock. From left to right are: a Lyn, a Torridge, a Taw, an OM and a Teign.
Although we are based in Exeter, Devon, we have
many customers and friends throughout Europe. In
this job, it’s all about relationships and service, so
once we get to know someone they tend to be a
friend of the shop from that point onward.
In general terms, I would say that our electric guitar
business tends to be split equally between recent
younger players and those with many years’
experience. But with the acoustic side of things, it’s
generally the more experienced customer we find
ourselves talking to. I think that players who have
come to appreciate a quality acoustic and have an
understanding of what those instruments are doing
for you are generally players who have a fair degree
of playing time under their belt.
I am very lucky to be working with a great bunch of
guys at the store. We have a combined team of
seven staff, who are all enthusiastic and
knowledgeable players. We all have a different part
to play in the running of the company and we all
have different musical tastes and skills. This ensures
that we have a very wide knowledge base and can
help with customers with any style of instrument or
enquiry.
I find myself always focusing on the acoustic guitar
side of our business, because this is what I enjoy
most and have the most experience with. If you add
up the combined experience of the shop’s staff in
the trade you get to 116 years’ worth of experience.
So that’s a rough average of 16 years’ experience per
member of staff – which I suspect would stand out
as being far higher than most guitar shops...
MB: What’s the music scene like in your part of
the world?
LSP: I would say it’s fairly good really, but it does
depend a bit on what it is that interests you. Devon
has a fairly active folk and acoustic scene, with
plenty of open mic and jam nights scattered around
the county. However, I’d say it’s a bit more
challenging for some of our younger rock-orientated
players to find places to play, which is a bit
disappointing. Having said that, there are at least a
few venues that exist and are prepared to give
young players an opportunity.
MB: How/when did you first discover Brook Guitars?
LSP: I was already familiar with the Brook name
some years before I developed a close working
relationship with Simon and Andy. I remember on a
trip to London many years ago chatting to a guy in
one of the Denmark Street guitar shops and we
started a conversation about Martin guitars.
He then proceeded to tell me that he used to live in
page 37
A customer ‘test drives’ a Brook Tavy with Spruce top and Cherry back and sides at Project Music, with the help of Conan Burke, Acoustic Department Sales & Service.
Serious about Brooks
from page 36
Devon and that he owned a Brook and it was the
only guitar he would never part with. He joked that
he wanted to be buried with it (actually, come to
think of it, I’m not sure he was joking!).
Then, when I opened the shop in Exeter, I quickly
found that customers kept talking about Brook
Guitars, and Simon’s and Andy’s names kept being
mentioned to me. Early on in the shop’s history, we
held a Sunday Promotional day, and Brook very
kindly turned up to help and had a few guitars with
them. This is when I really had my first experience of
Brook instruments and I remember just being blown
away by them. Playability, tone and breathtaking
craftsmanship – I immediately wanted one for
myself and knew I had to be involved with them in
any way I could.
MB: How do you rate Brooks (as a player/
businessman/dealer/collector)?
attention when building a high-end instrument.
Working with Brook is a real pleasure,
not just because of the instruments,
but because of the character of the
company...and I’m personally
tempted by more Brook guitars than
any other range we stock..!
LSP: As a player myself I love Brook guitars. I picked
one for myself from the very first batch we had for
stock. I remember I got it out of its case, played a
chord or two and then that was it – I just had to have
it. Of course, many very nice brands and builders
exist, and competition is very strong at the high end
of the market, but Brook offer a feel and vibe that is
just intrinsically Brook.
Again, as a player, I really appreciate the quality of
craftsmanship any guitar displays now more than
ever. Some of the very large names in the guitar
building world just don’t allow for enough care and
With Brook, every one I have ever picked up has that
hand-built quality, look and feel to it, and this is
something I have really come to appreciate and
enjoy. They are fine musical instruments and they all
have a wonderful tone and character to them, but
more than this as possessions they are objects of
beauty. Some people enjoy collecting and admiring
classic cars, paintings or maybe antiques – well, I get
a kick out of a properly crafted instrument. Not only
is a well-built instrument going to produce a better
feel and tone it is also a more enjoyable instrument
to own handle and collect.
From a business point of view, what I really
appreciate is the friendly and honest relationship
between Brook and ourselves. With so many guitar
brands these days business relationships between
brand and dealer have developed a clinical and
completely commercial feel, and if you went back
only a decade ago this was not the case. But working
with Brook is a real pleasure, not just because of the
instruments they make, but because of the character
page 38
from page 37
of the company.
Of all the high-end brands we are involved with, I
get the most fun out of stocking, ordering, playing
and talking about Brook guitars. I also find that I’m
personally tempted by more Brook guitars than any
other range we stock! I have managed to show great
restraint in recent years, otherwise I would have
ended up with a room full of Brooks at home.
MB: Do you stock ‘off the peg’ Brooks, or do you
ever order any custom models?
LSP: We try and stock as many Brook guitars as we
can. As with all proper, genuinely hand-built
instruments, it takes time to craft a guitar, so due to
the delay between placing an order and receiving
instruments, our stock levels will vary greatly. Ideally,
I would like to have at least 12 in stock at any time,
but the workshop is in very high demand and they
sell so quickly that it can be a real struggle to obtain
enough stock. Sometimes, we can be down to just a
few...
We have been involved in some custom ordering for
specific customers, but the majority of our orders are
for stock for our own purposes. The workshop will
not rush anything and they will not compromise
with either quality or the build process in any way. I
think what many players may not appreciate is the
massive volumes that other brands turn out can
invariably lead to quality issues. Big name builders
will push for more and more stock to be built all the
Lee (right) ventures up the neck on a new Brook during a visit to the Easterbrook workshop, while Simon seems content
with a first-position A-minor chord...
time and this puts the whole build process under
strain. But Brook along with a few other quality
builders will not and do not build guitars by putting
themselves under pressure.
Andy and Simon could go out and sell many more
instruments if they wanted to, because the demand
is certainly very high. Just in this country alone, I
would suspect that they could substantially increase
the amount they sold each year. So you have to give
them enormous respect for keeping the focus on
quality and not letting the build process come under
pressure by producing guitars to play ‘the numbers
game’. This is why I can not get enough of them and
why demand is so high. I’m delighted that the
workshop has this approach, although with stocking
it does inevitably mean that we just never have
enough instruments available!
MB: Is there any such thing as a ‘typical Brook
customer’ at Project Music?
LSP: Not so much a typical Brook customer as such,
however players who appreciate Brooks and buy
Brooks do generally have some very similar views on
acoustic guitars and what they are after from an
instrument. To generalise, I would say that Brook
customers tend to be very experienced players; they
tend to have developed an ear and understanding
for quality that is usually drawn from many years of
experiencing different brands and styles of guitars.
For many of our Brook customers, they purchase a
Brook as a guitar for life and as something rather
special and personal to them. I’ve found that many
we have sold have been to mark special
anniversaries or birthdays, so they are in many
players view an ultimate guitar for life and one that
is meant to be held on to.
MB: You’re located fairly close to the Easterbrook
workshops – do you prefer to go down there to
collect new stock in person?
LSP: I love a trip to the Easterbrook workshops. I will
find any excuse to drop in on Simon and Andy and
always prefer to collect any new guitars in person if I
can! A few years ago, I was lucky enough to live not
far from the workshop, and at that stage I would
have been a more regular visitor. As a few of my
colleagues live out near the workshop these days,
the honours are split between a few of us. The last
time we had some guitars ready they were kind
enough to drop them in to us at our main Exeter
site. But nothing quite beats getting an opportunity
to find a reason to spend a little time at the
workshop. Not only is it a wonderfully tranquil and
picturesque setting for a workshop, it’s also a
fascinating and inspirational place to visit for anyone
with a passion for guitars...
Brooks currently in stock at Project Music:
OM with Rosewood back and sides;
Tavy with Cherry back and sides;
Tamar with Cherry back and sides;
Torridge with Mahogany back and sides;
Lyn with Rosewood back and sides;
Taw with Bubinga back and sides;
Taw with Rosewood back and sides;
Torridge with Walnut back and sides
www.projectmusic.net
Tel: 01392 425125
page 39
You may not necessarily recognise the name Tony Hazzard – but the odds are you will definitely have heard his work! During a career spanning an amazing SIX decades, Tony has
written hit songs for a veritable ‘Who’s’ Who’ of popular music, as well as working personally with many of pop and rock’s ‘royalty’. In the first of a wide-ranging two-part interview,
Tony talks to Martin Bell about his life, career and music. Oh, and in case you’re wondering...Tony also plays Brooks!
A Hazzardous profession
“
MB: The obligatory ‘opening question’ first, Tony!
What were your earliest musical experiences?
Who did you grow up listening to, for example?
Once I’d had a hit, it put the
idea in my head that I was a
songwriter and should
therefore continue to write
songs. I just wrote whatever
I wanted, although
subconsciously there was
always the sense that the
underlying basis was being
commercial and the hope that
I would write another hit...
TH: Well, to begin with, I was born in a little place
outside Liverpool called Rainhill, which is now part
of Merseyside, in 1943. In the early days, it was The
Light Programme (BBC Radio) in the late 40s/early
50s; Children’s Favourites with ‘Uncle’ Mac, plus a
wind-up gramophone, which later had to have a
book wedged under the handle to stop it whizzing
back because the spring had gone!
Children’s Favourites included songs such as ‘The
Runaway Train’, ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’, ‘Big Rock
Candy Mountain’, ‘Four-Legged Friend’ (I was a big Roy
Rogers fan). Later, it would be Family Favourites, and
songs like ‘Ghost Riders In The Sky’, ‘She Wears Red
Feathers’, ‘Yellow Rose of Texas’ and ‘The Deadwood
Stage’, by performers like Alma Cogan, Doris Day,
Rosemary Clooney, Guy Mitchell, Edmundo Ros, and
Troise and His Mandoliers. Old 78s played on the
gramophone included: Sid Phillips’ Jazz Band, ‘Bad
Penny Blues’, ‘The Ying Tong Song’, ‘You Can’t Black Out
The Moon’, and ‘Magic Moments’.
Then, in my early teens, it was The Everly Brothers,
Buddy Holly, Lonnie Donegan, Cliff Richard... I
remember listening, with my ear to the loudspeaker
of our old floor-standing wooden wireless, to Radio
Luxembourg and ‘That’ll Be The Day’ by The Crickets
– very exciting! No mention of Buddy Holly. At
school, some friends were into specific music styles,
like Little Richard and Larry Williams (‘Bony Moronie’),
or Rambling Jack Elliot, Big Bill Broonzy, Jesse Fuller,
Blind Gary Davis, etc, so I picked up on those.
MB: How and when did you first learn to play an
instrument (guitar/ukulele)? Are you self-taught,
or did you have lessons?
TH: Self- taught. I first wanted a plastic toy trumpet
which was advertised as ‘not a toy: a real musical
instrument’ in a comic, but my father wouldn’t buy it.
Then I saw a plastic (possibly bakelite?) ukulele (The
Columbian Ukulele) in a local shop (which, in itself,
was bizarre) and yearned for it. Eventually I got it for
Christmas when I was eight and still have it.
I learned to play stuff from the tutor book, like ‘The
Minstrel Boy’ and ‘Camptown Races’. I later taught
myself the Troll song from ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’
(‘I’m a Troll, fol-de-rol’) because it only had two
chords. I taught myself using the book. Then, when I
was 12 I bought a second-hand guitar from a friend.
I didn’t know how to tune it, but worked out chords
“
page 40
from page 39
using the way it was (mis)tuned. I then discovered
how to tune it and had to start again from scratch!
One day, I was riding my bike holding the guitar in
its canvas bag and my arm was aching, so I tried to
move my hand onto the drop handlebars and
managed to stick the guitar’s neck through the
wheel spokes. I woke up on the road with the guitar
a few feet ahead of me! It was wrecked.
My Dad then took me to Rushworth and Dreapers in
Liverpool to buy another guitar, my first new one. I’d
been to see Lonnie Donegan at Liverpool Empire (I
think George Harrison might have been in the
audience too), who played a Martin, and I saw what I
thought was a similar guitar because it had a
scratchplate and got that. I was very proud! Many
years later, I lent it to Danny Hutton, of Three Dog
Night, and it was stolen along with the car he’d
hired. I used to pore over Fifties guitar brochures,
like Hofner, Framus and Selmer – guitar porn!
MB: Who were early influences? Songwriters/
instrumentalists?
TH: I didn’t really pick up on songwriters in my early
teens; it was more about guitar playing and learning
things like Shadows stuff, The Ventures (‘Walk, Don’t
Run’ and ‘Perfidia’), and ‘Trambone’ by Chet Atkins. I
also learned to play ‘Zambezi’, a sax instrumental, on
guitar. Later, I got into writers like James Taylor,
Jackson Browne, Lowell George, Joni Mitchell, John
Prine, David Gates, Tim Hardin, Randy Newman...the
list is endless.
MB: Were you a performing musician before
making music your career? If so, what sort of
‘King of Skiffle’ Lonnie
Donegan with his
Martin guitar – both a
major influence on Tony.
(Right) A 24-yearold Tony at
Parliament Hill
Fields, London,
circa 1967, after
his move to pursue
a musical career in
the capital.
places did you play? And when did you first start
writing your own songs?
TH: As many musicians of my generation say, the
‘Lonnie Donegan influence’ was fundamental, so I
vaguely remember having a go at skiffle, with me
on guitar, plus a washboard and single-string bass,
but we never played anywhere. I also remember
playing at a variety function at the local primary
school I’d attended, which doubled as the village
hall. By this time, I had a cheap Fidelity tape
recorder (the posh lads had Grundigs!) and used to
record backing tracks to play along with. I
remember the compere introduced me as ‘Anthony
Hazzard, who will play with himself’. I must have
been about 14 at the time.
Later, around the age of 16, I formed a little band
with my best friend, Graham Noun, on drums and an
Irish chap, Danny Horgan, who was a psychiatric
nurse, playing rhythm guitar and incorporating the
bass notes; I played lead/rhythm.
My Dad was a senior psychiatric nurse at the biggest
psychiatric hospital in Europe – Rainhill, Merseyside
– which happened to be just up the road. It had an
enormous hall, The Reeve Hall, which was used for
functions. They used to hold dances and socials for
the patients and I played at them. Then the
entertainments secretary decided to hold public
dances and I played at those.
I persuaded them to buy a Watkins Dominator amp,
because it had tremelo. I sang Joe Brown and Shane
Fenton songs. There must have been others, but
I can’t remember. By that time I also had a
Futurama 2 electric guitar, which was really
awful but had a tremolo arm. Our little band
actually travelled on the bus to events,
including the little drum kit. We weren’t
popular with bus conductors!
MB: According to your ‘Wikipedia’ entry, your
music career started after you’d finished your
education at Durham University. What did you
study there, and how did you get your ‘break’
into the music business?
TH: By this time, I was going to The Cavern when it
had mainly trad jazz bands but also, at lunchtimes,
bands like Gerry and The Pacemakers (very slick), The
Beatles (quite rough!) and The Big Three (very
exciting). I also saw Joe Brown and Bruce Channel
with Delbert McClinton. During one lunchtime
session Bob Wooler, the DJ, asked if any bands
wanted to play at the Cavern to come and see him. I
was with my friend and drummer, Graham. We
discussed it but decided we weren’t experienced
enough so chickened out.
I eventually played The (new) Cavern last year. If we
hadn’t opted out and I hadn’t gone to university I
might have ended up riding the Merseybeat
rollercoaster instead, but I ended up at St John’s
College, University of Durham, reading Latin, English,
and Philosophy, and that proved seminal.
There were rock groups at two of the other colleges
and I played playing lead with one and sang with
the other. We played every Saturday in the Union,
plus outside gigs at local workingmen’s clubs. Once
you’ve done that you can play anywhere! A friend of
mine was Sid Waddell, who was a research student.
He later achieved fame as the TV darts commentator
and, sadly, died last year. In my final year, he said
someone was visiting him from London and he
wanted me to meet them.
I should mention that by this time, I still didn’t know
what to do as a career, until the drummer with the
band I played most with suggested we go pro.
page 41
from page 40
Then the lights went on and the bells rang, and I
knew what I wanted. Sid’s visitor turned out to be
Tony Garnett (pictured below), then story editor for
BBC’s ‘The Wednesday Play’, a hugely important
programme at that time. He was researching a
documentary with Sid’s help.
By this time, too, I’d started writing songs and we
included them in the group’s repertoire. I played
Tony some songs and he said he thought I was very
‘commercial’. I didn’t know what he meant. He also
said that if we wanted to get on in the music
business it was essential to move to London and
that if we did, he would help as much as he could.
My songs came to the attention of an
agent/manager, who offered me a
retainer, but Tony warned me off him.
He was right – the guy was dodgy
and got murdered not long after!
and nine months after leaving Durham I had a single
out on CBS and was doing TV shows.
MB: What was the first ‘hit’ you wrote?
TH: The single didn’t do anything, but around the
same time I’d written ‘You Won’t Be Leaving’ and the
publisher took it to Mickie Most who produced
Herman’s Hermit’s. He liked it and it made the Top 20
in March ‘66. I then had a dry period for about a year,
still writing and demo-ing, but nothing hit-wise until
‘Ha Ha Said The Clown’ in ‘67.
Tony Barnett, who encouraged Tony’s ‘commerical’ potential.
So, in the summer of ‘65 we all moved to London,
got a residency at a pub in Acton where The Who
had been playing, and started to get other gigs. Tony
was as good as his word; he bought us a van and
came to some of the gigs. He also introduced me to
really creative people like film director Ken Loach,
playright Troy Kennedy Martin, Christopher Logue,
the poet, and actor George Baker. My songs came to
the attention of an agent/manager (he managed The
Fortunes), who offered me a retainer, but Tony
warned me off him. He was right – the guy was dodgy
and got murdered not long after!
Tony then introduced me to Gerry Bron, who
managed Manfred Mann – who had written the
theme tune for The Wednesday Play. Gerry liked what
I was doing but said he only wanted me and not the
rest of the band. I asked them what I should do and
they said go for it, so I did.
The drummer opted out of music, but the bass
player and the keyboard player remained in the
business, playing on my demos, backing other
people, and one ended up with Acker Bilk, and the
other with the Bonzos (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band)
and Kevin Coyne. Gerry Bron saw me as a solo artist
MB: As a songwriter, your list of ‘clients’ reads like
a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of Sixties pop music; did
you ever work directly with the artistes
themselves/ were your songs written with
specific singers/groups in mind?
TH: Once I’d had a
hit, it put the idea
in my head that I
was a songwriter
and should
therefore continue
to write songs. I just
wrote whatever I
wanted, although
subconsciously there
was always the sense
that the underlying
basis was being
commercial, and the
hope that I would
write another hit.
I only wrote to order
twice. Mickie Most
‘phoned me and said he
was looking for a song for
Lulu, so I wrote and
demoed ‘Me, The Peaceful
Heart’ in a week. I played
British singer Richard Barnes (left) – who had two chart hits
in 1970 with the Tony Hazzard songs ‘Take To The Mountains’
and ‘Go North’ – pictured with Tony at Regent Sound Studio A
circa 1967.
him the acetate and after a few bars he said: “It’s a
hit. We’ll do it on Friday”.
Prior to that, I‘d recorded a demo with Lulu with
myself on 12-string, Mark London, the publisher, on
piano, and Clem Cattini on drums. No bass! It was a
good demo and she later recorded it on an album.
A couple of years after that, I tried to write a song
for Eurovision. The obvious title was ‘Hello,
World’. It was rejected by The Music Publishers
Association panel in the first round, along with
another song by Cook & Greenaway. Mickie
Most, who was on the panel, complained and
said they were rejecting songs he thought
were hits. Mine was a hit for The Tremeloes and
C&G’s was a hit for (I think) Cliff Richard.
I was often invited to the sessions when my
songs were being recorded: I was at the
Manfred Mann recording of ‘Fox On The Run’
at Olympic Studios and sang the second
rising harmony; I was in Abbey Road when
The Hollies were recording ‘Listen To Me’
(and The Beatles were in one of the other
studios mixing ‘Abbey Road’!). I also
produced a Gene Pitney B-side when my
song ‘Maria Elena’ was the A-side. I was also
at a few more sessions (Tremeloes and
Peter Noone), but can’t exactly remember...
page 42
from page 41
MB: Of all those ‘clients’, do you have a favourite –
and a favourite song from the many (how many?!)
you’ve written?
TH: That’s a tough one! There are some for which I’m
grateful, because they earned royalties and continue
to do so, and some less well-known ones which I’m
proud of because I think they’re well-written.
‘Fox On The Run’ will still be around long after I‘m
gone because it’s now a bluegrass standard. One of
my favourite versions was of ‘I Think I’m Over Getting
Over You’ (which Andy Williams recorded); it was
done by an Italian girl, with an Italian lyric, and they
rearranged the order of the song – it’s a beautiful
version. And I prefer my own version to Andy
Williams’, though I don’t supposed I should say that!
I think one of my best songs, melodically and
lyrically, is ‘Take To The Mountains’. I don’t know how
many songs I’ve written, but I’m sure there are
people who do. I was once contacted by a young
man in San Francisco who had every song of mine
that had been recorded. He even sent me a photo of
himself with his girlfriend, surrounded by all the
records and tapes!
MB: Amidst all your songwriting success, you also
recorded a solo album yourself; was this a
conscious move to develop a parallel career as a
performer, or the wish to bring your music to
public attention yourself?
TH: Once the hits started flowing, with songs for
other artists, it made sense to focus on that,
although I did put out the odd single which always
flopped, sometimes for lack of airplay (BBC wouldn’t
play my version of ‘Getting Over You’, for some
reason).
Gerry Bron decided to ask CBS for a deal to release
the demos of the hits, plus
some other demos, on an
album. Some of the tracks
were as originally recorded
and some we added to or
re-recorded. Tony Hicks, of
The Hollies, offered to add
his lead guitar part to my
version of ‘Listen To Me’, for
example. I wanted to call
the album ‘Demonstration’,
but CBS decided on the
more prosaic ‘Tony Hazzard
Sings Tony Hazzard’. These
days it’s often referred to
‘Tony Hazzard Sings’, which
is a bit naff.
Then in 1970, Gerry realised that the singer/
songwriter (dreaded words!) era was dawning
and suggested that I should consciously not
worry about writing commercially, but do
exactly what I wanted. I’d always written
exactly what I wanted anyway, but started to
write an album that was much more personal.
I wrote about where I was living, my friends,
and relationships and that became ‘Loudwater
House’. I can’t listen to some of the tracks any
more because they’re too personal: it’s like
being emotionally exposed in a raw way.
MB: How did you come to perform backing vocals
on Elton John’s albums?
TH: I’d always played and sung on sessions. The first
one was on guitar for Tom McGuinness in 1965, 50
years ago! I played sitar on a Mickie Most session for
girl band She Trinity, and I also remember playing
guitar on a session with
Rick Wakeman on
Hammond and also
for producer/
arranger Mike
Leander.
But in the late Sixties
I started doing more
backing vocals and
became part of a
very fluid group
which worked quite a
lot. It included,
amongst others,
Lesley Duncan, Kay
Garner, Sue and
Sunny, Madeline Bell,
The Ladybirds, Russell Stone, Tony Burrows, Neil
Lancaster and a certain Reg Dwight.
We sang on anything and everything: Embassy
Records (covers of hits), a Tony Blackburn single (!),
TV shows (including Top Of The
Pops, James Last etc. When Reg
became Elton and started
recording ‘Elton John’ with Gus
Dudgeon, it was natural to ask
his fellow BVs (backing
vocalists) to take part and to
join him, both on record and
for his first Festival Hall
concert.
MB: Have you played/sung
on anyone else’s recordings?
TH: See above (plus Long
John Baldry) and loads of
others that I can’t remember...
I was getting stale and the business
had changed. So I started a song –
then abandoned it for 25 years
before I finally finished it...
MB: To paraphrase the landlord
(from your website bio), what led to
the 25-year break from songwriting
from the 1980s onwards? Did you
perform/play during this time?
TH: I was getting stale and the
excitement of creating a song had
disappeared. I can think of some
quite big names for whom a respite
might have been a better option
than churning out more of the same.
Also, the business had changed. I
think Punk started it for me, and
then synth/glam rock; they were so far removed
from where my interests lay.
So, I started a song – and then abandoned it for 25
years before I finally finished it. I trained in
something completely different career-wise,
although I sang in two choirs, an acapella group,
acted, and wrote music for local theatre productions.
I even sang opera locally!
Ironically, in 1990 I was offered a well-paid, regularmoney job in the therapy field and at the same time
had an American literary agent who was very keen
in a novel I was writing and had a New York
publisher in mind. I took the safe course – and a
large part of me still regrets it...
z Tony’s story continues and concludes in the next
issue of ‘Babbling Brook’, when he talks about his
return to composing, the art of songwriting – and his
relationship with Brook Guitars...
Post-apocalypse
Prelude
from page 2
for guitar, and was used for the most famous
scene of all, the Balcony Scene. Bear this is mind
as you play it – it should be played very
romantically and lyrically!
Performance Notes
Section A
The piece opens in E minor. Be aware of bar four,
where there is quite a stretch to get the A on
the second string. Try to keep holding on to the
low D. In fact, throughout the whole piece, try
to keep the notes holding on for as long as
possible. A fair amount of ‘rubato’ (Italian for
‘robbed time’ – meaning, pull the tempo around a
bit!) is certainly expected towards the end of the
phrases.
Section A ends with some harmonics, artificial
ones in this case. I always try to play artificial
harmonics with my right-hand index finger
touching the string 12 frets higher than the note
being fingered with the left hand, and articulating
the plucked string with my ring finger (or you may
prefer your middle finger).
Section B
The ‘B’ section goes to C sharp minor. It isn’t too
far from our original key of E minor, but still
sounds very unusual. It’s kind of what I meant,
though! You definitely need to keep the chords
ringing for as long as possible; most of the left
hand fingers can be held down throughout the
first repeated four bars here – it’s simply the bass
note that changes.
Bar 20 is worth paying particular attention to,
with the slide up the neck. Once again, keep the
fingers down and let each note bleed in to one
another. I love the effect that this creates,
depending on the guitar it is being played on.
I tend to find that lovely overtones start to come
in to play as a result of the clashing notes, and
it’s a beautiful effect that is definitely worth
milking!
page 43
page 44
Post-apocalypse
Prelude
from page 29
from page 43
rid of her wasn’t easy, even though I was going
straight down to the workshop to choose woods for
a new model.
By June 2007, however, my original guitar was but a
distant memory and my new Tavy was waiting for
me. Needless to say, Simon had been true to his
word about building ‘a better one’: my new guitar
was absolutely beautiful and possibly the biggest
Tavy they had built. Beauty wasn’t only skin-deep,
though; she played and sounded every bit as lovely
as she looked, too!
A few years later, for sale via the Brook website was
this lovely Little Silver in Australian Blackwood that I
just had to have! They make so many wonderful
instruments and this was yet another one that plays
so well and looks stunning.
I revisited the Brook workshop in June last year to
have set-ups done on a couple of guitars and, yes, I
did order a new Taw that can be seen on page 28.
In total, I have a collection numbering about 18
instruments; there are guitars by Martin, Gibson,
Lowden, Moon and Taylor – but the Brooks are the
absolute pride of the collection.
My fascination with them really comes from the
myriad wood side of things; yes, they’re great to look
at, but it’s how the tone differs from one model to
another – Indian rosewood versus walnut, for
example. And American Red Gum, too – no-one,
apart from Brook, seems to build with that!
I hear very different sounds in every one of the
woods that you get, and how well they seem to
work together. There are differences in the tops, too
– Sitka, Engelmann and European spruces, for
example. There are diffferent qualities and sounds to
each, which I find fascinating.
The various body sizes, too, have sounds all of their
own – a parlour versus a Tamar, for example.
For me, there’s always ‘the next one’ at the back of my
mind; a little project that will mature over time is a
guitar made from Bubinga and Douglas Fir –
possibly an OM model – which I already know will
result in a wonderful-sounding instrument!
The piece returns to section A, where I play this
repeated section slightly faster, to represent the
yearning and excitement of the two young lovers!
When will I stop
collecting? Probably
when I drop – because
I ran out of wall space a
long time ago..!
I don’t know why I called it ‘Prelude’ – I am never
very good at naming my pieces, and I guess I didn’t
want the piece to be too programmatic. Think of
your own story as you play this. I am very much
reminded of the lovely classical guitar pieces of
Ralph Towner (a favourite of our esteemed Editor!)
I feel that the more ambitious players amongst you
might like to add your own improvised section in
the middle of the piece. Try to pick out the little
motifs in section B and improvise on them, for
example. In fact, why not try to record your efforts?
I would love to hear them!
A recording of this may be found played by me at:
With so many guitars, I tend to alternate playing
them quite a bit, to ensure they all get a reasonable
amount of playing time. I tend to favour a couple at
a time; for instance, I’ll get out the ‘summer ones’ –
the Bovey and the Little Silver, which is very useful if
you’re going away anywhere!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asrf5C4UD7Q
Personally, I’ve not gigged for a while; I’m more of an
‘armchair player’. I play folk, blues, country, a bit of
rock. I’m also trying to experiment a bit with open
tunings at the moment.
The truth is that a Brook guitar is more than just a
musical instrument – it’s a unique, wonderful
experience!
It’s always a pleasure to deal with Simon, Andy along
with Jack and Kev, who all treat you like you’re one
of their Brook family.
Brook Guitars, Easterbrook and its people have
become a necessary and very pleasurable part of my
life.
When will I stop collecting? Probably when I drop –
because I ran out of wall space a long time ago...
Tony Kerry
back to ‘The Collectors’
This recording was played on a wonderful Brook
Lyn that I have always regretted moving on.
You can also listen to my baritone version on my
Bandcamp page:
http://robbiej1.bandcamp.com/track/prelude
At the time I was recording ‘The Road to
Easterbrook…’ I also recorded a version on my
classical guitar (an Alhambra 6P). I have included a
link to this version on my Bandcamp page.
Robbie
back to page 2

Babbling - Brook Guitars

Transcription

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