Babbling Brook Issue 1

news. music. players. instruments.
Babbling
Welcome...
...to the first edition of
‘Babbling Brook’, our new
online magazine for all
things ‘Brook Guitars’!
issue 1 spring 2012
Going native
or several months I’d been
intrigued by a certain thought:
‘Is it possible to build a guitar from
home-grown materials?’
F
I guess the vast majority of guitarists don’t
really worry about where the materials for
their guitars come from. Indeed, look in
any guitar shop, or on guitar company
website, and I bet the vast majority of
guitars are made of spruce with either
rosewood or mahogany.
Almost certainly, the fingerboards and
bridges would be made of either
rosewood or ebony. And have you ever
thought where that lovely-looking
abalone or pearl comes from? Probably
not from anywhere near these shores.
Most guitarists would not be troubled by
these things. In fact, I’m not sure it really
troubles me to any great extent – but I
AM intrigued as to whether a great guitar
I am intrigued as to whether a
great guitar can be made from
materials and hardware that
haven’t travelled half way
round the globe to get here...
can be made from materials and
hardware that haven’t travelled half way
round the globe to get here.
I had, until very recently, a very fine
guitar by another well known English
maker, whose name shall remain
anonymous. It was a lovely looking and
sounding instrument. But, was it actually
English? The top was a fine piece of
Engelmann spruce, the back and sides
lovely straight grained Indian Rosewood,
fingerboard of ebony, absolutely
wonderful Gotoh tuners. Even its innards
(braces and linings) were probably
mahogany and spruce.
None of these materials came from this
country, and probably from nowhere in
the northern hemisphere. I am not
particularly what you call an ‘ethical
consumer’. Yes, I do try to buy vegetables
that are in season, and hopefully that
have been grown in this country (the
most bizarre thing I ever saw in a
supermarket was asparagus that had
come from Thailand, in the season when
English asparagus is at its best – but I
digress!) But it did niggle me at the
amount of airmiles that my guitar had
clocked up. The only English thing about
that guitar was its case!
Photograph courtesy of Leon Palmer
Brook owner Rob Jessep chronicles a custom build project with a distinctly home-grown theme
We’ve been handcrafting
guitars and other fretted
instruments in rural Devon
since 1995.
So, first and foremost,
we’d like to share with you
the passion we have for
the work we do, as well as
introducing you to some
of the many customers
and friends we’ve made
over the years.
We’ll be featuring some of
the custom orders we’ve
built – Rob Jessep’s fine
baritone Tavy (left), for
example – as well as
meeting some of the folk,
past and present, who’ve
bought and play our
instruments.
We’re also going to take a
look at some of the
materials that go into our
guitars, their tonal
characteristics, and
hopefully offer you an
insight into the way we do
things here at
Easterbrook.
As ever, we value your
opinion, so if you’d like to
tell us what you think of
‘Babbling Brook’, have any
ideas on what you’d like to
see in a future issue – or
fancy discussing your ‘next
guitar’! – we’d love to hear
from you.
Cheers...
Earlier in the year I took a visit to the
rather wonderful guitar emporium that is
continued on page 2
Simon and Andy
Founders, Brook Guitars
page 2
www.brookguitars.com
Rob Jessep and wife Catherine select his Yew set – and the build gets underway
wood tones
English Yew
Going native
Scientific name: Taxus baccata
Uses: Back & sides, drop tops,
veneer
Photograph courtesy of Leon Palmer
from page 1
Oasis Music in Ringwood. There, after
many hours spent playing some fine
instruments, I bought a wonderful new
guitar – a Brook Tamar with European
Spruce top and Wild Cherry (a wonderful
tonewood that Brook really rate, locally
grown within a few miles of their
workshop) back and sides. A couple of
visits down to the Brook workshop then
set me off on my road to commissioning a
rather special instrument
On the occasion of my first visit a
customer had come in to pick up a rather
beautiful Taw, which had a walnut neck
and 3,000 year-old bog oak in place of
ebony for the fingerboard, bridge and
faceplate. Up to that point, I hadn’t been
aware of any alternatives to using ebony
or rosewood for fingerboards (ruling out
maple of course, which is rarely seen on
an acoustic). This got me thinking – since
bog oak is basically a home grown
alternative to ebony (and I don’t know of
much ebony that grows in the UK or
Europe) would it then be possible to
create an instrument using totally home
grown woods?
The short answer to the question was no
– as Simon later explained, English spruce
is really not suitable for guitar tops. So let’s
refine the question: “Is it possible to make
a guitar from European materials and thus
keeping the air miles down as far as
possible?”
Over the next few weeks I continued to
ponder this question, formulating in my
mind what such a guitar would look like.
Options for back and sides were fairly clear
– there is yew, cherry, of course, even
walnut (such as the rather wonderful
Kew Gardens walnut that has been used
by a few makers, including Brook, just
lately). Brook already uses a lot of
European spruce for tops (an option they
don’t charge for, despite many makers
piling on the premium for such an option).
On my second visit down to Brook to
have a tweak of my Tamar’s setup, I went
with my wife and we had an enjoyable
stay overnight in one of the excellent
B&Bs that are linked on the Brook
website. That evening, after our visit to
the workshop to see many wonderful
guitars in various stages of construction,
we got on to the subject of
commissioning an instrument (I think my
wife, who is not a guitar player, was just
as excited by the workshop as I was) and,
based on some guitars we had seen that
day, started to sketch out a possible spec:
z European spruce top
z Yew back and sides
z Sycamore/ walnut and cherry
laminated neck
z Bog oak fingerboard, bridge and
faceplate
On our second day we turned up at the
workshop, the guys expecting me to just
pick up my Tamar from having its setup.
We then put forward our proposed
instrument. To the credit of the Brook
boys, when I mentioned my ‘native
theme’ to them they were not fazed in
any way, as they had worked on similar
projects before, but maybe not a
completely ‘European’ guitar. I felt the
important thing was if this was going to
continued on page 5
Yew is a very slow
growing small/medium
evergreen attaining
heights of 28m and a
trunk diameter of up to
4m. Some stands in
Scotland are estimated to
be approximately 2,000
years old.
The Yew has been
exploited throughout
history for its timber. In
the MiddleAges, it was
extensively harvested for
bowstaves.
The colour of yew ranges
from pale brown to purple
in the heartwood and a
creamy white in the
sapwood. The grain
patterns are quite striking
as this is a softwood,
being evergreen, although
it has a density higher
than many hardwoods.
Tonally, it has a maple-like
clarity but with very
sweet, intimate and
appealing overtones.
www.brookguitars.com
page 3
The idyllic setting of the Brook Guitars workshop deep in the heart of the Devonshire countryside
The road to Easterbrook
Set the ‘sat nav’, negotiate miles of
winding, narrow country lanes, and
– at the end of a rough, single-track
farm road – you’ll find Brook Guitars.
But, as with so many great partnerships,
fate conspired to bring them both to the
attention of guitar maker Andy Manson,
at a very opportune time.
The road to Easterbrook, however, was
rather more straightforward for company
founders Andy Petherick and Simon
Smidmore: a direct route from one of the
UK’s most respected luthiers...
He recalls: “Andy used to fix up my old
bangers and Simon was working on a
house next to where I was living and
working in Devon. It wasn’t long before
Simon and I were having joint coffee
breaks and sharing guitar talk.
Back in the early 1990s, Andy and Simon
were both pursuing very different
careers, as a car mechanic and a builder
respectively.
“I soon came to know Simon’s talents as
an artist and an interesting picker, with a
fair bit of experience fixing guitars and
continued on page 4
‘The Prof and Pethers’, as Simon (left) and Andy were christened by their mentor,
Andy Manson, and (left) Simon’s scale drawings of some of the Brook range
page 4
www.brookguitars.com
The road to Easterbrook
from page 3
his obsessively-collected ukuleles.
“An opportunity of investment and expansion of my
workshop arose. While preparing a batch of guitars to
show at Frankfurt to promote the expansion, Andy
applied his engineering skills to building a polishing
machine for me, and happened to drop in ‘...and if you
ever need someone in the workshop, I’d love to have clean
hands for a change’.”
Andy Manson had already established himself as one of
the UK’s top luthiers, with a client base that included
Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, Andy Summers, and Ian
Anderson and Martin Barre, of Jethro Tull.
sum of the parts – a grouping of varied
skills, experience and ideas.
“Then, things happened in my personal
life, I decided to withdraw and, since
Andy and Simon were by this time
thoroughly competent to continue on
their own, I went on to work solo...”
Brook Guitars: (From left) Andy, Simon, Jack, Kev and Andy
Simon takes up the story: “Andy
(Manson) was a very good teacher who basically just
pushed us both in at the deep end.
Easterbrook’s output is approximately 100 instruments
per year, in batches of five or six at a time.
He continued: “Came the question of extra hands in the
new venture. The obvious candidates were staring me
in the face: an artist/crafstman/guitar picker and an
engineer. So, between us we tore into the whole
project of equipping a new large workshop.
“It really didn't take long for Andy and Simon to take to
their new lives, learning the principles and method of
luthiery. We split the tasks, in view of the wealth of
skills each of them brought to the bench. Andy was an
experienced cellulose sprayer, so that was naturally his
domain; Simon became quickly adept at side bending.
And I think I did most of the neck carving.”
In his book, ‘Talking Wood’ (Pub. Great Britain 1998, R&D
Associates, Exeter, Devon – currently out of print), Manson
has, by now, christened Simon and Andy ‘The Prof and
Pethers’ – and as early as page 29, also refers to them as
‘Brook Guitars’, following their work on an instrument
for a customer in Sound City, Japan.
He said: “We had a pretty smooth operation going on,
selling to the trade, quite a few to Germany, Holland
and Belgium. America took quite a lot too. Simon’s son
(Jack) came and joined us, the workshop was busy and
productive.
“The guys regularly spoke of how they loved the work –
and Andy’s hands were clean! It was a great
demonstration of the whole being greater than the
“Stuart, in particular, has probably been responsible for
selling more guitars than anyone else for us, through
his workshops,” said Simon.
“Our aim is to build the best guitars available anywhere,
at a price the general public can afford,” said Andy.
“We’re constantly looking to improve what we do, and
to keep the workshop as a bullshit-free zone – because
there’s so much of it talked in our line of work!”
“We started off with fairly straightforward jobs, like
fretting, but learned to do everything from the start,
and obviously played to our own particular skills and
strengths, which is how it is today.”
Added Simon: “It’s also gratifying that we have so many
repeat customers coming back to us, which tells us
we’re hopefully doing something right.”
Andy and Simon agreed to take on the Easterbrook
workshop – a 300-year-old timbered building that once
served as a cowshed for the adjacent farm – and Brook
Guitars was born in the spring of 1995.
“Originally, we planned to make guitars on licence to Andy
Manson, but our own designs really took over,” said Andy.
With the encouragement of Andy Manson, Brook
designed their own series of guitars – the Taw, Torridge
and Bovey were the first models – all named after the
many rivers that flow through the West Country, and
additional designs and an infinite number of customorder variations have since followed.
Simon estimates that today, business is divided roughly
50-50, between shop sales from Brook dealerships –
Celtic Chords in Scotland; Intersound in Gloucestershire;
Guitar Classics and Ivor Mairants in London; Oasis in
Hampshire; and The Acoustic Music Company (TAMCO)
in Brighton – and custom orders.
But, like Andy Manson, they are not without their own
fair share of high profile players too, including the
aforementioned Ian Anderson, ‘techno-picker’ Adrian
Legg, members of Portishead, Pete Berryman, Stuart
Ryan (see page 8), Woody Mann, and many others.
But perhaps the final word should come from the
man who set Andy and Simon on the road to
Easterbrook – Andy Manson: “It’s very gratifying to see
the work Andy and Simon are doing. The design and
execution is as good as you’ll find anywhere.
“They’re producing a very valid offering to serious
players. They have their own definite style, based on
‘classic’ steel string guitar principles and aesthetics.
“Their work is exemplary, and since their method has
evolved out of my way of doing things at that time, I
feel a strong connection to their work, whilst my current
method has evolved in a different way.
“I’m seeing two possible routes forward from a point in
the past. Split infinities!”
www.brookguitars.com
page 5
Going native
Baritone guitars have never been more in vogue, with players such as Pat Metheny,
Andy McKee and Ralph Towner all featuring their mellifluous tones on recent releases.
But ‘lowering the tone’ of great guitar music has been no overnight sensation...
from page 2
work as a theme, then EVERYTHING would
have to be homegrown and European. So...
Tuners would have to be European and
not Japanese (this excluded my favourite
Gotoh 510 tuners – instead we went for
some beautiful Swiss-made Schertlers);
All linings and braces would have to be
native woods (no mahogany, for example
– in the end the guys used tulip wood
and poplar);
Every Brook I have ever played
has been a great instrument,
and I have no doubt that this
guitar will bring something
magical to the creative process!
Position dots would have to be also
home-grown (and ‘vegetarian’ – most
shell fish used in the decoration of
guitars comes from overseas, New
Zealand, I believe).
the front of the fingerboard, and have side
dots that were Cornish Tin (Andy’s inspired
idea). Unfortunately, after research by Andy
there doesn’t appear to be any native tin –
the South Crofty mine, famous for its tin
trinkets, actually import theirs!
I loved the sap wood stripe in the set of
yew I chose (see picture page 2), and the
way the grain seemed to naturally follow
the shape of the guitar. Simon chose an
amazing set for the sides, again with sap
wood that would hug the edge of the
spruce top.
A moment of inspiration struck, thanks to a
post on the Acoustic Magazine Forum. A
member had just purchased a rather lovely
malt whisky cask Fylde mandolin, where the
side dots, remarkably, were copper. So –
problem solved: side dots made of recycled
copper, and not a shellfish sacrificed!
In the end the dots – the simplest of things
– proved to be the trickiest to get right, and
at one point I even felt like I ought to
compromise and use pearl or abalone, just
to make everyone’s lives easier! The original
idea was to do without position markers on
And there you have it, the start of what I
hope will be a truly great guitar. The shape
will be a Tavy, a small jumbo-sized guitar,
with longer scale length (660mm) and
designed for low C tunings such as C sus9.
This commission has taught me that it IS
perfectly possible, with a little ingenuity, to
produce a genuine home grown/native/
truly European instrument.
Schertler
open
gear
tuners, bog
oak veneer,
and an oak leaf
inlaid into a
bog oak truss
rod cover
Nothing seems to be too much effort for
those fabulous Brook luthiers, and there
are plenty of possibilities here for players
looking for an ethically-made instrument
that cuts down on the air miles (and
thus, hopefully, the carbon footprint) and
for a vegetarian player who doesn’t like
the thought of shellfish sacrificed just
so they can see where their fingers are
on the fingerboard.
But have I sacrificed sound quality simply
because of having different wood for the
bracing and linings for example? Somehow,
I don’t think so – every Brook I have ever
played has been a great instrument and I
have no doubt that this guitar will bring
something magical to the creative process. I
can’t wait to find out! Watch this space...
Night of the ‘longnecks’
he baritone – or ‘longneck’ –
guitar is a variation on the
standard instrument, with a
longer scale that allows it to be
tuned to a lower range.
T
Although it first appeared in the
realms of classical music, during the
1920s the Stella guitar company used
a scale length of 26.4” for many of its
12-string guitars, often tuned very low.
In the late 1950s, Danelectro was the
first guitar maker to introduce the
electric baritone, which began to
feature in surf music, as well as movie
soundtracks, particularly ‘spaghetti
westerns’.
During the 70s, Joe Veillette worked
with Henry Citron to created a long
scale guitar, initially electric bodied.
Several builders then started offering
baritone instruments, including Rick
Turner (who converted Martins and
Gibsons to baritones), Ovation and
Ralph Bown.
Today, many more guitar makers now
include the baritone option in their
standard ‘production line’ ranges,
while a host of independent luthiers
offer bespoke alternatives. Brook are
no exception...
“Our first baritone was commissioned
by a customer about 10 years ago,”
said Simon.
“Since then, we’ve gone on to
build about a dozen more. I
think Pat Metheny’s CD ‘One Quiet
Night’, where he used a baritone
in a low ‘Nashville tuning’, was
probably quite influential in
bringing the baritone
guitar to the fore.”
Surf’s up! A 1950s
Danelectro Longhorn
baritone
A Brook baritone Tavy outside the
Easterbrook workshop, winter 2003
The nature of the baritone generally
necessitates a bigger body, and Brook
usually recommend the Okement or
Tavy shapes for theirs.
“A common mistake people make is to
think that baritones need to be braced
a lot more heavily, to take heavier
strings, but when they’re tuned up (or,
more specifically, down!), the string
tension isn’t that different from a
normal guitar,” explains Simon, ”so we
tend to build them only fractionally
heavier.”
The longer scale (the distance from the
nut to the saddle on the bridge) of the
baritone facilitates tunings much
lower than ‘standard’ – usually A to A
(A D G C E A – a perfect fifth below
continued on page 6
page 6
www.brookguitars.com
Night of the ‘longnecks’
the guitar ends up being sort of like
three, parallel two-string guitars. It’s
sort of got like a middle range guitar
on the top, it’s got this high guitar in
the middle and this very low guitar in
the bottom. So I could think in terms
of...three-quarters of a string quartet –
and was able to kind of keep these
lines going that would ultimately need
to shift to this other octave, an octave
other than the way the lines would
normally go.”
Lucy with her baritone Tavy, which joined
her standard scale custom Tavy
An interesting recent variant on
Metheny’s baritone ‘Nashville tuning’ is
the eight-string baritone currently
offered by Taylor, on which the third
and fourth strings are doubled with an
octave string, as on a 12-string.
from page 5
standard), B to B (B E A D F# B – a perfect
fourth lower), C to C (CF Bb Eb G C – a
major third lower), and other associated
low C tunings – although Celtic
guitarist Tony McManus is known to
tune his Bill Kelday baritone to as low
as F to F (which is getting on for
acoustic bass territory)!
On ‘One Quiet Night’ and his more
recent solo acoustic baritone offering,
‘What’s It All About’, jazz luminary Pat
Metheny utilises the A D G C E A option
– but with the third and fourth strings
restrung and tuned an octave higher
than usual (the ‘Nashville tuning’
previously referred to).
As Metheny himself puts it: “Basically,
Another contributory factor to the
characteristic sound a baritone
produces is thought to be the position
of the bridge, which – thanks to the
longer scale of the instrument – is
pushed further back down the lower
bout, to what many regard as the
‘sweet spot’ (one reason, too, why 12fretters can pack a punch belying their
size).
What, then, about the woods used to
help pump out the rich, deep tones of
these wonderful guitars? Is there an
ideal ‘baritonewood’...?
Not according to Simon: “We’ve always
liked cherry – local, of course! – as a
tonewood generally, but we’ve built
baritones out of all sorts;
mahogany, rosewood, walnut,
cocobolo (see Dave Smith’s
interview, right) and one in
lacewood for (Total Guitar/
Guitarist columnist) Stuart Ryan
(left).”
Why not take the time to check
out some of the players who
have embraced the unique
sound of the acoustic baritone
– as, too, are an increasing
number of Brook owners...
Stuart Ryan shows off the
decorative fleck pattern on the back
of his lacewood baritone Tavy
Dave Smith describes how a shoulder problem was instrumental in his choice of Brook baritone
A joint decision...
didn’t see the guitar as a baritone at
all when I first thought about it –
rather, just with a slightly longer scale
to balance out the 12-fret design.
I
The idea came from an old dreadnought
guitar that I have which has an Adirondack
top and Brazilian Rosewood back and
sides. Only problem is that the guitar tends
to put my right shoulder out of joint if I
play it for any length of time.
To me, 12 fretters have a different feel to 14
fret guitars – they seem looser and have a
different resonance, so that was an easy
decision. The more pronounced waist on a
Tamar or Taw meant that the problems
with my shoulder wouldn’t occur and
rather than having a wedge or a bevel, I
had the guitar made shallower than a
normal Tamar, which means it’s very comfy
to play for long periods. Also, there was
enough wood to make a Tamar – so that’s
why a Tamar and not a Taw!
The Cocobolo came from Craft Supplies in
the Peak District. A long time ago, I had
this thought of building a guitar from
scratch and the six pieces of wood were in
the bin end section at the workshop,
having originally been bought to practice
bending. When laid out they looked rather
good, so I thought they might make up a
set of back and sides at some point. Still
haven’t started building anything yet, but
you never know!
The Adirondack came from the Old
Standard Wood Company on Simon and
Andy’s recommendation. It’s where
Collings get their Adirondack too!
The build was a standard Brook build and
nothing out of the ordinary that I am
aware of. There’s nothing elaborate about
the guitar – it’s just wonderfully made.
It’s also got Waverly tuners, because they
seem to hold the note best and to me, for
that reason, they’re perfect for altered
tunings. They look good too!
My guitar sounds just like I hoped it would
– there’s a lovely, bell-like quality to the
notes and endless sustain. Someone else
asked me what it sounded like and I said “it
sounds like chocolate.” I hope that makes
some sense!
I play a bit of mixture. Anything from late
‘50s pop songs, some of my own stuff, and
some traditional English songs, and
anything else that takes my fancy, a few
tunes, but mostly songs. One minor
problem is that the guitar is almost too
loud to sing against, so it’s now migrated
to DADGAD from the originally intended C
tunings!
www.brookguitars.com
page 7
Just what the Doctor ordered...
Mike Lydiat is the ‘Doc’ behind ‘Doc’s Workshop’, a comprehensive internet
resource which showcases his definitive and exhaustive work in
transposing more than 200 compositions by blind Irish harpist Turlough
O’Carolan for guitar. Here, he shares his experience in commissioning a
custom-order Okement from the Easterbrook workshop...
hen I went to the Brook workshop to collect my Okement,
early in May 2011, I said to Simon that it must be quite a
tense moment
when the strings go on.
W
Several months’ work is at
stake and there is no way
to check tone and action
until that moment.
Luckily, I have the photo
of my first tentative
strums (left) and the smile
on my face says it all:
“That’s quite remarkable!”
I ordered the guitar in
January 2011 as a kind of
birthday present, though I
had to sell two others to
finance the deal. I have
played guitar for over 50
Mike (front) proudly sports his red Fender Strat in
years and have owned
the Sixties with Manchester-based The Paiges
some 15 guitars in that
time, but only two have
been brand new – a 1963 Fender Strat (what would THAT be worth now I
wonder?) and a Brook Tavy bought in 2001 from Mike Blair, who runs the
Bedford Folk Music Club and Bedroom Acoustic Music in Ampthill. But I
had never defined the spec for a guitar and I was determined to do so
this time.
I wanted a mix from some of the excellent guitars I currently have: local
cherry for the back and sides, like the neck of my Manson Bluebird
Sphinx; an ebony finger-plate, again similar to the Bluebird; an extra
sound port like the Manson Sidehole I have; a cutaway, though I don't
continued on page 8
(Above) ‘That’s quite
remarkable!’ Mike strums
the first chords on his new
Okement, and (right) some
of the monthly photographs
Simon emailed to him as
the build progressed
page 8
www.brookguitars.com
Just what the Doctor ordered...
from page 7
get too high up the neck most of the
time; a decent pick-up – a Fishman
Infinity; and I wanted my initials on the
headstock truss rod cover, and a matt
finish throughout.
I pestered Simon on the first day of
each month for photos showing
progress and I have a set (see below)
showing the boards and neck cut to
shape, then the body assembled, then
the neck in place, and the bridge being
glued on; and finally the finished
beautiful object that it is.
Having played the Tavy for 10 years, I
knew what to expect. When I bought
that first Brook I had no idea of its
heritage through Andy Manson’s
tutelage and the many fine instruments
Simon and Andy worked on with him. I do now have six Manson instruments and
love them all in different ways. The quality of the Brook workmanship and their
attention to detail shine through in the Okement’s build, finish, tone and action.
One small aside: I took my Tavy along to
the workshop because I wanted to photo
them together there. Simon dropped it
onto his bench for inspection and
declared that he could not see anything
that needed tweaking – not bad after 10
years of frequent playing!
Of course, the Tavy had already had its
free set-up (offered on all Brook
instruments). I am already looking forward to the Okement’s return in about a
year’s time when it has had time to settle...
Stuart Ryan’s name may
already be familiar through
the hundreds of articles and
video lessons he has created
for Guitar Techniques, Total
Guitar and Guitarist
magazines.
Winner of Guitarist magazine’s
Acoustic Guitarist of the Year
2002 award and runner-up
for Perrier Young Musician
2001, Stuart continues to
make a name for himself as
one of the finest acoustic
guitarists in the UK.
He has spent years honing his
craft with hundreds of solo
appearances and
masterclasses, and came to
the attention of two of the
world’s greatest guitarists –
Martin Taylor MBE and the
late Eric Roche – who both
encouraged his career
development and invited him
to play alongside them.
He has performed solo on
BBC Radio and TV and has
worked as a clinician/demo
artist for major music brands
such as Paul Reed Smith
guitars and Vox amplifiers.
When not performing or in
the studio, Stuart holds the
post of Head of Guitar at the
Bristol Institute of Modern
Music.
Stuart Ryan pictured at Easterbrook with his
lacewood back and sides Brook baritone Tavy
What they play
&
what they say
“
In my opinion, Brook make some of the finest
acoustic guitars the UK has to offer and even
better is that fact that Andy and Simon are such
wonderful guys to deal with.
Although their guitars definitely have a signature
sound (which is a good thing) it has always been
my experience that they really know how to tailor
the instrument to the player.
My Torridge was my main recording and
performance guitar and featured exclusively on my
solo CD ‘The Coast Road’ and on many recordings
for my columns for Guitar Techniques magazine.
Amongst the many fine attributes of this guitar
were its bell-like clarity and ease of playability. The
former made it an easy guitar to record, whilst the
latter made it an ideal performance instrument.
Fancying something completely different, I then
ordered a lacewood baritone (tuned down a third),
which again had that legendary Brook playability
but with a completely different flavour.
You can enjoy videos of Mike’s playing, his O’Carolan arrangements and much
more at: http://www.docsworkshop.co.uk
Stuart’s
Torridge on
the cover
of his
debut CD,
‘The Coast
Road’
I’d suggest this kind of guitar to anyone who wants
to try something new – the low
tuning allowed for different ideas
but tuning a major third lower
meant that the sound never got
mushy.
All in all, great guitars built by
great guys in an idyllic location –
you can’t go wrong with a Brook!
www.brookguitars.com
page 9
“
Imagine yourself being very
small and finding yourself
trapped inside a steel string
guitar. While you struggle to get
out, you’re suddenly immersed
in a wall of guitar sound, angelic
yet desperate voices, and the
faint sound of violins getting
stronger. In this environment
you cannot help but to get
drawn into what you’re
hearing...
“
That metaphor is only a small part of what Lesli’s music is all about. Following the recent release of his second full-length album, ‘Sleepwalkers’ Lament’, the Swedish-born
singer/songwriter talked to Rob Jessep about his own particular brand of acoustic music – and the part a Brook Tavy baritone plays in it...
Lesli: Sounds of Stockholm
RJ: How would you describe your music and how can
readers buy your albums?
L: I guess you could call it ‘acoustic folkpop’ or
something similar to that… Just search for ‘Lesli’ on
cdbaby.com or amazon.com and you'll find it.
It’s all available as MP3s on itunes.com as well...
that appear on my albums I consider indispensable and
I would definitely like to work with them again.
Like Svante Henryson, who’s a world renowned cellist.
He used to play electric bass in (rock guitarist) Yngwie
Malmsteen’s band…which is really cool! He’s a totally
unique cellist.
RJ: Do you have a band or other musicians that you
regularly play with?
RJ: Tell us about the Sounds of Stockholm
documentary that your songs are featured in on
youtube.
L: Well, no not a band exactly. I do almost all my
liveshows as a solo act. However, many of the musicians
L: I met French videographer Valerie Toumayan in 2008
when she enquired if we could do some filmclips
of me singing some tunes. She was in Stockholm that
week, so I asked her to come by my studio and shoot
some video of me playing. She did, and the clips turned
out great! So now, everytime that she’s in Stockholm,
we’ll do some spontaneous footage of me playing in
odd and interesting places. Valerie loves Swedish music
and has done alot of similar filming with other artistes
as well… In 2010 her work culminated in the ‘Sounds
Of Stockholm’ documentary, which featured me and a
whole bunch of unknown and well-known artistes
based in Stockholm, Sweden.
continued on page 10
page 10
www.brookguitars.com
Lesli: Sounds of Stockholm
from page 9
RJ: Who are your influences? Tags in your YouTube
videos suggest that Jeff Buckley and Damien Rice
may be influences?
L: Yes, Buckley is a huge influence. I really like old folkstuff as well, American and British artists like Donovan,
Fairport Convention, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Crosby, Stills,
Nash & Young, and all that… I started out playing in
metal bands, though, and I still really like bands like Tool
and Mastodon, for example.
As far as my guitar playing goes, I’ve been influenced a
lot by players like Pierre Bensusan, Stephen Bennett,
Antoine Dufour, Andrew York, Tony McManus and Pat
Metheny, to name just a few.
RJ: Tell us about how you go about songwriting –
lyrics first, or guitar parts?
L: It usually starts with the guitar. I’ll start by just
noodling on the guitar whenever I get the chance,
eventually I’ll come up with a riff, pattern or harmony
that kind of spawns the singing melody, and finally the
lyrics. This process takes me months sometimes, but if
I’m lucky I’ll write a song in 15 minutes, lyrics and all!
This happened, for example, with my song ‘The Boy’
from my second album. I wrote that one in like 10
minutes, but usually it’s a longer, painstaking process.
RJ: What about your new Brook baritone? Was it a
custom commission? Why a baritone? Have you
started writing anything on it? How will it be tuned?
And how did you hear of Brook?
L: I had been intrigued by the idea of a baritone
acoustic for quite some time, not really having the
chance to actually play one. I knew I wanted a shorter
scale bari, and not one of those 29” beasts. When I
stumbled across one on the Ivor Mairants website, I
couldn’t believe it! A used handmade 27” baritone for a
great price! That doesn't happen very often.
I contacted store manager Mak Ogawa by email and
then by phone, and he was very helpful, sending me
additional pictures and a lot of info about the guitar. I
thought about it for a day or so and decided to
purchase it. They sent it to Stockholm and it has been
my big baby ever since then. I love it!
I have certainly been writing on it, all the time since I
bought it! I’ve been experimenting with tunings and
string gauges; I usually have it tuned to C standard as a
starting point. I use John Pearse handpicked sets, .015.068, phosphor bronze.
I knew of Brook guitars before I found the baritone.
Through the years I had been spending hours and hours
on their website, mostly in their ‘News’ section, drooling
over all those beautiful custom creations! My baritone,
and from what I’ve heard in various recordings on
YouTube of their standard guitars, they have a unique
voice that I really like, with a great voice and personality.
They have a seasoned ‘antique stiffness’ to them that I
love. Don’t get me wrong, these are loud and dynamic
instruments! They just have that special character that I
can’t find in my American luthier-made guitar.
RJ: For someone of thinking about adding a baritone
to their guitar collection, what advice would you give?
L: Think about how deep you’d like to go. A 27” scale
baritone is like a low tuned guitar, while 29” is more
towards a bass guitar – depending on tunings and
string gauges, of course. The woods might differ as well;
what you’d like on a standard guitar might not be the
same on a baritone. Mine is the common combo of sitka
spruce/Indian rosewood, and it just works really well.
RJ: You describe yourself as an self-taught electric
guitarist, and yet your albums are predominantly
acoustic? How come?
L: I had been working a bit as a session musician both
live and in the studio, after years of playing in original
bands as well as cover bands. I played mostly electric,
and in 2003 I think I got fed up with that. I took a break
from playing for a while. But the steel string changed all
that. I bought myself a decent steel string, wanting to
write some songs on it. It made me fall in love with
playing the guitar all again.
RJ: Tell us about your new album and what we can
expect?
L: Well, having two jobs and two children, it’ll be
labelled as ‘a work in progress’ for quite some time. I
have about half of it written – it’s really exciting
material! I started recording some demos and sketches
of the songs…and they turned out so well that those
versions might be on the actual album.
I have a semi-professional home studio where I can get
a great acoustic guitar and vocal sound, so most of it
will probably be produced there. I would like to work
with more instruments though, add more percussive
elements to the sound this time, since my two earlier
albums has been mostly voice, guitar and strings.
RJ: Any plans to gig in the UK?
L: I would like to, but nothing planned at the moment. I
almost played the Ventnor Fringe Festival on the Isle Of
Wight last August, but we had to cancel for multiple
reasons. Anyone with a venue to play, and a budget for
plane ticket, let me know – I’ll be happy to come and
play wherever you are!
RJ: What is the acoustic scene like in Sweden?
L: It’s getting bigger and bigger. Most acoustic artists
are singer/songwriters like me, but I think intrumental
acoustic music is slowly becoming bigger as well.
There are also some emerging luthiers in Sweden
building great guitars. So I think people over here are
becoming more aware of what a great steel string
guitar can be, and are not settling for the ‘run of the
mill’ type stuff.
RJ: What album or artist do you listen to most often
on your iPod?
L: I’ve been listing a lot to Donovan and Nick Drake
lately. I have those on vinyl as well, and I’ll give ‘em a
spin every once in a while…
RJ: Finally, if you could commission your ultimate
acoustic guitar, what would it be?
L: Brook, Tamar body , Cocobolo back/sides, European
or Lutz spruce top, 27” baritone scale, joined at the 13th
fret, sharp cutaway, old logo type.
That’s my dream guitar right now – and I’m tempted to sell
my American guitar to finance it...
www.brookguitars.com
page 11
When one of the world’s finest guitar makers asks you to build HIM an instrument, it’s a sure sign that you
must be doing something right! We spoke with luthier Kevin Aram to find out more about an ‘homage’
Brook commission that quite literally knocked spots off the original...
Playing the dots...
evin Aram needs no introduction to those
‘in the know’ when it comes to the
demanding world of top-flight classical
guitar luthierie.
K
Unusually for many guitar builders, Kevin’s passion
extends to collecting and playing the instrument
too, albeit not in the same style as the majority of
his customers.
And when it came to wanting a custom steel-string
for himself, he had no hesitation in turning to the
team at Brook Guitars.
“I’d known Andy and Simon since they began
working with Andy Manson, and I have an old
Torridge which is probably the second instrument
they ever built when they first set up on their own,”
said Kevin.
His best-known customer is none other than Julian
Bream – and in the last quarter-century or so, Kevin
has built and repaired instruments for a veritable
‘who’s who’ of other internationally famous players.
His clientele includes: Gilbert Biberian, Carlos
Bonell, Colin Downes, Anthea Gifford, Forbes
Henderson, Joe Jewel, Earl Klugh, Eleftheria Kotzia,
Norbert Kraft, Jonathan Leathwood, Juan Martin,
Pepé Martinez, Friedemann Wuttke and John
Zaradin – to name but a few!
“I’ve always believed that if you build an instrument
for yourself, you’re always likely to be picking fault
with it – whereas if someone else makes it for you,
you’re far more likely to accept it for what it is,
which makes playing it much more enjoyable.
“I have built a few steel strings over the years, but
making classical guitars is different in many ways –
and in any case, the work that the lads do at Brook
is just brilliant...”
The friendship and mutual admiration the makers
share has seen them collaborate regularly over the
years.
Simon explained: “Kevin will occasionally come
across to the workshop to use a particular piece of
machinery, like our big sander, and we often source
and buy wood locally together.
“Steel string guitars are our mainstay, but we’ve
built several nylon strung instruments too. They’re
obviously made in a very different way, and Kevin
has always been incredibly generous and helpful at
various stages, with advice on certain aspects of
their construction, such as the strutting patterns
and bracing.”
Kevin tries out his new guitar for the first time in
the Easterbrook ‘showroom’...
The inspiration for Kevin’s custom order came from
articles from the Guild of American Luthiers, which
described a series of restoration projects on – in
Kevin’s words – ‘guitars that were nice but not really
worth a lot of money’.
continued on page 12
Simon worked from an Internet-sourced photo of a 1930s Regal
to re-create a complete set of dominoes from ebony and bone
Regally inspired
The guitar that inspired
Kevin’s custom order was a
Regal ‘Le Domino’, one of
a line of inexpensive but
flashy fretted instruments
which prospered in the
1920s and early 1930s,
and which remain some
of the more distinctive
instruments of the era.
The J.R. Stewart company
of Chicago originated the
‘Le Domino’ family of
guitars, mandolins,
soprano and tenor ukes
and banjo-ukes starting in
the mid-1920s.
The brand passed to Regal
in the early '30s after
Stewart was forced out of
business following a
disastrous deal with Lyon
& Healy. Le Domino ukes
and banjo-ukes were the
best sellers.
Sold at a moderate price,
these were well made
instruments, compared to
other decorated guitars.
Grand Concert flat top
guitars such as the ones
pictured here are today
comparatively rare finds.
page 12
www.brookguitars.com
How OLD is my guitar?
TAKE a cursory look at the label inside an
instrument fresh from the Easterbrook
workshop today, and you could be forgiven
for thinking that there are more than
200,000 Brooks in circulation!
Although output has been prolific since the
company was launched – Andy and Simon
estimate that it’s a fraction of that total, but
still ‘in excess of 1,000’ – the serial number in
fact enables you to accurately date your guitar.
So how does it work? “Think of it as pairs of
numbers, first of all, running left to right – but
which you have to read in reverse,” said Andy.
Confused? Andy continues: “The first pair of
numbers relates to the year. So, in the example
pictured left, ‘40’ translates to 2004. The next
pair of numbers – ‘40’ – is the month, reading
backwards ‘04’, or April. And finally, the last pair
of numbers is the order the guitar was
completed that month.
“That guitar (a custom Tamar), therefore, was
the 11th to be finished in April 2004...”
So now you know...
Playing the dots...
from page 11
One such restoration involved a Regal ‘Le Domino’
guitar from the 1930s (see separate story, page 11). “I just
really liked the whole style of it,” said Kevin.
“I didn’t want an exact replica of it building; I opted
instead for a version based on a sunburst Torridge –
similar to my original Brook – which I find is a really
comfortable size guitar for me.
“It was the Regal’s domino decoration – which were
stick-on transfers originally – that I particularly liked, so
I managed to source a few pictures on the Internet, and
asked Simon what he could do.”
Simon takes up the story: “Rather than a ‘copy’ guitar,
Kevin wanted us to re-interpret the Regal in our own
particular way.
“The domino transfers on the originals had a tendency
to flake and scrape off over the years, so we decided to
go for something a little more permanent...”
Simon’s solution was to painstakingly make a complete
set of miniature dominoes in ebony and bone, which
were then used as both fretboard markers and as the
rosette decoration around the soundhole.
Faithful to the original concept, he ensured that the
number of dots on the ‘fingerboard dominos’
corresponded to the fret they were inlaid at (for example,
three dots at the third fret, and so on), right up to the
12th fret (see below, right) . The remaining 22 dominoes
were then arranged and inlaid around the soundhole.
Kevin – whose own work has set a benchmark of
excellence admired worldwide – was delighted with
the results: “It’s brilliant – a fantastic guitar,” he said.
“The thing with Andy and Simon’s work is that all their
guitars look lovely, but they’re all completely hand
worked too – in exactly the same way as my own
instruments – whereas so much elsewhere these days is
done by CNC (computer numerical control) machinery.”
The music Kevin himself plays is in stark contrast to that
of his own customers: “It’s a mixture of various songs,
some murder ballads, and some more modern stuff –
Steve Earle, John Prine, Johnny Cash, that sort of thing,”
he laughed. “I’m also a big fan of Half Man Half Biscuit,
and I do a sort of one-man tribute act called ‘songs with
a bite’.
“My wife and I run an open mike night with another
couple the last Friday of every month at The New Inn in
Goodleigh, near Barnstaple, which is where I mainly get
to play these days, although I usually find time to play
at a few other open mics and festivals too.
“However, I have to say that I haven’t risked taking the
new guitar there just yet – I use the older Torridge
instead!”
One thing is for certain: when Kevin eventually does
introduce the instrument to the pub, the locals won’t
have far to look for a set of dominoes...
You can find out more about Kevin and his work at:
www.aramguitars.co.uk