What a great story. It brought a smile to my face. I'm glad you rediscovered the Telecaster's quality, and you have my sympathy re: the green sea foam. Ouch.
I wish you all the best for your tour and wait patiently for your return to the UK and perhaps that Ireland tour we discussed! 😊
Look out for a lovely Irish born singer/Songwriter/poet in Pittsburgh called Mark Dignam; he's known as the nicest guy in the industry - I've given him a heads up you're playing at Club Cafe, he's played there a number of times 😊
When I played in a band during my college days and after, I had the use of a friend's Rickenbacker 12. Sounded great; played like a dream. Wonderful guitar. For the songs that I played it on, the sound of the extra strings made a big difference.
Ah, that first guitar. Always a special place in one's memory. Mine was a cheepo-cheepo steel string acoustic, which was all my parents could afford; we were dirt poor. Surprisingly, it sounded okay, and I played it for quite a few years. Over time, the bracing on the soundboard gradually surrendered to the strings' tension, lifting the bridge to the point where it only sounded in tune when I played on the first few frets. But I've been lucky in friends - one of them, who I was teaching how to play, gave me his Martin D-18 on an extended loan when he bought a beat-up D-28 from a pawn shop for peanuts and then had it restored. I kept it until I finally finished my college degree, one course at a time, when my girlfriend at the time gave me a really good, though not great, Yamaha acoustic (FG-345). That was my only guitar for years, until just before my and my then partner's (now my wife) first child was born, when she bought me a Santa Cruz H - an early model (serial number 70), with 14 frets to the body, and koa back and sides. It's a glorious guitar, about the size of an OM but with a much deeper sound box so that it has a much more full and even sound from bass to treble, much more volume and sustain than an OM, and a slightly wider fretboard, perfect for my wide fingers. If any guitar was ever right for me, that's it. We also have another good guitar in our home, my wife's Taylor 414 CE Custom.
Some years later, I gave that Yamaha to our daughter (second child), who is developing quite a talent for fingerpicking. With any luck, she or one of her kids will still be playing it when it becomes a centenarian. As for the Santa Cruz, our son has dibs on that whenever I finally return to dust. Meanwhile, he has a low-level Taylor that he likes to take to his wife's family's beach house.
Passing the music down the generations is just sublime.
Wow. I love this story. I love to hear how we all came to play our guitars and how the guitars came to us. Each of us has a different journey, a different starting place, and we all travel our spoke of the wheel til we end up together at the hub. My dad tried hard to become a hippie. But he was too square to master it. I was much more of a hippie at age five than he ever could hope to be. But he got me a Yamaha fg160. We might try to see you at Bluebird if they’ll even let us hippies in. RB can bring the ‘35 herringbone if ya wanna play it.
To say that my Dad made no attempt to become a hippie would an understatement of cosmic proportions. But he got that Yamaha G-60A and the Tele. '35 herringbone you say? Lord have mercy. I'd love to play it. But don't bring it. It'll just trigger an episode.
Just goes to show, we keep growing til we die. And our parents too. I’d never have guessed I would grow up to be a guitar nerd….. An episode. I know exactly what you mean. But he said you are sure welcome to play the old herringbone if you like. It has a 1 3/4 “ neck though.
Good grief, anyone would think you wanted to take up the fiddle! What's beyond perdition? 😊
Your story takes me back to a similar scene - Mum, brother and I in the music shop in Harrow, north London, England (not Ontario) in 1973, shopping for my first guitar with money I'd saved from a Saturday job in a knitting wool and baby clothes shop. I was 15, the guitar was a pound for each year of my age - £15 (20 USD) was the equivalent of £158 (207 USD) in 2024.
Quite a lot for a schoolkid to spend, so Mum suggested I buy jointly with my older brother. (She was a wonderful mother but at that point more concerned about the fate of my bank balance than my eternal soul.) My brother was more interested in listening than playing, and I wanted sole ownership. So I remain the proud owner of (according to the inside label) a 'Kimbara Classical - Specially made in Japan for FON London'. I acquired Bert Weedon's 'Play In A Day', and went to classes. 51 years on I can still strum a few chords but my fingerpicking's as dusty as the instrument. You've inspired me to apply a duster to both, thanks!
Great story and as it turns out lovely parents ! The road goes ever on …… Happy touring Richard ! Hopefully this road will lead you back to Scotland at some stage !
Lovely story Richard. You've got me thinking I should try and play an electric guitar now. I've had my Australian Maton acoustic guitar for 21 years and at first didn't have the confidence to play it, only writing songs on it to begin with. I am happy to say that we have now had over 14 years together, playing 200 shows all over the world, and she's been lost twice! But found thank god. Her name is Hazel, named after my grandmother who never got to travel or see the world :)
The electric guitar is trememdous thing. But for someone who's been playing exclusively acoustic, they can be hard to get used to. Those Matons are great. If I were you I'd start out by putting a magnetic soundhole pickup in it and play it through a guitar amplifier. That'll begin give you a sense of electric-guitarnness. You recovered it twice? That's some serious luck you've got there. If I ever lose a guitar it had better be one of yours!
Sorry for the delay in replying. I was on tour in Germany. Great tip there. I even have one of those laying about somewhere. Yes twice. I can't believe it either. After that I was too scared to take it with me and always borrowed or bought one cheap on the other side. I will let you know how things progress after I try out a sound hole pick up. Hope you're good!
Again, thank you for these excellent posts. You have no idea how much sense they make to me. You are a brother in arms, Richard. The stone around my junior high school neck was a bass clarinet. All I ever managed was a really accurate duplication of a goose being strangled. I hated that thing! My teacher finally actually advised me to give it up. See ya!! (a Gary shaped hole in the door to that seedy little room). Teles have owned me since the early 70's. My main guitar is a Suhr I spent a small fortune on after a post-Iron Horse conversation with Mark Shulman. Thank you for that. I had never seen someone connect to a guitar like he did, so precise and his tone was amazing. He was playing a Strat style Suhr and he respected it deeply. I told him I cant play a Strat and he assured me there was no problem, they built a T style also! It took a while but I found one at Elderly Instruments, sadly in a color I hated (yup , sea foam green) and I went all in.
I loved the mention of that shift in parenting , sharing a joint with your mom. That was an amazing time when the elders decided that maybe these kids had something there...My dad once walked into our kitchen with a big ol garbage bag full of a neighbors homegrown, pretty much the equivalent of hay...and the "grups" all sat around that night coughing and giggling...I left...but at least they tried. Open mind, open heart.
This shared love of instruments, artists, songs, words, ideas is so mind-blowingly huge. An entire lifetime of relationships, decisions, choices being so influenced by this big love. I read that you struggle but please know you inspire. So many people, all over the world. You're a pretty big deal maestro . I'm really glad to see this expanding roster of gigs. Safe travels!
See you in NH, I'll forward your schedule to east coast friends.
Richard, as a brass player, I have to say the spit valve is a wonderful invention. I'm glad to decided to stick to guitar, but I can bring a cornet to one of your shows if you like :)
Beautiful instrument! Looking forward to watching you via stream at Caffe Lena!!!!
How do you get signed up for that? The Live Stream at Cafe Lena.
Typo: The Iron Horse is the 26th. You nearly gave me a heart attack.
Thanks. Fixed.
What a great story. It brought a smile to my face. I'm glad you rediscovered the Telecaster's quality, and you have my sympathy re: the green sea foam. Ouch.
Yay, great story, Richard--wonderful--what a life you've had, ay?
Love all the guitar details 🙂
I wish you all the best for your tour and wait patiently for your return to the UK and perhaps that Ireland tour we discussed! 😊
Look out for a lovely Irish born singer/Songwriter/poet in Pittsburgh called Mark Dignam; he's known as the nicest guy in the industry - I've given him a heads up you're playing at Club Cafe, he's played there a number of times 😊
This is just lovely.
Thank you!
What a great story! So glad you didn't go with the cornet!
Brings back memories of being a tweener and going to check out the instruments. Always looked for a Rick 360/12 as my first "find".
When I played in a band during my college days and after, I had the use of a friend's Rickenbacker 12. Sounded great; played like a dream. Wonderful guitar. For the songs that I played it on, the sound of the extra strings made a big difference.
Don, you had very specific, byrd-like tastes back then!
Great story Richard! I can relate
Ah, that first guitar. Always a special place in one's memory. Mine was a cheepo-cheepo steel string acoustic, which was all my parents could afford; we were dirt poor. Surprisingly, it sounded okay, and I played it for quite a few years. Over time, the bracing on the soundboard gradually surrendered to the strings' tension, lifting the bridge to the point where it only sounded in tune when I played on the first few frets. But I've been lucky in friends - one of them, who I was teaching how to play, gave me his Martin D-18 on an extended loan when he bought a beat-up D-28 from a pawn shop for peanuts and then had it restored. I kept it until I finally finished my college degree, one course at a time, when my girlfriend at the time gave me a really good, though not great, Yamaha acoustic (FG-345). That was my only guitar for years, until just before my and my then partner's (now my wife) first child was born, when she bought me a Santa Cruz H - an early model (serial number 70), with 14 frets to the body, and koa back and sides. It's a glorious guitar, about the size of an OM but with a much deeper sound box so that it has a much more full and even sound from bass to treble, much more volume and sustain than an OM, and a slightly wider fretboard, perfect for my wide fingers. If any guitar was ever right for me, that's it. We also have another good guitar in our home, my wife's Taylor 414 CE Custom.
Some years later, I gave that Yamaha to our daughter (second child), who is developing quite a talent for fingerpicking. With any luck, she or one of her kids will still be playing it when it becomes a centenarian. As for the Santa Cruz, our son has dibs on that whenever I finally return to dust. Meanwhile, he has a low-level Taylor that he likes to take to his wife's family's beach house.
Passing the music down the generations is just sublime.
If I can't find one of my guitars it's because my son took it. So I have his bass right now. Detente!
Wow. I love this story. I love to hear how we all came to play our guitars and how the guitars came to us. Each of us has a different journey, a different starting place, and we all travel our spoke of the wheel til we end up together at the hub. My dad tried hard to become a hippie. But he was too square to master it. I was much more of a hippie at age five than he ever could hope to be. But he got me a Yamaha fg160. We might try to see you at Bluebird if they’ll even let us hippies in. RB can bring the ‘35 herringbone if ya wanna play it.
To say that my Dad made no attempt to become a hippie would an understatement of cosmic proportions. But he got that Yamaha G-60A and the Tele. '35 herringbone you say? Lord have mercy. I'd love to play it. But don't bring it. It'll just trigger an episode.
Just goes to show, we keep growing til we die. And our parents too. I’d never have guessed I would grow up to be a guitar nerd….. An episode. I know exactly what you mean. But he said you are sure welcome to play the old herringbone if you like. It has a 1 3/4 “ neck though.
1-3/4" is my happy place
Well he might bring it in anyway cause you don’t want to leave something like that in the van in that neighborhood.
Good grief, anyone would think you wanted to take up the fiddle! What's beyond perdition? 😊
Your story takes me back to a similar scene - Mum, brother and I in the music shop in Harrow, north London, England (not Ontario) in 1973, shopping for my first guitar with money I'd saved from a Saturday job in a knitting wool and baby clothes shop. I was 15, the guitar was a pound for each year of my age - £15 (20 USD) was the equivalent of £158 (207 USD) in 2024.
Quite a lot for a schoolkid to spend, so Mum suggested I buy jointly with my older brother. (She was a wonderful mother but at that point more concerned about the fate of my bank balance than my eternal soul.) My brother was more interested in listening than playing, and I wanted sole ownership. So I remain the proud owner of (according to the inside label) a 'Kimbara Classical - Specially made in Japan for FON London'. I acquired Bert Weedon's 'Play In A Day', and went to classes. 51 years on I can still strum a few chords but my fingerpicking's as dusty as the instrument. You've inspired me to apply a duster to both, thanks!
I stayed in Harrow on my last UK tour. Lovely town. Did you buy out your brother's half?
Sorry. Harrowgate. Completely different place.
Great story and as it turns out lovely parents ! The road goes ever on …… Happy touring Richard ! Hopefully this road will lead you back to Scotland at some stage !
I would love to return to Scotland.
Lovely story Richard. You've got me thinking I should try and play an electric guitar now. I've had my Australian Maton acoustic guitar for 21 years and at first didn't have the confidence to play it, only writing songs on it to begin with. I am happy to say that we have now had over 14 years together, playing 200 shows all over the world, and she's been lost twice! But found thank god. Her name is Hazel, named after my grandmother who never got to travel or see the world :)
The electric guitar is trememdous thing. But for someone who's been playing exclusively acoustic, they can be hard to get used to. Those Matons are great. If I were you I'd start out by putting a magnetic soundhole pickup in it and play it through a guitar amplifier. That'll begin give you a sense of electric-guitarnness. You recovered it twice? That's some serious luck you've got there. If I ever lose a guitar it had better be one of yours!
Sorry for the delay in replying. I was on tour in Germany. Great tip there. I even have one of those laying about somewhere. Yes twice. I can't believe it either. After that I was too scared to take it with me and always borrowed or bought one cheap on the other side. I will let you know how things progress after I try out a sound hole pick up. Hope you're good!
A gem, with beautiful facets. Writing just gets better and better.
Thanks hermano!
Again, thank you for these excellent posts. You have no idea how much sense they make to me. You are a brother in arms, Richard. The stone around my junior high school neck was a bass clarinet. All I ever managed was a really accurate duplication of a goose being strangled. I hated that thing! My teacher finally actually advised me to give it up. See ya!! (a Gary shaped hole in the door to that seedy little room). Teles have owned me since the early 70's. My main guitar is a Suhr I spent a small fortune on after a post-Iron Horse conversation with Mark Shulman. Thank you for that. I had never seen someone connect to a guitar like he did, so precise and his tone was amazing. He was playing a Strat style Suhr and he respected it deeply. I told him I cant play a Strat and he assured me there was no problem, they built a T style also! It took a while but I found one at Elderly Instruments, sadly in a color I hated (yup , sea foam green) and I went all in.
I loved the mention of that shift in parenting , sharing a joint with your mom. That was an amazing time when the elders decided that maybe these kids had something there...My dad once walked into our kitchen with a big ol garbage bag full of a neighbors homegrown, pretty much the equivalent of hay...and the "grups" all sat around that night coughing and giggling...I left...but at least they tried. Open mind, open heart.
This shared love of instruments, artists, songs, words, ideas is so mind-blowingly huge. An entire lifetime of relationships, decisions, choices being so influenced by this big love. I read that you struggle but please know you inspire. So many people, all over the world. You're a pretty big deal maestro . I'm really glad to see this expanding roster of gigs. Safe travels!
See you in NH, I'll forward your schedule to east coast friends.
Richard, as a brass player, I have to say the spit valve is a wonderful invention. I'm glad to decided to stick to guitar, but I can bring a cornet to one of your shows if you like :)
In truth it was the spit. So yes, thank God for the valve!