A bit about my family of instruments

The hammered dulcimer was my Christmas present from Karen in December 2012 after a chance visit to Hobgoblin in London when I tried one out for the first time.  The instrument soon began to suggest song accompaniments, the first being “I Come and Stand at Every Door” which I had heard many years ago on a ‘This Mortal Coil’ album that just seemed to sing itself out of the instrument even though I didn’t know most of the words!  I performed the song the following July at the ‘Adieu and Farewell’ gig  and quite a few songs have been added since as I find the sustain good for working out tunes.

I had loved the sound of the Celtic harp since I stole an Alan Stivell album from Alan Kilburn in 1970. My love for the harp strengthened after Robin Williamson adopted one as his main instrument and I fantasised about acquiring one to play on when I retired, but the fantasy became a reality a few years earlier than I had imagined.  My first harp was a small knee harp or clasarch which Karen bought me as a present in 2001. We had gone to Hobgoblin in Bristol so I could try out a set of Northumbrian small pipes, but I opted instead for the clasarch. Karen then had a full sized Celtic harp made for  my 50th birthday which was replaced with a French made Camac 38 stringed harp to mark my retirement and is the one I play today.

I have had a number of guitars over the years, starting with a rubbish, damaged guitar “borrowed” from my younger brother, followed by a virtually impossible to play dreadnaught “borrowed” this time from my older brother, before acquiring a lovely classical guitar of my own which met with a sad end. I then bought a cheap Martin copy that served me well before I abandoned it for an electro-acoustic guitar which, in turn, was exchanged for a 12 string that I never really enjoyed playing. I then settled on a lovely Lakewood dreadnaught, finished in maple and cedar with rosewood bindings. This guitar was one of the original batch of Lakewood instruments brought to the UK as demonstrator models and I traded in the 12 string to purchase it second hand from the excellent luthier, Martin Cole. This is the guitar I still play, although the neck is twisted now which is an excuse I use to excuse my receding dexterity. Despite both our faults I love my faithful Lakewood and I lose myself playing my favourite song on it, none other than the lovely “Loch Tay Boat Song”  – unashamedly stolen from Roy Williamson.

One evening in 2014 we were driving back home listening to the BBC Hereford and Worcester folk programme when a track was played featuring a bansitar which was enough to convince me that I really needed one!  I have had a sitar for a number of years which arthritis has rendered impossible to play and the bansitar seemed like a good substitute. I tracked down the luthier who had invented the instrument and Karen was kind enough to acquire the 19th bansitar ever made in time for my birthday.

I think it was around Christmas 2009 when Karen bought me this lovely tenor ukulele. We had gone into Cardiff when I wandered around Crane’s music shop and began messing about on the ukuleles.  I was struck by the medieval sounding tone of a experimental tenor ukulele made of mango wood and of course I immediately felt that I needed such an instrument. I’m not particularly fond of strummed ukuleles, but I very much like the sound of this instrument when it is finger picked.

My Fylde made arch top octave bouzouki was given to me by Karen (of course) in 2004 for my birthday after a visit to the Bristol Hobgoblin shop.  I love the instrument’s different tonal qualities which vary depending on how it is played, but these days it can be a struggle to get my arthritic digits to keep up with what I hear in my head!  However, it’s a very much valued member of the family and will bring me much pleasure for many years yet.

In 2007  I had the idea that a symphonie hurdy gurdy might be a good substitute for a set of small pipes, so my lovely Karen arranged for one to be made for me. Although I loved the sound and the potential the instrument offered, the constant need for attention, such as winding gun cotton onto the strings compounded by tuning difficulties, tended to put me off playing the instrument. To my shame I am afraid I sold the instrument back to the makers a couple of years ago to make room for  new family members who would be easier to get on with!

The arrival of an Appalachian dulcimer in my Christmas stocking back in December 2002 was a complete surprise and no prizes for guessing who the present was from!  The sound immediately took me back to the early 1970’s and the talented performances of Tim Hart who made the instrument so popular in folk circles around that time. I have enjoyed playing and singing along with my shapely dulcimer ever since.

My first ever instrument was a round bowl mandolin which I bought in 1969 and replaced a couple of years later with a flat backed mandolin that was easier to hold and play.  After playing in folk clubs was replaced by teaching, the mandolin playing was largely neglected and the instrument took a severe bashing from our children, particularly from Lucy who took a real shine to it as a toddler.  However, Karen gave me a new mandolin as a wedding anniversary present in December 2015 and it was great fun to get down to business again picking out dance tunes and songs to play on this lovely sounding Ashbury flat backed mandolin.

My beautiful tenor guitar was sourced on the same visit to the new Hobgoblin shop in Birmingham when Karen acquired the mandolin for me. I was torn between the mandolin and a tenor guitar, so Karen being as lovely as she is purchased both, with the tenor guitar serving as my Christmas present. The Ashbury made tenor guitar has a wonderful tone and I am still experimenting with tunings and techniques to match it’s impressive tonal qualities.

This instrument came as a surprise Christmas present in 2002 and one that I don’t play nearly enough. It gives a particularly haunting sound that I am very keen to incorporate into song arrangements, but my technical ability with Cubase software is a bit lacking so double tracking in my home studio is something I tend to put off. However, at sometime this year I am planning to focus on recording new stuff and if all else fails, I am sure that our son Jody will sort out the technical side of things!

I have loved Indian classical music since the mid 1960s and I was always desperate to play the sitar.  A visit to an Asian centre in Birmingham in the late 1990s saw Karen persuaded to purchase one for my birthday and then the task of tuning and playing commenced which proved rather more difficult than I had ever imagined.  I developed my playing enough though to perform a few numbers, but a shoulder injury and arthritis (plus any other excuse I can conjure up) has meant I rarely sit down these days to play the instrument, and if I do then I find it impossible to stand up again!

I fancied having a sound that was somewhere between a guitar and bouzouki, and wondered whether a cittern like instrument might provide this, so a trip to the Hobgoblin shop in Birmingham was duly organised.  There was a promotion on the Portuguese braguesa underway and the sound seemed to come close to what I heard in my imagination, so as is the usual way of things, Karen was at hand to part with hard won cash for yet another Christmas instrument.  The braguesa is a 10 stringed traditional folk instrument and is a bit of a devil to string, tune and play. However, when it behaves itself it does indeed give the kind of cittern like singing tone I was searching for and enjoy very much.

My daughter Lucy gave me this wonderful vintage instrument as a Christmas present after purchasing it from her friend who discovered it hiding in the attic of his family home.  It’s an old music hall instrument that was once played by this chap’s grandfather who had obviously been a performer in his time. I have to say it is good  fun thing to perform stuff on,  providing that I ignore the pained expressions on other people’s faces as they listen to the screeching and scratching noises I produce on it.

I had fully resolved to stick with my family of instruments and not add any more when a “friend” emailed me a photograph of an instrument he said I should investigate.  A bit of Googling later I was wowed with the sound of koto monochords invented in Germany for use in music therapy and as an aid to meditation.  Email enquiries with manufacturers ensued which resulted in me deciding that I really needed one.  After some persuasion, my lovely Karen agreed that I could order one for my 63rd birthday even though we didn’t have any spare money to  fund the extravagance.  After figuring out where to place  the moveable bridges and tune the many stringed beast I was finally able to get down to serious music making with the first two home studio recordings being the “Lyke Wake Dirge” and “Twa Corbies”. Have a listen in the home studio page and see what you think to this amazing instrument!

Having repeatedly said no more instruments I so enjoyed watching Karen Polwart perform on a shruti box that I tracked down the UK’s leading supplier in Cardigan Bay and took Karen there for a mini holiday! I tried one with a foot pedal that enabled me to accompany myself with  drones from the shruti box whilst playing another instrument and inevitably this turned out to be an early birthday present!

I’ve got a basket full of whistles, ranging from very posh Irish low whistles to relatively cheap tin whistles, plus an interesting recorder like plastic one. Every now and then I take one from the basket, blow the dust out and have a toot, trying to remember some of the tunes and songs I used to play in my student days. Recently I’ve been adding whistles to various arrangements and fairly pleased with the results

Yuletide 2020 brought me a hansa veena (courtesy of Karen of course) which is proving to be a suitable challenge.  A relatively modern invention, the hansa veena is an Indian version of a slide guitar with 6 melody strings, 2 drones and 13 sympathetic strings. How to tune and play such an instrument is an education in itself and I look forward to hearing how things develop!