ALTERNATIVE REALITIES

When The Sun Came is a melting pot of alternative tunings and custom string sets, with some strange habits dotted about. Nick gives us some of the vitals

“When The Sun Came is on Weissenborn in DGDGBD, with a floating capo on the 5th fret, which gives it a slightly muted tonal quality. Ramsons is Weissenborn again, in A E A F# A C#, which is really taking things below what makes sense. I had to use some funny slants to keep things relatively in tune with each other round the neck; the strings flub about like rubber ropes. All Them Symbols is Weissenborn but in CGCGCD and with a large knitting needle threaded through the strings, played with a slide in the left hand and a dulcimer hammer in the right… “The Muckle Master is played on my Strat in DGDGBD through a lovely underrated Fender Super 60 amp and a really old cheap and nasty – in just the right way – analogue delay pedal. The Peacock Dance is on the Fylde in CFCFCC, which is one of Jack Rose’s old slide tunings that I pinched. Delta Suey uses the Martin in DGDGBD with a chopstick under the 7th fret and the slide on my ring finger, so I could slide the chopstick up and down the fret at points and give it a little twang. “All my guitars are strung with Newtone strings, which are made by Neil Silverman in a factory just down the road from me [in Matlock, Derbyshire]. It’s really useful being able to work with them on weird string sets for the lap steel or my Nashville-strung electric. It’s also just really fun watching someone wind strings.”