Me & My Guitar: John Smith
As the British acoustic singer / songwriter celebrates his roots with new album Hummingbird, he shows us the first Fylde from his growing collection
1 “This is my first Fylde guitar, a Falstaff. I had this built back in 2006 and I picked it up in 2007. I had played a Fylde in the old Hank’s Guitar Shop on Denmark Street. I’d seen it on the wall and it had completely blown my mind. But there was no way I could afford one. I was playing a factory-built acoustic guitar at the time but this guitar was way, way better than anything I’d ever played.”
2 “I was on tour with John Martyn and driving past the Fylde workshop on the way to Glasgow, because they’re based in Penrith in the Lake District. So I just stopped in and pretty much cold-called them. I knocked on the door and I said, ‘How are you doing? I think you need some young endorsees and I’m your man.’ I could see that Roger [Bucknall, Fylde founder] looked at me a bit suspicious. Then we got chatting, I played a bit and he agreed to make me a guitar. It was amazing and it started me on a journey with these instruments.”
3 “It’s a Madagascan rosewood back and sides with cherry bindings, a cedar top and an ebony fingerboard. I’ve gone for no fret markings on the fingerboard. There’s just this one at the 12th fret and then I’ve got dots going up the side. I have these dots on all my Fyldes but I like to keep the fretboard simple.”
4 “It’s a great-sounding guitar that I’ve really mistreated over the years. I’ve scratched it up pretty good and put a big crack in it that I had to take back to Roger to have him fix. He pretended he was angry but he didn’t mind too much.”
5 “It’s serial number 7337 with Duncan Turner pickups – it’s got a little mic and a piezo that comes out of a stereo output into a preamp that I make a mono signal from and send to front of house.”
6 “I play this guitar a lot when I’m in the UK. When I’m touring I have another one that I fly with because it’s Indian rosewood and spruce. You have to be very careful flying now with rosewood [because of CITES regulations] so I take that one. I play this a lot, it’s such a beautifully resonant instrument. It’s all there, you know? All across the spectrum it just sounds amazing.”
7 “I’ve got a mixed set of strings on here; the top and bottom from a 13 set and the middle from a 12 set. These are Elixir Nanoweb phosphor bronze strings that I think are the best strings you can get. So it’s a .056, .046, .032, .024, .017 and .013 so it gives you plenty of resistance higher up and at the bottom you’ve got a bit of weight. Then at the middle it feels kind of fluid and easy to get around. Then you put all that together and it just feels like it works. Quite recently, I was delighted because I found out Derek Trucks does the same with his electrics. So if it’s good enough for Mr Trucks, it’s good enough for me!”