Viewing: Archtop guitars - View all posts

Archtop and flat top guitars - what are the sonic differences? I get this question a lot and what better way to answer it than with two instruments by one of the world’s finest luthiers - Kim Walker. 

There is…

Another video from my life-affirming trip to Hawaii this year. I have lied Steve Grimes’ Jazz Laureate design since I played Steve’s contribution to The Blue Guitar Collection. 

This is a very modern and forward thinking archchtop - a…

If you were lucky enough to attend the 2022 Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival in Arvada Colorado you might - after a full weekend of extraordinary musicianship and achingly beautiful guitars - have caught sight of me galloping towards Tyler Wells…

I have been a huge fan of John Monteleone’s work for many years and it was a pleasure to spend time with him last year while travelling with The Archtop Foundation. 

John is a legendary figure in the world of…

Cris Mirabella makes disturbingly beautiful guitars. In fact I found his work so intimidating that it was several years after we first met that I plucked up the courage to ask Cris if I could try one of his instruments…

Cris Mirabella never intended his for his exquisite archtop jazz guitars to be flung into DADGAD and used as fingerstyle machines but they really do work for me!

Here's a case in point - a sensation Mirabella Crossfire New…

Another extraordinary instrument that I found in the new home of The Blue Guitar Collection  is this Ken Parker acoustic archtop - just gorgeous!

Just wow!

This was only the second time I had ever seen a Ken Parker acoustic…

In amongst The Blue Guitars I found a trio of exceptional brown guitars and in a relatively quiet moment in amongst the azure mayhem I managed to film them.

Just look at them!

Here is the first, a sumptuous Casimi…

It was a real pleasure to talk to the irrepressible Bob Bakert in an interview for Jazz Guitar Today alongside jazz guitarist extraordinaire Ted Ludwig!

We spoke at length about our experiences with The Blue Guitar Collection so far…

Recently I've had a lot of emails asking what happened to the Clara Archtop that Luthier Thierry André and I had been working on for the 2020 Holy Grail Guitar Show in Berlin. 

80 Year Old Sinker Cedar anybody?

How…

I have been very fortunate, over the past couple of decades I have been left unsupervised with some truly stellar instruments made with love by many of the world's most talented luthiers. 

This sort of thing being a case in…

Hello everyone,

I've been pretty ridiculously busy this past couple of weeks but I finally found the time to get in front of the camera for a one-take performance of Between Streets on my Gretsch White Falcon.

A Gretsch White…

One of the guitars I was most looking forward to playing at the grand finale of the Holy Grail Guitar Show is a collaboration that I have been working on with luthier Thierry André of Quebec. This is he. As…

I've been a fan of Chicago's Joel Paterson for a while now and it was a real pleasure to interview the man himself for The Guitar Magazine recently! Click on the pic below to go through to the full interview…

Throughout my life as a player the archtop guitar has held a brooding and slightly intimidating mystique. Now, as I'm learning how to appreciate the subtleties and nuances of these beautiful instruments - built with an intent and technique far…

One of the joys of a visit to the Turnstone Guitars workshop is a cup of tea and a chat with Rosie Heydenrych, the luthier behind all these beautiful instruments. 

This time we filmed it (it's been a while!) as…

I was back at Surrey Studios this week to record The 5am Tango - which will be one of the 9 tracks on my next album HYLAB. I was really looking forward to this session as the good people…

It's been an exciting start to the year for me and I sincerely hope for you too!

Thank you to everyone for your messages over the holiday period. It was wonderful to hear from you all!

I've been busy in…