Robert Burns on a Martin Guitar

A Beautiful Song Nicely Rendered

Scottish balladeer Dick Gaughan sings Robert Burns’ Now Westlin Winds and Slaught’ring guns

‘Now westlin winds and slaught’ring guns
Bring Autumn’s pleasant weather;
The moorcock springs on whirring wings
Among the blooming heather;
Now waving grain, wild o’er the plain,
Delights the weary farmer;
And the moon shines bright, when I rove at night,
To muse upon my charmer.
2. The partridge loves the fruitful fells,
The plover loves the mountains;
The woodcock haunts the lonely dells,
The soaring hern the fountains.
Thro’ lofty groves the cushat roves,
The path of man to shun it;
The hazel bush o’erhangs the thrush,
The spreading thorn the linnet.
3. Thus ev’ry kind their pleasure find,
The savage and the tender;
Some social join and leagues combine,
Some solitary wander.
Avaunt away! the cruel sway,
Tyrannic man’s dominion.
The sportsman’s joy, the murd’ring cry,
The flutt’ring gory pinion!
4. But Peggy dear, the ev’ning’s clear,
Thick files the skimming swallow,
The sky is blue, the field’s in view,
All fading green and yellow.
Come let us stray our gladsome way,
And view the charms of Nature;
The rustling corn, the fruited thorn,
And ev’ry happy creature.
5. We’ll gently walk and sweetly talk,
Till the silent moon shines clearly;
I’ll grasp thy waist and, fondly presst,
Swear how I love thee dearly.
Not vernal show’rs to budding flow’rs,
Not Autumn to the farmer,
So dear can be as thou to me,
My fair, and lovely charmer!’
R. Burns 1783

 

 

John Mayer’s 13-fret Martin Reveal

Unique 13-fret custom Martin made for John Mayer

Solid Cocobolo and Engelmann spruce with Style 41 appointments

John_Mayer_with_custom_Martin_SC-41_onemanz.com
(click to enlarge)

An eagle-eyed Aaron Short sent me the photo on the left to ask about what this guitar might be. And since it is now out there in the public media, my self-imposed gag order regarding any behind the scenes stuff at C. F. Martin & Co. has now some leeway for replying. This is one very cool guitar.

I feel it is important to make clear that this was a private project that Martin had no intention of publicizing. Mr. Mayer had no part in the project or its design, and it was made entirely as a surprise for him, conceived by his friend Fred Greene, Martin’s VP of Product Management.

When Mayer chose to reveal the guitar on his social media, I asked the powers that be if that meant I could post about it. The response I received from Fred was, “Since it’s no longer secret, feel free to share.” And so I shall.

The revolutionary Martin SC-13 is the basis for this one-of-a-kind custom Martin that was made for John Mayer, with the artist’s name inlaid on the fingerboard in abalone shell, using the font from the cover of his latest album, Sob Rock. It also gets a matching abalone rosette around the sound hole, and abalone trim along the edge of the top, making it similar to Style 41 Martins. And that rosette goes all the way through the fingerboard extension on the top, making a full circle. This is a cosmetic embellishment that John Mayer himself came up with for one of his earlier signature models.

The woods are spectacular! The highly-figured cocobolo and shimmering Engelmann spruce look good enough to eat, and even the neck is made from figured mahogany. And the figured cocobolo face plate on the headstock is so outrageous it looks like tortoise shell! There is an inlaid abalone script logo and three split abalone  diamonds stacked like rectangles down the center; and all of it is set off by pearloid buttons on the six tuning machines.

The asymmetrical SC design (S body shape named for the bass side curves of the silhouette, C for the treble cutaway) incorporates Martin’s first 13-fret neck with a new neck joint that allows for no heel at all, much like an electric guitar. It is a departure in many ways from the traditional designs of this venerable guitar-making powerhouse. Its proven success is expected to give rise to other SC models in the future – a future put off-course by the COVID-19 crisis. Product projections aside, this SC was produced under the radar, expressly for John Mayer.

(click to enlarge photos – click Back Button to return to article)

The SC-13E is part of the Road Series of acoustic-electric guitars made in Martin’s facility in Navajoa, Mexico, and priced for working musicians. Mayer’s guitar was built in Nazareth, PA with primo tonewoods and appointments. That would mean a much higher commercial price, should anything like it appear for sale to the general public.

Mayer has been a big fan of Engelmann spruce since he was introduced to it by Dick Boak when they were designing his original signature model, the OM-28 JM. That limited edition is now a desirable collector’s item with a skyrocketing price, if you can find one at all. But they made a regular production model based on it, the OMJM, which has the same Engelmann spruce for the top that is matched with the same Indian rosewood back and sides, the rosewood species used on the OM-28V he played for many years prior to the signature models based on it.

Since then, Mayer has had multiple Martin signature models, including two made with cocobolo back and sides, the 00-45 Stage Coach and 00-42 Stage Coach editions. Each is a 12-fret 00 with a slotted headstock. The 45 has an Adirondack spruce top and the 42 has Sitka. Engelmann made a reappearance as the top wood on the D-45 JM, made with Guatemalan rosewood back and sides.

Engelmann spruce has a quick and snappy report, but slower velocity to the swell that rises up and out from sustained chords and harmonic overtones. That effect is barely perceptible when new, but after a year or two the tone of an Engelmann soundboard really blossoms into an ever more-colorful pastel glow that enhances the tonal complexity of whatever rosewood species is used to frame the sound chamber.

Cocobolo is a true rosewood. To my ear, it sounds most like Guatemalan rosewood, with a similar inky-dark undertone, although Guatemalan does not have quite as steely a report from the fundamental notes as cocobolo sends out. The cocobolo should put some meat on the precise Engelmann fundamentals, and the Engelmann should ultimately accentuate the lushness of that deep, dark coco cavern down in the bass and low-mids.

With a body size and sound chamber falling somewhere between a Grand Performance and an Orchestra Model, an SC in this combination of cocobolo topped with Engelmann spruce is mouthwatering in its acoustic potential. But it might provide some challenges when plugging in the onboard Fishman electronics, tonal complexity being a bit of a maverick when it comes to the rodeo of a segmented sound system servicing a large auditorium or concert arena. Fortunately, SCs have an internal switch that cuts the bottom end for just such environments.

I had played an early R&D version of an SC made with solid Indian rosewood and Sitka spruce, and cosmetics similar to Standard Style 28. It was also braced a little heavier. The success of the SC design made with Standard Series woods was apparent from the get go. And it is not telling tales out of school to say the reality of production model SCs made in Nazareth with solid tonewoods that are on par with the Standard Series is (hopefully) only a matter of time. But I would not put money on that happening any time soon.





 

Since I published this account on September 2, C. F. Martin has saw fit to  go public about the guitar on their own social media, with guitar designer Rameen Shayegan posting “I am thrilled to have some glam shots of this custom one-off we built as a surprise gift for John Mayer. I’m ESPECIALLY thrilled that he loves it and is actually playing and enjoying this instrument. Working on projects like this reminds me how much I love my job

John_Mayer_custom_Martin_SC_Shayegan_onemanz.com
click to enlarge

I imposed upon Rameen’s holiday weekend to ask him about the guitar. “Fred (Greene) walked into the Design Team office one day and said he wanted a one-off SC made from Cocobolo and Engelmann spruce. And then he followed up by saying, ‘I want you you guys to pull out all the stops’ and to ‘really pearl it up!’ And that is when he said, ‘Oh, and it is for John Mayer.’ Whew! I went to work on it immediately.”

Cocobolo can be very difficult to work with. It is oily, which makes it problematic where gluing is involved. And some people have serious allergic reactions to the dust when it is sanded. And it can crack when you are working with it.

“We have no bending presses in Nazareth to make the SC body, or bracing masks for that design, or anything really.” What Rameen did have is experience from making the SC prototypes. “I had to bend the sides of John’s new Martin the old fashioned way, by hand, over a primitive form, minimal iron ‘egg.'” This is a device heated by electricity and used to bend guitar sides that are first soaked in water. It was the main way to bend sides at Martin until the turn of the century. “There was no margin for error, but it turned out beautifully.”

Tim Teel, CFM Director of Instrument Design, came up with the fingerboard design. Rameen said that it was tag team effort. “We wanted to base it on Mayer’s Sob Rock album. Did you know Mayer designs his own fonts? That is a pretty cool hobby to have. So, everything about the design, including the split diamond position markers on the fingerboard were inspired by the design concept on his new record. And we included a 360 degree rosette like the one he came up with for his 00-45 SC model.”

I asked about the pickup and was told it is the Fishman Matrix Infinity, which has onboard tone and volume control. Rameen considered using the Fishman’s Goldline Plus pickup that Mayer often uses on stage, so he can fit a feedback buster into the sound hole. “But the SC design is not prone to the same sort of feedback issues one can have with traditional acoustic guitar bodies.”

Tim Teel  told me that they built the guitar for Mayer partly because they felt he would be a wonderful adjudicator when it came to a Nazareth-made SC made with solid woods and higher-end construction, and that Tim really enjoyed the design process. By all accounts, “he loves it.” Rameen went on to say that “Mayer is such an important artist whose playing has proven him to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time. That he loves this guitar and enjoys playing it means to me more than I can say.”

In an early conversation, Fred Greene stressed that this guitar was “a one off for John. He is a special person and good friend.”

That being said, there have been many one-off guitars made in Martin’s Custom Shop for notable recording artists that were ultimately used as the basis for an artist signature model, the D-35 David Glamour being the most recent example.

Might this be another Mayer model in the making? I am one man who cannot say.

But I can say, I will be appearing on YouTube’s Aaron Short Music channel on Labor Day (Monday, Sep. 6,) answering questions from the live audience about all things Martin related, via the chat bar feature. The show starts promptly 4 PM, Eastern Time, and will remain up for replay viewing on Aaron’s YouTube channel. I have no doubt this guitar will come up as one of the topics for discussion.

Here is the video Mayer posted on his Instagram story outlet, picked up by a Celine Dion fanzine.

David Lindley

Singular American musician David Lindley turns 77

“Mr. Dave” laid down licks across popular music while earning his own cult following that endures to this day. I believe I have seen him more in concert than any other artist.

David Lindley is likely heard most often on the classic rock radio hit “Running on Empty.”

An American Original

As a teen, David Lindley won the Topanga Canyon Fiddle and Banjo Contest. After winning five years in a row, they made him a judge. It was only up from there.

He was a founding member of the psychedelic band Kaleidoscope across the late 1960s, when he started to get session work that put his unique sound on albums by rising stars like Leonard Cohen, the Youngbloods, Graham Nash, and America, before joining the band of English singer/guitarist Terry Reid. In 1972, he began a collaboration with fellow-Californian Jackson Browne, with whom he toured for the next eight years as a duo act and with the larger commercial bands tried to Browne’s career as a recording artist.

David Lindley first entered my stream of consciousness through Jackson Browne’s second album, For Everyman, where his melodic lead guitar work, beefy violin accompaniment, and transcendent steel guitar playing, and out-shown Elton John’s piano, and the big name voices joining in on harmony vocals that helped launch Browne to international stardom. I have remained his enthusiastic admirer every since, quickly losing interest in Browne’s music once Lindley moved on to tour and record for Rod Stewart, Crosby & Nash, Dolly Parton, and many, many others.

I knew nothing about him in those days, just that, should I ever become proficient enough to perform with other people, I wanted my lead guitar playing to be as pretty or as searing, and always tastefully supportive of the songs and singers rather than upstaging them, just David Lindley.

While the rest of this birthday homage features videos, here is the studio recording of the song that made me want to become a “sideman” guitarist:

As a solo artist and front man, Mr. Dave, as he is affectionately known by his friends and fans, has chosen to play what he likes, both in terms of his music and his instruments. Famous for his clashing polyester, and his choice of unusual cover tunes and original compositions often laced with a Zappa-esque sense of humor and altruistic love for the little guy in the big bad world, be it with his Reggae-inspired band El Rayo-X…

From a later version of the band

… another high-octane steel guitar performance from their original 1980s days…

… and across his more eclectic collaborations with Ry Cooder and his duo touring with percussionists like Wally Ingram, where Lindley features his lap steel playing on instruments derived from the hollow-neck Weissenborn guitars made for Hawaiian-style music in the 1920s…

A true story of bad backstage food, “Cat Food Sandwiches”…

… as well as instruments from the cittern family like the mandolin, charango, and Irish bouzouki; and from the lute family, like the Turkish oud, bağlama, and gumbus; and the fiddle family, like the Norwegian hardingfele, and the list goes on and on…

“New Minglewood Blues” on an oud.

Performing Lindley & Browne’s composition “Call it a Loan” during their acoustic reunion tour, which played to much larger audiences than they drew in 1973, before For Everyman had hit the radio waves…

And here is a full set from 1976, after their duets were expanded into a full band.

 

Happy Birthday Mr. Dave. Thanks for the music!

John Mayer NAMM Set 2021

John Mayer plays Martin guitars with Engelmann spruce tops

Winter NAMM Mini Set for Martin’s Jam in Place Series

Here’s a decent opportunity to hear what Engelmann spruce sounds like after it has some time to mature and get played in. It is paired with East Indian rosewood on the OM-28JM, the original John Mayer signature model from 2002 (released January 2003,) and it can be heard matched with Guatemalan rosewood on his 2016 D-45JM later in the set. In between the two can be heard Sitka spruce, backed by cocobolo rosewood on the 12-fret 00-42SC Stagecoach model released on 2013.

 

American Tune for COVID-19 Social Distancing

Paul Simon sings American Tune for us all

The 78 year old American musical institution posted a solo performance of American Tune on his Facebook page.

Paul Simon American Tune COVID-19 onemanz

https://www.facebook.com/paulsimon/videos/2898856330168238/?__tn__=%2CdkCH-R&eid=ARBApPN6e9yzouJLizcgHTT8hpSKOJuRo0-ZKzq7y5IEm47NwPCmgiZw7j6KUpMpGFSElLvZNhBFtCod&hc_ref=ARTj-T66GQRQE2IvxzVjH1d5ptaiv0e6-PvZoYVi1bHrp73yZK34HkvHbLVPJtf6NN4&fref=nf

He recorded it on 3/19/2020 for the web “show” Til Further Notice, which takes place in Willie Neslson’s back yard. But this year is including Socially Distant performances.

For those who cannot access the performance,  a different performance of the same song appears below. He ended the Facebook performance with “Stay save everyone. Be well!”

I used to perform this every 4th of July, until I forgot how to play it. Since I may have some time on my hands, it is nice the composer provided this handy How-To video. 🙂

I had forgotten his Martin Paul Simon Limited Edition signature models have faux tortoise shell binding, ala Style 21. They also has a special fretboard width that has a 1-11/16″ width nut, at a time when Martin OMs all had 1-3/4″ width-at-nut. But the Simon models taper wider to almost the same width as a traditional OM once the fretboard reaches the 12th fret.

This particular guitar is the PS2 model released in 2000, signified by the inlaid image of Earth on the headstock. Unlike the original 1997 version, the OM-42 PS, the PS2 guitar does not have a traditional hand-fitted dovetail neck joint, but rather the Mortise & Tenon joint, and probably lower grade tonewoods, which allowed the price to be a lot lower.

Here is the maestro performing American Tune on his OM-42 PS, from 2015.

Moon River Mark by Dick Boak

A Life on Georgian Bay

A singer-songwriter expose

Dick Boak has created a video about a Martin-loving maverick named Mark Groulex, aka Moon River Mark of Ontario, Canada. Moon River runs through the forests near the eastern section of Lake Huron called Georgian Bay, about 200km north of Toronto. Boak first encountered Groulex at a local open mic when vacationing in Canada. The two have remained friend ever since.

Something Fine from Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne wrote Something Fine when he was 22

Or maybe he was even younger

While he was considered an “old soul” by his contemporaries, Jackson Browne turned 70 this past October and yet his songs are anything but dated.

When something written by a kid remains relevant, timeless even, and absolutely appropriate coming from the mouth of the same artist decades later, now that’s what I call a songwriter!

Performed on a vintage Roy Smeck Stage Deluxe.

Does Jason Verlinde of Fretboard Journal have the best job in America or what?

T Spoon Phillips New Album

Lost and Haunted Ways, the new album by T Spoon Phillips

Here at last, the original solo acoustic guitar compositions

Have you ever wanted to hear the pieces Spoon uses for his One Man’s Guitar video reviews in their entirety? Well now you can! Along with many others…

T Spoon Phillips - Album Cover Lost and Haunted Ways

Official Release, Thursday, August 9.

*Early Bird Special for Martinfest attendees*

Visit tspguitar.com for details!