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Post by Mike Fowler on Aug 24, 2022 13:50:15 GMT
I acquired a Jon Weir guitar last week, in sad circumstances. A very good friend of mine, Jim, passed away with prostate cancer, he'd been fighting it for about eight years. Jim had quite a few guitars, most quite high end, but this was his favourite. His wife very kindly gave it to me - Jim had said he wanted me to have it, which was a very emotional moment when she said that.
A handmade guitar in spruce and rosewood, 12 fret, slotted headstock model. The label inside simply says Jon Weir London 1978. It plays lovely, very loud actually for a small scale guitar - my first small scale guitar, very easy to play. Not recorded with it yet.
Looked on the internet obviously to see if there's any provenance but the only reference I can find is that Martin Simpson played one in the 80s. There's a photo of it on my Twitter page. I can't find any other info at all.
Any ideas?
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leoroberts
C.O.G.
Posts: 24,551
My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
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Post by leoroberts on Aug 24, 2022 18:33:28 GMT
I acquired a Jon Weir guitar last week, in sad circumstances. There's a photo of it on my Twitter page. I can't find any other info at all. Any ideas? Not knowing your Twitter handle makes it difficult to take a peek 😀 Very sorry to hear about your friend.
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Post by otis1960 on Aug 24, 2022 20:57:17 GMT
Sorry to hear of your friend, Mike. You obviously had a close friendship, and nice of him to pass on his favourite guitar. I cannot offer any information, but you could email Martin Simpson via Simpsonian Music, the email address is on his website. He is a jolly nice bloke, and would, I am sure, help you out.
Best wishes
Andrew
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garynava
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 454
My main instrument is: Stanley No.5
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Post by garynava on Aug 25, 2022 8:27:58 GMT
Jon and I were in the same year together at the London College of Furniture studying Modern Fretted Instruments. This was the late 1970's so the guitar was probably made during our third there. Cheers Gary
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Post by Mike Fowler on Aug 27, 2022 9:52:48 GMT
Thanks everyone. The guitar photo is on Twitter @fowlerguitar.
Martin Simpson got in touch.
Gary, did Jon continue to make guitars for many years? Thanks for posting.
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garynava
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 454
My main instrument is: Stanley No.5
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Post by garynava on Aug 28, 2022 15:59:05 GMT
Thanks everyone. The guitar photo is on Twitter @fowlerguitar. Martin Simpson got in touch. Gary, did Jon continue to make guitars for many years? Thanks for posting. Hi Mike, I imagine that if Jon had continued making for long, after he left the LCF, there would be more on-line references (I have tried other the years). It was tough to get established back then: if he didn’t go on to make guitars, it wouldn’t have been a reflection on the quality of his work. What did Mr Simpson say? Cheers Gary
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Post by Mike Fowler on Aug 29, 2022 13:04:10 GMT
Martin simply stated on Twitter that he'd had two Jon Weir guitars, and that I could message him privately, which I did, but he has yet to get back to me. Maybe he has nothing more to add.
Thanks again.
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gerva
Sore Fingers
Posts: 1
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Post by gerva on Sept 1, 2023 13:16:29 GMT
Hi MIke, saw your inquiry about Jon Weir only a couple of days ago. First I'd like you to know that I'm sorry for the sad circumstances, even if it's a year ago now. I myself inherited quite a number of instruments from my guitar teacher so I know that playing the instrument is a good way to remember people you were close to. I am German and have played classical and finger picking guitar for more than 50 years now (I'm 67.) I spent about half a year at London university in 1979 during my teacher training. My plan was to buy a guitar in London and I spent more time in guitar shops in London and all of southern England rather than at university. Since my financial means were limited the Martins and Guilds and all the other brands of repuation were out of range. I had almost given up when I read an ad of a shop called The London Guitar Gallery in Guitar Magazine.
I went there and found out that the shop was run by a community of six or seven young guitar makers and luthiers from all over UK, one of them being Jon Weir. They took it in turns to be in the shop for a week or so, selling both their own guitars and those of the colleagues. I found the guitar I had been looking for, a Jon Weir instrument which is similar to the one you desribe in your post. The sticker just says Jon Weir London 1978. It's a beautiful instrument with spruce top and even the sides and the bottom are of a light wood. I played it and was enthusiastic of its tone and the powerful sound. On that day a person called Richard Manning was at the shop. I bought it and took it home to Germany. The continental climate didn't do any good to it so that the block binding the neck to the body came up just a tiny bit. That made very unpleasant sounds while playing. So I took it back to the shop in 1980 when I even had the chance to meet Jon himself. He happened to be in the shop on the day I came back. He might have been in his early thirties at the time. He told me that the guitar I had just bought was the instrument he had presented for his final exam at London College of Furniture. It is a copy of a pre-war Martin guitar, 12 fretted, small body and a head showing the characteristic Martin shape - pure and simple. The pegs are Schaller, the high end product back then. Jon was a very friendly and helpful character and made the repair immediately. A good chance for me to see a guitar maker at work. He still seemed to regret that he had sold the guitar. I suppose he needed the money... Who doesn't. I have tried to find out what has become of him via internet but I found no results - which is quite unfortunate. The guitar is still mine and I play it regularly. It's been wonderful since the beginning.
I still have Jon's card and the invoice of the purchase. I send you copies and some photos of the instrument. I hope you find my post interesting and would be glad to hear from you. Kindest regards Gerhard Vater Ansbach (Germany)
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Post by borborygmus on Sept 1, 2023 14:29:10 GMT
This is what the internet is for!
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garynava
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 454
My main instrument is: Stanley No.5
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Post by garynava on Oct 9, 2023 15:30:24 GMT
........... Since my financial means were limited the Martins and Guilds and all the other brands of repuation were out of range. I had almost given up when I read an ad of a shop called The London Guitar Gallery in Guitar Magazine.
I went there and found out that the shop was run by a community of six or seven young guitar makers and luthiers from all over UK, one of them being Jon Weir. They took it in turns to be in the shop for a week or so, selling both their own guitars and those of the colleagues. I found the guitar I had been looking for, a Jon Weir instrument which is similar to the one you desribe in your post. The sticker just says Jon Weir London 1978. It's a beautiful instrument with spruce top and even the sides and the bottom are of a light wood. I played it and was enthusiastic of its tone and the powerful sound. On that day a person called Richard Manning was at the shop. I bought it and took it home to Germany. The continental climate didn't do any good to it so that the block binding the neck to the body came up just a tiny bit. That made very unpleasant sounds while playing. So I took it back to the shop in 1980 when I even had the chance to meet Jon himself. He happened to be in the shop on the day I came back. He might have been in his early thirties at the time. He told me that the guitar I had just bought was the instrument he had presented for his final exam at London College of Furniture. It is a copy of a pre-war Martin guitar, 12 fretted, small body and a head showing the characteristic Martin shape - pure and simple. The pegs are Schaller, the high end product back then. Jon was a very friendly and helpful character and made the repair immediately. A good chance for me to see a guitar maker at work. He still seemed to regret that he had sold the guitar. I suppose he needed the money... Who doesn't. I have tried to find out what has become of him via internet but I found no results - which is quite unfortunate. The guitar is still mine and I play it regularly. It's been wonderful since the beginning.
I still have Jon's card and the invoice of the purchase. I send you copies and some photos of the instrument. I hope you find my post interesting and would be glad to hear from you. Kindest regards Gerhard Vater Ansbach (Germany)
Hi Guys, Just wanted to say a few things about the London Guitar Gallery as I was closely involved with it. Richard Manning set-up the Gallery in the late 1970s, it was very much his business and not a community of luthiers. The idea was to give individual luthiers a place to display their work and offer it for sale, the Gallery then took a very reasonable commission. I lived quite close to it and visited often. This would have been during my 2nd year at the London College of Furniture. I would take my recently completed work over for Richard to have a look at. He was an originally a furniture designer, had a good eye and gave me much valuable feedback. Richard started making guitars himself and wanted to expand the Gallery to sell wood to luthiers and build his own Gallery guitars brand. I guess around about early 1979, when I was a 3rd year student at LCF, he asked me if I would like to work with him at the end of my course. So during my last term at LCF, I spent less time at college and more time at the Gallery setting things up. There was only ever Richard and me working there full-time making guitars. We did have a furniture restorer, Rex from New Zealand, working with us for a while, the idea being he would teach Richard French polishing, and Richard teach Rex guitar making. There were no other guitar makers involved in the Gallery itself. In the year or so I worked there I learned so much and will always be grateful to Richard for the opportunity. I made 14 guitars under that label as well as doing many repairs. Towards mid 1980 things slowed down: punk rock, Casio keyboards? I had to leave to get a job and I don’t believe the Gallery lasted much longer. The Gallery was a great concept and it would be wonderful if such a place still existed to give home-grown luthier an opportunity to display their work (maybe there is and I just don’t know!) Cheers Gary
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