Post by Martin on Mar 1, 2013 8:58:15 GMT
INTERVIEW WITH GUITAR MAKER, COLIN SYMONDS
by Dave White
Based in Kent, England, Colin Symonds is 62 and an academic geophysicist specialising in plate boundary analysis. He grew up in London in the 60s at the height of the English folk revival where his love of the guitar, both folk and blues was established. He later went on to play both classical guitar and lute to recital standard and became a specialist in the 19th century Spanish composers and the music of John Dowland. But his first love still remains the music of the North East of England and the tradition of the Western Isles. A guitar maker now for about 15 years, he has a foot in both the tradition of instrument making and in the development of the modern steel string guitar.
Although not widely known (he doesn’t have a website) Colin is a “national treasure” to those that make guitars and discerning steel string and classical players seek him out to make them instruments. He is generous in sharing his time and knowledge and has helped both me and a number of other rookie makers over the years – I use an adaptation of his neck joint system and he mentored me through building my first lute. He was a fluent player of both steel string and classical guitar and lute until fate dealt him a cruel blow a few years ago, when a freak accident resulted in him losing the top joint on three fingers of his left hand. For most people this would be a devastating blow but Colin is a “glass half full” person and has concentrated on the building side of his skills since then. As a swap I made him an acoustic lap slide guitar - as his right hand technique is fabulous and he has adapted his left hand to play the bar slide – and he made me a Torres based classical guitar:
Colin kindly allowed me to interview him and share knowledge of stringed instruments.
Dave: What drew you into the world of acoustic stringed instruments and what enticed you into wanting to make them?
Colin: I got my first cheap acoustic guitar aged 10 at the end of the skiffle era, together with a copy of Bert Weedon’s “Play in a Day”, but just learned the basics. It was in the mid 60s that as a teenager I went to the local folk clubs in London and saw people like Martin Carthy, Bert Jansch and Davy Graham, and determined to learn to play ‘like them’. I learned a lot from Bert Jansch, and eventually graduated as a player with the right of passage that is Anji, which I played more Bert Jansch style than Davy’s original. At that time I played a couple of Martins, a OO-18 and a OOO-28. Then, I played a friend's George Lowden and had to have one, but when I found out the cost of the one I wanted I decided that I would have a go at making my own, if that failed I would have to bite the bullet and pay for the Lowden. Well the resulting guitar, an English Walnut and European Spruce OM wasn’t quite as good as the Lowden, but much, much better than the Martins, so I thought I’d try again, well more than 15 years and 60 guitars later I’m still trying, though not to make a Lowden, just a better Colin Symonds.
Dave: How did you approach making that first guitar - did you have previous woodworking experience and know how to make an acoustic guitar?
Colin: Before the first guitar I didn’t have any vast amount of woodworking experience, just the usual DIY carpentry, but I have spent my life as an experimental scientist, so adopted the same approach to making a guitar as I did to solving a problem in the Lab. If you look at the stack of raw wood that you want to turn into a guitar it looks to be an impossibly daunting prospect and you’d never start. So I took my usual approach to any problem and broke it down into its smallest constituent pieces. Each saw cut, each gluing operation is simple in itself, so all you have to do is to incrementally build up each of these simple steps and eventually you have a finished guitar. The one step that seemed really difficult to me was the dovetail joint for the neck, so I decided to work round that and devised my own bolt on system, which is the same one I still use on my steel string guitars now. As I was making the guitar, I didn’t have to follow someone else's design slavishly, thus the neck system I devised. This of course is the advantage of ‘custom’ making a guitar.
Colin’s neck joint system:
Dave: So what were the next steps on your luthiery journey after that first instrument?
Colin: I don’t think it was possible that I’d only make one guitar, I wanted to see the difference in voice I could get by varying the woods and design. So I put together my other two main steel string types a OOO size 12 fret and a OO sized 13 fret to the body, and then set about refining my bracing style and top voicing. I also made my first lute, an instrument that was to become more important to me as the years went past.
Symonds 14 fret OM in European spruce/ English walnut:
Symonds 12 fret OOO in Lutz spruce and Black Limba:
Symonds 13 fret OO in Western Red Cedar and Curly Mahogany:
Dave: Ah lutes, we'll come back to that in a moment. You mentioned that your first guitar was not a "Lowden" but a "Colin Symonds" and that you developed your voicing. How would you describe the essence of a Colin Symonds steel string guitar, and how did your bracing and voicing evolve to get there?
Colin: Well that’s a big question! I hate boomy, muddy sounding guitars. As I was solely a fingerstyle player, and I only make guitars for fingerstyle players, a critical factor for me in the voice of a guitar is clean separation, backed by an even, solid projection over the whole fingerboard. It’s also important for the voice to be consistent over a wide range of dynamics.
My bracing is a variation of the standard X-brace, but all of my braces are put together as a unit with them inlet at all intersections, so the tone braces and finger braces are all inlet into the X. Only the upper legs of the X and the upper transverse brace (UTB) are inlet into the linings. My bracing tends to the light side, with a slightly thicker top to balance it. I don’t scallop any braces but use a variety of what is sometimes erroneously call ‘parabolic’ bracing.
The vibrating string on a guitar is attached not only to the bridge but also the neck, so I like to bring as much of the information in from the neck as well, so I use A braces inlet into both the X brace and the neck block and passing through open apertures in the UTB, much like the use of open harmonic bars in my classical guitars. I’ve noticed a big difference in tonal complexity since I started doing this. While on the subject a lot of builders ignore the importance of the neck block, It’s always the first thing I make for a guitar, every major component is attached to it, top, sides, back and neck. So I use a ‘C’ block with a top extension and Spanish “foot”.
Though an academic scientist, I don’t follow the left brain luthiery brigade, with what is often their misplaced physics, but voice my tops using some of the most sensitive instruments in the world, my ears, I aim for a ‘musical’ tap when shaping my braces, not a specific note. I like to give my tops a solid foundation so always use solid laminated linings for very stiff sides.
Top and back bracing:
Dave: Your steel string guitars also have a look and aesthetic that is very much your own. Did this happen with your very first guitar or has it evolved over time?
Colin: I like to think that my guitars are unmistakably restrained British in aesthetic, with a design detail that carries over from instrument to instrument. My style involves ensuring that the details of purfling, binding, rosette, headplates come from the same colour palette as the main woods. My top purfling and rosette are almost my trademark, and can be instantly recognised by anyone that has seen a few of my steel strings. I don’t like harsh contrasts and so I never use black/white/black or similar purfling but always ebony/pear/ebony as this is a less jarring combination. I also always use a wide wood purfling cut from the back and side wood, this is then matched in the rosette. Each colour should blend with every other seamlessly. When I look back at my first guitar it had all of the aesthetic details that I still use today. Some things evolve, but this style seems to have sprung forth fully formed.
Rosette and purfling detail:
Neck details:
Dave: What would you say are the main differences between the three steel string models you make and how would you help a fingerstyle guitarist chose which was best for them?
Colin: The three main steel string models I make are an OM with 14 frets to the body, a 12 fret to the body OOO and an OO with 13 frets to the body. The OM and the OOO both have 15” lower bouts but the OM has a higher waist and thus a larger lower bout volume. The OO is a 14” lower bout and is based on the plantilla of the Torres FE19, as are my classicals (the OOO is the same but with 1/2” added all round). The bracing of course changes between models with the OO only having one finger brace each side and one tone bar with a subsidiary brace at a right angle to it. The OO and OOO are usually slot-heads and the OM solid, but individual guitars may vary according to the players wish, they are after all custom made for each player.
When I advise a player which guitar combination would suit them best, it’s usually down to their style of play. I find that most of the more contemporary players particularly those that play in altered tunings will be better off with the 14 fret OM. That was the reason I designed it in the first place as my altered tuning guitar, I played a lot in DADGad and drop D, so the longer scale (645mm) was a benefit as was the ability to capo up comfortably. The OO is best suited to the blues player with a crisp punch and clean attack, it’s also a long scale. The OOO with its shorter scale 632mm scale length is the guitar for the general folk fingerstyle player (think Martin Carthy type). It will handle just about anything you can throw at it, is a slightly richer sounding guitar and for the general player probably my guitar of choice. I do still have my own personal guitars so I lend them to players to try before they make a final decision.
Dave: What wood combinations do you enjoy working with and from a personal perspective think work best for fingerstyle steel string guitars?
Colin: As I said earlier I’m no fan of boomy guitars. The bulk of my steel string guitars use woods from the Walnut/Mahogany end of the tonal spectrum. I build very few steel strings with rosewoods, though I have done so. If I could build with just one B&S wood it would be Cuban Mahogany. My tops are mainly European spruce, always on the OM, but I also like Western Red Cedar (WRC) on the OO body and I’ve made a number of LS redwood topped OOO guitars which are considered among my best instruments. I use a lot of Caucasian spruce on my classicals. Some of my favourite little blues guitars have been all mahogany, nothing quite compares to the growl of an all mahogany box. Other combinations that I have liked were London Plane/WRC and Black Limba/Lutz spruce. I’ve just finished a Cambodian Beng/ White Spruce OM which has turned out superbly.
Dave: I only met up with you after your accident so have never had the pleasure of hearing you play for me but from your recordings you were a very fluent and accomplished fingerstyle guitarist. Do you think it is an advantage to a guitar maker to be a reasonable player of the instrument?
Colin: I played for something like 40 years, steel string, classical and lute, so picked up something of what it takes for a guitar to work for the player. I think that it is probably important for the builder to be a reasonable player, certainly beyond the cowboy chord level. I believe it would be difficult for a complete non-player to be able to discuss the finer details of an instrument with a prospective customer, especially the playability. As I was a player first only later becoming a builder, I have no empirical evidence for this view though.
Dave: Here’s Colin playing his own composition in DADGAD, “Talisker” which is also his favourite whisky.
Dave: I've also heard recordings of your lute and classical guitar playing - instruments that you also make. How did that adventure begin?
Colin: I started to learn classical guitar fairly early in my playing, after hearing Julian Bream, but only started serious study about 25 years ago, in later years through master classes at the Royal College of Music (RCM). I did learn the usual Bach pieces but I was never really happy with them on guitar, so specialised in the Spanish works of Urcullu, Sol, Llobet and my great love Tarrega. Before I made my own classical, or rather Spanish, guitar I played one of Kevin Aram’s masterpieces. I now build as many classicals as I do steel strings, all based on the Torres model FE19, I make models both with and without a tornavoz. My own main guitar ‘La Lena’ was a tornavoz guitar using the original Torres bracing. I believe I’m one of the only people making original pattern Torres tornavoz guitars and have sent a number to players in Spain, where I believe one of mine changed hands recently for double what I charge for them!
I bought a German made lute about 20 years ago as I wanted to play the music of John Dowland. Eventually of course I had to make one and luckily had access to museum originals to use as models. As you know building a lute is a whole new skill set, but very enjoyable. I’ve built a number of 8 and 10 course lutes since and have been lucky enough to restore some museum originals. I played in a lute consort at the RCM and was asked to record the complete Dowland, which I completed shortly before an accident cut short my playing.
Here’s Colin’s copy of an 8-course Heiber lute:
Dave: Here’s Colin playing Tarrega’s “Caprichio Arabe” on his 'La Lena' tornavoz classical guitar and Dowland’s “Lady Hunsdon’s Puffe” on his 8 course Heiber lute copy.
Dave: You also make classical guitars. What in your opinion are the main differences in mindset and methods between making steel string and classical guitars?
Colin: The main difference I find in my approach to making classicals and steel strings is the one of differing tradition. Not just in my admiration for the guitars of Antonio de Torres, whose FE19 is the model for most of my classical guitars, as against my never having made a steel string from anyone else’s plans, but the end user of the classical guitar tends to the more traditional in approach as well. For instance I have made my traditional Torres guitars for a number of players to replace their well known modern design Australian guitars, as they desired a return to a more traditional feel and voice. The players I make my classicals for tend to be full time players, so they will have spent many years of playing and practice and have to feel very comfortable with the guitar, a radical change in feel from the instrument they have learned on is difficult for them. What I try and do is to make a guitar that is an improvement from what they are used to rather than a radical change to their concept of what a guitar should be.
The main concern with a classical guitar is the fact that you are dealing with a very low energy system, but still have to engineer the volume, projection etc. to concert hall levels, while still allowing clarity and tone across the whole dynamic range that is expected from the guitar. I don’t go the very light weight route with my steel strings, they are no heavyweights by any means, but shaving off every last gram is not a priority. I do tend to make my classicals very light, the thickness of the tops will vary of course according to the individual piece of wood and are usually in the 2-2.4mm varying as to whether I’m using a tornavoz or not, but I am very selective in the tops I use for my classicals, only using the very best Euro-spruce or Caucasian spruce, both of which were used in 19th century Spain.
With a steel string, of course there is much greater variability, in both playing style and the type of voice for each player. So each one is made specifically for the individual player, mind you I still tend to be a bit dictatorial and tell them what they need and will tell them what would be the best combination and design for them. If I radically disagree with what the player wants, then I’m afraid they won’t get it, when a player is performing with one of your guitars, it is not just their reputation at stake, but the builder’s as well, so I believe in only making guitars that are right for the player, not just the one that the player wants.
Caucasian Spruce and Cypress FE19 made for Dave:
Dave: I've never met Jose Romanillos but have always been impressed by his passion and deep knowledge of guitar making and of Torres after watching various videos featuring him on Youtube. I know that you studied with Jose in Siguenza in Spain - how much has he influenced your building style?
Colin: Jose Romanillos is to me the seminal classical guitar builder of the 20th century, his art is rooted in the tradition of Spain, and particularly of Torres. Any guitar maker who does not have Jose’s book on Torres is missing a great deal. I have three copies, one at work, one in my sitting room and one in my shop. Some years ago I had the chance to attend his course at Siguenza, where you can get hands on in building a guitar under his and his son’s guidance. It’s worth the trip just to get Jose’s take on wood selection. The best part of the course is being surrounded by a group of guitar builders who each bring their own skills to the course and contribute to the knowledge base. It should be remembered that the builders who attend this course are all good guitar makers in their own right and could probably run courses themselves, builders like Gerhard Oldiges, David la Plante and Joshua French. The evenings would be used to discuss the guitar and to listen and play on some of the great master guitars of the 19th and 20th century. For any guitar nut it was like dying and going to heaven.
I have taken a lot of the philosophy of the guitar from Jose, but build in my own system to meet the same ends. As in my steel string guitars, I use solid laminated linings throughout so building in the face down solera method is not really possible. The biggest influence on my classical building was probably from Joshua French, the US builder who also made Torres guitars (FE13 to my FE19) we corresponded and shared information for some years, much as I do with you on steel strings.
Dave: You have restored a number of old stringed instruments for a number of museums. What insights did this give you into the old makers and perhaps you could share with us a "flavour" of one of your favourite restorations together with a few pictures?
Colin: I enjoy the unbroken link back to the instrument makers of previous centuries. I believe that as we develop and try to improve the guitars we make today we are doing exactly the same as the Panormos or Torres or Hiebers of past times, trying to make a better instrument. I particularly like working on old lutes, they present unique challenges, especially in rose repair, I restored a German lute for a private collector, which I managed to bring back to playing condition for the first time in nearly 200 years, a truly satisfying project.
One thing that we should understand is that most of the instruments made in past centuries were complete rubbish, we imagine a time of skilled artisans making great works of art, but the truth is much like today, a lot of very basic cheap almost disposable instruments with a small select group of makers putting together great instruments, much the same as today with the factory built and custom luthier made guitars. We have a biased view as only the finest instruments were cared for and survived for us to see today. What my restoration work has taught me is that today’s best makers are probably the finest instrument makers that have ever existed (Torres excepted!).
Brunner lute before restoration:
Brunner lute top bracing:
Brunner lute after restoration:
Dave: You are a bit of a polymath having made a violin as well for your wife. What other stringed instrument challenges do you have on the horizon?
Colin: As you know Dave, ever since my accident stopped me playing guitar and lute I have threatened to make myself a Hurdy Gurdy, but as it is reputed to be the hardest instrument to get set up to play, I have found many other projects to avoid having to start it, but, I will have to get on with it some time soon. Having successfully made a violin, I have been asked if I could make a half-size cello, which sounds fun, so that’ll be happening soon. Also on the horizon are some folk harps, I’ve always wanted to make one, it’s just finding the time.
My ultimate aim though is to make a perfect copy of the Torres FE08, probably the finest guitar ever made, it is technically very challenging, and not cheap, with solid silver frets, nut and tuners! I’ve also now make a CS336 style electric guitar for a number of my players, these seem to be in demand and are a bit of a departure for me, but a different set of enjoyable challenges.
Dave: Colin, thank you for your time and as always it has been interesting to talk stringed instruments with you.
Copyright Colin Symonds March 2013
by Dave White
Based in Kent, England, Colin Symonds is 62 and an academic geophysicist specialising in plate boundary analysis. He grew up in London in the 60s at the height of the English folk revival where his love of the guitar, both folk and blues was established. He later went on to play both classical guitar and lute to recital standard and became a specialist in the 19th century Spanish composers and the music of John Dowland. But his first love still remains the music of the North East of England and the tradition of the Western Isles. A guitar maker now for about 15 years, he has a foot in both the tradition of instrument making and in the development of the modern steel string guitar.
Although not widely known (he doesn’t have a website) Colin is a “national treasure” to those that make guitars and discerning steel string and classical players seek him out to make them instruments. He is generous in sharing his time and knowledge and has helped both me and a number of other rookie makers over the years – I use an adaptation of his neck joint system and he mentored me through building my first lute. He was a fluent player of both steel string and classical guitar and lute until fate dealt him a cruel blow a few years ago, when a freak accident resulted in him losing the top joint on three fingers of his left hand. For most people this would be a devastating blow but Colin is a “glass half full” person and has concentrated on the building side of his skills since then. As a swap I made him an acoustic lap slide guitar - as his right hand technique is fabulous and he has adapted his left hand to play the bar slide – and he made me a Torres based classical guitar:
Colin kindly allowed me to interview him and share knowledge of stringed instruments.
Dave: What drew you into the world of acoustic stringed instruments and what enticed you into wanting to make them?
Colin: I got my first cheap acoustic guitar aged 10 at the end of the skiffle era, together with a copy of Bert Weedon’s “Play in a Day”, but just learned the basics. It was in the mid 60s that as a teenager I went to the local folk clubs in London and saw people like Martin Carthy, Bert Jansch and Davy Graham, and determined to learn to play ‘like them’. I learned a lot from Bert Jansch, and eventually graduated as a player with the right of passage that is Anji, which I played more Bert Jansch style than Davy’s original. At that time I played a couple of Martins, a OO-18 and a OOO-28. Then, I played a friend's George Lowden and had to have one, but when I found out the cost of the one I wanted I decided that I would have a go at making my own, if that failed I would have to bite the bullet and pay for the Lowden. Well the resulting guitar, an English Walnut and European Spruce OM wasn’t quite as good as the Lowden, but much, much better than the Martins, so I thought I’d try again, well more than 15 years and 60 guitars later I’m still trying, though not to make a Lowden, just a better Colin Symonds.
Dave: How did you approach making that first guitar - did you have previous woodworking experience and know how to make an acoustic guitar?
Colin: Before the first guitar I didn’t have any vast amount of woodworking experience, just the usual DIY carpentry, but I have spent my life as an experimental scientist, so adopted the same approach to making a guitar as I did to solving a problem in the Lab. If you look at the stack of raw wood that you want to turn into a guitar it looks to be an impossibly daunting prospect and you’d never start. So I took my usual approach to any problem and broke it down into its smallest constituent pieces. Each saw cut, each gluing operation is simple in itself, so all you have to do is to incrementally build up each of these simple steps and eventually you have a finished guitar. The one step that seemed really difficult to me was the dovetail joint for the neck, so I decided to work round that and devised my own bolt on system, which is the same one I still use on my steel string guitars now. As I was making the guitar, I didn’t have to follow someone else's design slavishly, thus the neck system I devised. This of course is the advantage of ‘custom’ making a guitar.
Colin’s neck joint system:
Dave: So what were the next steps on your luthiery journey after that first instrument?
Colin: I don’t think it was possible that I’d only make one guitar, I wanted to see the difference in voice I could get by varying the woods and design. So I put together my other two main steel string types a OOO size 12 fret and a OO sized 13 fret to the body, and then set about refining my bracing style and top voicing. I also made my first lute, an instrument that was to become more important to me as the years went past.
Symonds 14 fret OM in European spruce/ English walnut:
Symonds 12 fret OOO in Lutz spruce and Black Limba:
Symonds 13 fret OO in Western Red Cedar and Curly Mahogany:
Dave: Ah lutes, we'll come back to that in a moment. You mentioned that your first guitar was not a "Lowden" but a "Colin Symonds" and that you developed your voicing. How would you describe the essence of a Colin Symonds steel string guitar, and how did your bracing and voicing evolve to get there?
Colin: Well that’s a big question! I hate boomy, muddy sounding guitars. As I was solely a fingerstyle player, and I only make guitars for fingerstyle players, a critical factor for me in the voice of a guitar is clean separation, backed by an even, solid projection over the whole fingerboard. It’s also important for the voice to be consistent over a wide range of dynamics.
My bracing is a variation of the standard X-brace, but all of my braces are put together as a unit with them inlet at all intersections, so the tone braces and finger braces are all inlet into the X. Only the upper legs of the X and the upper transverse brace (UTB) are inlet into the linings. My bracing tends to the light side, with a slightly thicker top to balance it. I don’t scallop any braces but use a variety of what is sometimes erroneously call ‘parabolic’ bracing.
The vibrating string on a guitar is attached not only to the bridge but also the neck, so I like to bring as much of the information in from the neck as well, so I use A braces inlet into both the X brace and the neck block and passing through open apertures in the UTB, much like the use of open harmonic bars in my classical guitars. I’ve noticed a big difference in tonal complexity since I started doing this. While on the subject a lot of builders ignore the importance of the neck block, It’s always the first thing I make for a guitar, every major component is attached to it, top, sides, back and neck. So I use a ‘C’ block with a top extension and Spanish “foot”.
Though an academic scientist, I don’t follow the left brain luthiery brigade, with what is often their misplaced physics, but voice my tops using some of the most sensitive instruments in the world, my ears, I aim for a ‘musical’ tap when shaping my braces, not a specific note. I like to give my tops a solid foundation so always use solid laminated linings for very stiff sides.
Top and back bracing:
Dave: Your steel string guitars also have a look and aesthetic that is very much your own. Did this happen with your very first guitar or has it evolved over time?
Colin: I like to think that my guitars are unmistakably restrained British in aesthetic, with a design detail that carries over from instrument to instrument. My style involves ensuring that the details of purfling, binding, rosette, headplates come from the same colour palette as the main woods. My top purfling and rosette are almost my trademark, and can be instantly recognised by anyone that has seen a few of my steel strings. I don’t like harsh contrasts and so I never use black/white/black or similar purfling but always ebony/pear/ebony as this is a less jarring combination. I also always use a wide wood purfling cut from the back and side wood, this is then matched in the rosette. Each colour should blend with every other seamlessly. When I look back at my first guitar it had all of the aesthetic details that I still use today. Some things evolve, but this style seems to have sprung forth fully formed.
Rosette and purfling detail:
Neck details:
Dave: What would you say are the main differences between the three steel string models you make and how would you help a fingerstyle guitarist chose which was best for them?
Colin: The three main steel string models I make are an OM with 14 frets to the body, a 12 fret to the body OOO and an OO with 13 frets to the body. The OM and the OOO both have 15” lower bouts but the OM has a higher waist and thus a larger lower bout volume. The OO is a 14” lower bout and is based on the plantilla of the Torres FE19, as are my classicals (the OOO is the same but with 1/2” added all round). The bracing of course changes between models with the OO only having one finger brace each side and one tone bar with a subsidiary brace at a right angle to it. The OO and OOO are usually slot-heads and the OM solid, but individual guitars may vary according to the players wish, they are after all custom made for each player.
When I advise a player which guitar combination would suit them best, it’s usually down to their style of play. I find that most of the more contemporary players particularly those that play in altered tunings will be better off with the 14 fret OM. That was the reason I designed it in the first place as my altered tuning guitar, I played a lot in DADGad and drop D, so the longer scale (645mm) was a benefit as was the ability to capo up comfortably. The OO is best suited to the blues player with a crisp punch and clean attack, it’s also a long scale. The OOO with its shorter scale 632mm scale length is the guitar for the general folk fingerstyle player (think Martin Carthy type). It will handle just about anything you can throw at it, is a slightly richer sounding guitar and for the general player probably my guitar of choice. I do still have my own personal guitars so I lend them to players to try before they make a final decision.
Dave: What wood combinations do you enjoy working with and from a personal perspective think work best for fingerstyle steel string guitars?
Colin: As I said earlier I’m no fan of boomy guitars. The bulk of my steel string guitars use woods from the Walnut/Mahogany end of the tonal spectrum. I build very few steel strings with rosewoods, though I have done so. If I could build with just one B&S wood it would be Cuban Mahogany. My tops are mainly European spruce, always on the OM, but I also like Western Red Cedar (WRC) on the OO body and I’ve made a number of LS redwood topped OOO guitars which are considered among my best instruments. I use a lot of Caucasian spruce on my classicals. Some of my favourite little blues guitars have been all mahogany, nothing quite compares to the growl of an all mahogany box. Other combinations that I have liked were London Plane/WRC and Black Limba/Lutz spruce. I’ve just finished a Cambodian Beng/ White Spruce OM which has turned out superbly.
Dave: I only met up with you after your accident so have never had the pleasure of hearing you play for me but from your recordings you were a very fluent and accomplished fingerstyle guitarist. Do you think it is an advantage to a guitar maker to be a reasonable player of the instrument?
Colin: I played for something like 40 years, steel string, classical and lute, so picked up something of what it takes for a guitar to work for the player. I think that it is probably important for the builder to be a reasonable player, certainly beyond the cowboy chord level. I believe it would be difficult for a complete non-player to be able to discuss the finer details of an instrument with a prospective customer, especially the playability. As I was a player first only later becoming a builder, I have no empirical evidence for this view though.
Dave: Here’s Colin playing his own composition in DADGAD, “Talisker” which is also his favourite whisky.
Dave: I've also heard recordings of your lute and classical guitar playing - instruments that you also make. How did that adventure begin?
Colin: I started to learn classical guitar fairly early in my playing, after hearing Julian Bream, but only started serious study about 25 years ago, in later years through master classes at the Royal College of Music (RCM). I did learn the usual Bach pieces but I was never really happy with them on guitar, so specialised in the Spanish works of Urcullu, Sol, Llobet and my great love Tarrega. Before I made my own classical, or rather Spanish, guitar I played one of Kevin Aram’s masterpieces. I now build as many classicals as I do steel strings, all based on the Torres model FE19, I make models both with and without a tornavoz. My own main guitar ‘La Lena’ was a tornavoz guitar using the original Torres bracing. I believe I’m one of the only people making original pattern Torres tornavoz guitars and have sent a number to players in Spain, where I believe one of mine changed hands recently for double what I charge for them!
I bought a German made lute about 20 years ago as I wanted to play the music of John Dowland. Eventually of course I had to make one and luckily had access to museum originals to use as models. As you know building a lute is a whole new skill set, but very enjoyable. I’ve built a number of 8 and 10 course lutes since and have been lucky enough to restore some museum originals. I played in a lute consort at the RCM and was asked to record the complete Dowland, which I completed shortly before an accident cut short my playing.
Here’s Colin’s copy of an 8-course Heiber lute:
Dave: Here’s Colin playing Tarrega’s “Caprichio Arabe” on his 'La Lena' tornavoz classical guitar and Dowland’s “Lady Hunsdon’s Puffe” on his 8 course Heiber lute copy.
Dave: You also make classical guitars. What in your opinion are the main differences in mindset and methods between making steel string and classical guitars?
Colin: The main difference I find in my approach to making classicals and steel strings is the one of differing tradition. Not just in my admiration for the guitars of Antonio de Torres, whose FE19 is the model for most of my classical guitars, as against my never having made a steel string from anyone else’s plans, but the end user of the classical guitar tends to the more traditional in approach as well. For instance I have made my traditional Torres guitars for a number of players to replace their well known modern design Australian guitars, as they desired a return to a more traditional feel and voice. The players I make my classicals for tend to be full time players, so they will have spent many years of playing and practice and have to feel very comfortable with the guitar, a radical change in feel from the instrument they have learned on is difficult for them. What I try and do is to make a guitar that is an improvement from what they are used to rather than a radical change to their concept of what a guitar should be.
The main concern with a classical guitar is the fact that you are dealing with a very low energy system, but still have to engineer the volume, projection etc. to concert hall levels, while still allowing clarity and tone across the whole dynamic range that is expected from the guitar. I don’t go the very light weight route with my steel strings, they are no heavyweights by any means, but shaving off every last gram is not a priority. I do tend to make my classicals very light, the thickness of the tops will vary of course according to the individual piece of wood and are usually in the 2-2.4mm varying as to whether I’m using a tornavoz or not, but I am very selective in the tops I use for my classicals, only using the very best Euro-spruce or Caucasian spruce, both of which were used in 19th century Spain.
With a steel string, of course there is much greater variability, in both playing style and the type of voice for each player. So each one is made specifically for the individual player, mind you I still tend to be a bit dictatorial and tell them what they need and will tell them what would be the best combination and design for them. If I radically disagree with what the player wants, then I’m afraid they won’t get it, when a player is performing with one of your guitars, it is not just their reputation at stake, but the builder’s as well, so I believe in only making guitars that are right for the player, not just the one that the player wants.
Caucasian Spruce and Cypress FE19 made for Dave:
Dave: I've never met Jose Romanillos but have always been impressed by his passion and deep knowledge of guitar making and of Torres after watching various videos featuring him on Youtube. I know that you studied with Jose in Siguenza in Spain - how much has he influenced your building style?
Colin: Jose Romanillos is to me the seminal classical guitar builder of the 20th century, his art is rooted in the tradition of Spain, and particularly of Torres. Any guitar maker who does not have Jose’s book on Torres is missing a great deal. I have three copies, one at work, one in my sitting room and one in my shop. Some years ago I had the chance to attend his course at Siguenza, where you can get hands on in building a guitar under his and his son’s guidance. It’s worth the trip just to get Jose’s take on wood selection. The best part of the course is being surrounded by a group of guitar builders who each bring their own skills to the course and contribute to the knowledge base. It should be remembered that the builders who attend this course are all good guitar makers in their own right and could probably run courses themselves, builders like Gerhard Oldiges, David la Plante and Joshua French. The evenings would be used to discuss the guitar and to listen and play on some of the great master guitars of the 19th and 20th century. For any guitar nut it was like dying and going to heaven.
I have taken a lot of the philosophy of the guitar from Jose, but build in my own system to meet the same ends. As in my steel string guitars, I use solid laminated linings throughout so building in the face down solera method is not really possible. The biggest influence on my classical building was probably from Joshua French, the US builder who also made Torres guitars (FE13 to my FE19) we corresponded and shared information for some years, much as I do with you on steel strings.
Dave: You have restored a number of old stringed instruments for a number of museums. What insights did this give you into the old makers and perhaps you could share with us a "flavour" of one of your favourite restorations together with a few pictures?
Colin: I enjoy the unbroken link back to the instrument makers of previous centuries. I believe that as we develop and try to improve the guitars we make today we are doing exactly the same as the Panormos or Torres or Hiebers of past times, trying to make a better instrument. I particularly like working on old lutes, they present unique challenges, especially in rose repair, I restored a German lute for a private collector, which I managed to bring back to playing condition for the first time in nearly 200 years, a truly satisfying project.
One thing that we should understand is that most of the instruments made in past centuries were complete rubbish, we imagine a time of skilled artisans making great works of art, but the truth is much like today, a lot of very basic cheap almost disposable instruments with a small select group of makers putting together great instruments, much the same as today with the factory built and custom luthier made guitars. We have a biased view as only the finest instruments were cared for and survived for us to see today. What my restoration work has taught me is that today’s best makers are probably the finest instrument makers that have ever existed (Torres excepted!).
Brunner lute before restoration:
Brunner lute top bracing:
Brunner lute after restoration:
Dave: You are a bit of a polymath having made a violin as well for your wife. What other stringed instrument challenges do you have on the horizon?
Colin: As you know Dave, ever since my accident stopped me playing guitar and lute I have threatened to make myself a Hurdy Gurdy, but as it is reputed to be the hardest instrument to get set up to play, I have found many other projects to avoid having to start it, but, I will have to get on with it some time soon. Having successfully made a violin, I have been asked if I could make a half-size cello, which sounds fun, so that’ll be happening soon. Also on the horizon are some folk harps, I’ve always wanted to make one, it’s just finding the time.
My ultimate aim though is to make a perfect copy of the Torres FE08, probably the finest guitar ever made, it is technically very challenging, and not cheap, with solid silver frets, nut and tuners! I’ve also now make a CS336 style electric guitar for a number of my players, these seem to be in demand and are a bit of a departure for me, but a different set of enjoyable challenges.
Dave: Colin, thank you for your time and as always it has been interesting to talk stringed instruments with you.
Copyright Colin Symonds March 2013