Angus Thorburn is a guitar player and collector who lives and works on the North Shore of Sydney. The Metro Gnome invited Angus to share a little bit with you about how his affection for the guitar was borne. The result is a unique look into the Sydney music scene of the 1970s and a glimpse into some great Australian guitar makers.
I'm a guitar tragic from way back… and I mean the days when the hottest music shops in town were Nicholsons and Palings in George Street, Sydney and later Harry Landis Music in Park Street, Sydney.
I discovered guitars in my mid teens about 1969, when my sister decided to take lessons on a nylon string guitar (a Montez if I remember it right) and, as so often happens, the guitar became a piece of discarded furniture after a few months, so I took it over.
Those were the days when acoustic guitars ruled the airwaves. Peter, Paul and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Donovan and The Seekers. The first song I taught myself was "Love is All Around"… the original Troggs version.
Then two important things happened. A guy at school two years above me turned up one day with an Aria 12 string guitar – wow, I remember the sheer volume it gave off, and the sound of individual strings ringing, compared to my meekly strummed nylon strings! That guy was so cool (and he played in the school football team) that I thought I have to get serious.
And then along came a band called Crosby, Stills and Nash. I saw them perform live on the big screen in the movie “Woodstock.” David Crosby played a Martin 12 string, and of course Steven Stills played a Martin DH 28… I think. Did acoustic music ever get any better than that?
So I started saving. I’d seen a Salvation Army retail shop on the corner of Liverpool and Elizabeth Streets, Sydney that sold well known brands of acoustic guitars with a cheaper price tag than the music stores (there’s still a Salvos there now, but it doesn’t sell musical instruments). Takemine were just becoming known as the guitar of choice for some up and coming players. John Denver was playing a twelve string version. Ovation, also, were seen around the neck of some TV stars – Glenn Campbell had his own TV show in those days, and he played only Ovation. Martin guitars were not available to my knowledge, and even if they were, they probably would have been out of my price league.
(Much later, in ’92 , with the help of Steve Jackson, of Jacksons Rare Guitars, I was able to buy a Martin 00016 – a great fingerstyle guitar that he put me onto, which I still play a lot. When I die, I’ve asked that my ashes get spread over that acoustic guitar room at Jacksons….)
But the Salvos store also had the widest selection I’d ever seen of our own Maton guitars. The best thing was they were affordable – I bought an FG 100 dreadnought 6 string, all solid Queensland maple body, and spruce sound board. It cost $305 in 1972 with a hard shell case, and was their top of the line model. I still have it, and of course with the loosening up of the timbers over the years, it’s as loud and as mellow as it gets. Great for country and western type stuff, though I don’t play that style much these days.
I started getting into the live acoustic music scene. I took girlfriends to Pac Folk, which used to be in the basement of the YMCA in Goulburn Street, Sydney. I followed Trevor Knight and Doug Ashdown around. I tried to sit as close to the front as possible, to see what chord shapes they were using. “Winter in America’’ was great on guitar, but it needed a twelve string sound.
Somebody lent me a Bruce Cockburn LP, and that steered me into the thumb style playing, with the droning bottom E string. Another player opened up a new window by firstly showing me dropped D tuning, and then for those David Crosby songs, double dropped D tuning. This made the Steven Stills song “4 and 20” come alive! (Much later I discovered DADGAD and other variations on that Celtic tuning).
I borrowed a Leo Kottke album, and that made me realize my suspicions… I needed a twelve string guitar! The best I could then afford was a Yamaha 12 string, so I now had 2 guitars. But I was single and living at home, and my university legal studies gave me plenty of time for music.
We used to get quite a lot of acoustic bands at university. The best I recall was Mississippi, a three piece band playing all original stuff, with a great first album, simply called Mississippi. They later went on to change their name, and become a little more famous as “The Little River Band.”
I got into a band, as all uni guys who played guitar did in those days. This was about 1973, and I then needed an electric guitar. So I bought a Maton electric, followed by a copy Les Paul Black Beauty (both long gone now). We played some great gigs, including an opening act for a well known Sydney band. But electric guitars were not quite my thing, as I’d been brought up on finger style playing, and had no speed with a flat pick.
Next to grab my attention were the finger style blues players, and this took me into Dobro territory! I mean that big round metal resonator on the front of a wooden body guitar was irresistible to me! I bought a Dobro Hula Blues short scale, the loudest unamplified guitar known to man. I then discovered Greg Beaton in Newcastle, who makes these magnificent nickel plated brass resophonic guitars, with engraved Australiana scenes, so had one custom made for me.
At a music festival, I met Dan Dubowski, a guitar maker from Batlow. His guitars are made from absolutely gorgeous local timbers, so I bought one of these. I’ve visited him out at his farm in Batlow, to work on one of my guitars, and also pick up another. It was amazing to see what he was creating from cow bones, brass bits and pieces, and timbers he had collected in his travels.
Some years ago, I got back into a covers band known as “Silverhair”, made up of guys and girls of about my era, and we play out and about a little bit. And yes, this has meant getting back into electric guitars again, and onto that learning curve of amps and sound effect pedals.
But playing with other musicians - especially guitarists who are far better players than I – is a real inspiration, keeps me practicing and helps me look out for new guitars! I’m currently working with a US ‘62 reissue Fender Jaguar, and a ’62 US reissue Fender Telecaster custom I tracked down on E-bay. But don’t get me started on internet buying… that’s another story for another time. I’d better get back to my search engine!
One last tip. (A really controversial idea... you’ve heard before, but it works! An idea that is guaranteed to bring you before the Domestic Appeals Tribunal with cranky family members, but will improve your playing and keep your love of the guitar alive.)
Always have at least one guitar out and on a stand in the corner of a room you visit often. Yes, it will get a bit dusty, and may get swiped occasionally by the tail of a passing dog, but it reminds you it’s there. They are pieces of artwork in themselves, and I, for one, can never walk past a guitar without handling it.
Gnome Links:
* Dan Dubowski Guitars can be seen at www.dandubowski.com
* Jacksons Rare Guitars is at www.jacksonsrareguitars.com/splash.html
* Click here to go to: Why I Love the Big Bodied Guitar, by Ben Little
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