Ain't Bad for a Pink
Page 34
My sound systems were acknowledged as revolutionary. Magazine articles appeared and I was commissioned to build and exhibit equipment described as “The Biggest Sound System in Europe” at the London Music Show held in the Bedford Hotel, near Russell Square. I had designed massive trapezoid cabinets – rather like truncated pyramids – to house exponential horns, vastly increasing the audible output. The intimate size of the venue showed off the exhibition to advantage.
By this time I already had a reputation for fairly revolutionary new designs. I had made Voice of the Theatre cabinets with GRP exponential horns shaped and curved all the way round like a megaphone – unlike the more basic World Leader cabinet which was straight at the top and bottom of the horn with curved sides.
During the oil shortage of the Eighties, vinyl – which is petrol-based – became scarce so I decided to make cabinets out of marine quality plywood. The trend was for equipment to get smaller anyway: speakers were high-powered and venues were getting smaller, so these well-designed and well-made pieces of furniture caught the spirit of the times. They had routed edges so they wouldn’t chip and the wood was stained. I also planned luxury tour buses and cabinets that have only recently come into being.
Not all my systems were on the scale of the exhibition at the Bedford Hotel. I built up a local reputation in clubs and pubs in Cheshire and Staffordshire. The letter I sent out by way of advertisement shows how confident I was about my product:
If you would like “clarity” to come to your concert room, why not invite us along to do some demonstrations free of obligation. We can produce purpose built public address systems to suit any size building and quite a few bank balances. Our systems are already in use in the area, to the agreed advantage of the owners. If you would like to see any of these working, one of our staff can arrange a demonstration.
Crossover Or Natural Flow
If you want to separate sound, either use crossover units (very expensive and complicated) or try to use the natural flow of electrical impulse. This was an idea I had, using the fact that electricity is like water: it flows to the easiest places. Use good quality fifteen inch speakers of little resistance that will naturally take most of the power. Then, if you put a higher resistance twelve inch speaker, that will take roughly half the power the fifteen inch will take. So, I take one fifteen inch at eight ohms and one twelve inch at sixteen ohms. The horn can have a single capacitor to stop base response.
This system worked for twenty-five years and most clubs were happy with them. Some changed to more modern systems then came back and asked us to rebuild another one like the previous one – the one I innovated. We used to get orders sub-contracted from other companies that fitted machines and pool tables etc. who would provide PA systems through us.
The heyday for Custom Amplification was from about the mid Seventies to the early Eighties.
Gordon-Smith Guitars
I came across a magazine article about a guitar I designed thirty-five years ago. I felt pleased to have been acknowledged.
We knew a feller called Pete Johnson back in the early’70s who was a bit of a mover and a shaker in the rock ‘n’ roll retail trade. He was aware that we had ambitions to move into manufacturing, and approached us with plans for a guitar that he thought would sell. It was basically a Les Paul Jr but a bit more modern: instead of the P90 it had a tapped humbucker…Now it’s one of our claims that we invented the tapped humbucker.(13)
My collaboration with Gordon-Smith started off with me taking up say, a guitar neck I’d salvaged and asking him to build a body compatible with it. After several of these prototypes we started on the actual Gordon-Smith range.
There was an article about Gordon-Smith guitars, described as “the longest continuous guitar manufacturer that England has ever produced” in the February 2006 copy of Guitar and Bass. The firm is distinguished in another way, too: it makes its own pick-ups. I see some parallels with my own business in terms of longevity, central control and specialization.
John Smith just picked the skills up and applied them to what was an interest and a hobby. From refurbishing instruments he gained knowledge of structure and refinements and from there he went on to manufacture his own instruments. This was the firm that I approached in the Seventies with a plan for a viable guitar: basically a Les Paul Junior but more modern. My modification would overcome the inherent weakness in the structure of this guitar which had the tendency to break at the point where the neck joins the body. I had acquired a nice neck and wanted the body custom-made with a strengthening volute. A volute is the shaping of wood on the back of the neck on a guitar. It is a strengthening piece at the vulnerable part of the instrument. Martins have a diamond shaped piece standing proud of the neck.
But there was another suggestion, too: having a tapped humbucker instead of the P90. We had a conversation about using a tapped humbucker, using two pick-ups on a guitar in the same position but I said I liked the option of giving a combination of both. His innovation cancelled the option by combining both. Whereas in the magazine article John Smith is very humble about it, I am adamant that he did invent it and that, moreover, coil-tapping was something not done by any major manufacturers for the next ten years. This prototype: Rocker 1 had one pick-up. The magazine article states: “Pete Johnson had guessed the market correctly, it seems, for the new Gordon-Smiths were an instant success. The single pick-up model was quickly followed by a double pick-up version”. Rocker 2 had two pick-ups. Rocker 1 was fitted with a push-pull volume control enabling the musician to vary between humbucker and single-coil pick-up, effectively giving the sound of a double pick-up guitar out of one pick-up. Rocker 2 had a double amount of variation. It was a massive advantage to be able to go from one to another on one instrument. However, if you get a guitar and change the pick-ups, no matter what the owner thinks, the value is diminished because buyers want the original and then do their own modifications.
For the uninitiated, pick-ups are the things under the strings that pick up and amplify the sounds. The more pick-ups there are on a guitar, the less the sound. Humbucker pick-ups are double pick-ups that increase volume and sustain sound. They have been available since the Fifties and are two singles strapped together. They were originally called “Hum-cancelling” pick-ups but the name used is much more rock ‘n’ roll! A single coil sounds good in certain situations where you want a clear, clean sound. It is the startup default mode giving almost a country sound. The humbucker pick-up is associated with the rock guitar; it gives more sustain and a ‘dirty’ sound. A lot of jazz players favour the humbucker because it gives more tone quality. In the Eighties there were some clever new designers in pick-up technology. They stacked the humbuckers one on top of the other. This device could be fitted to a Fender guitar without altering anything, so it could easily be put back to standard again.
Pick-ups can be expensive items, especially vintage ones such as “patent applied for” pick-ups which are worth £200 plus. People express surprise that I have such items lying around in wooden boxes with other paraphernalia. “I bet you’d lose your finger before I lost a pick-up,” is my grim reply.
Reputation
My involvement with the innovations described took place some years ago but I’m still surprised to find references and to have my advice sought. For example I was recently leafing through The Guitar Magazine, 8 June 1997 and came across this letter:
MULTIPLE RESONATIONS.
The resonator feature [TGM vol 7 no 6] as an overview on these guitars was, as usual, excellent. As you say – once played and the slide mastered, they are totally addictive.
One minor point: National and Dobro branded guitars are not exclusive to The Acoustic Centre in this country – you can also buy them off the shelf from Frailers Guitars in Runcorn [01928-573087]. There is also Custom Amplification in Crewe [01270-214779], where Pete Johnson (alias Snakey Jake) stocks used vintage resonators. In addition, Pete has to be rated as one of the UK’s top slide players!
R. Davies, Wrexham.(14)
Sometimes at twilight you look into lighted properties and there are people gathered together, at ease with one another and united by a common interest on which their minds are focussed. You find this in bike shops; you find this in workshops where people are gathered round a vintage car that’s being renovated and you find it in music shops. The single-minded interest of the people in what is happening in that particular place excludes the rest of the world and creates a little world that is self-contained, and from which all the other things happening in people’s lives are excluded for as long as they are in this particular pool of light.
Notes: Section Six
(1) Wayne Davies (Slim) interviewed by Sandra Gibson 30th January 2007.
(2) Dec Higgins aged 16 years, interviewed by Sandra Gibson at Brine Leas School, Nantwich, January 2007.
(3) Wayne Davies (Slim) interviewed by Sandra Gibson 30th January 2007.
(4) Zoe Johnson, interviewed by Sandra Gibson 26th April 2007.
(5) Matthew Johnson, from a conversation at Custom Amplification, 19th March 2009.
(6) Pete Johnson: Georgia Journal.
(7) Ibid.
(8) Wayne Davies (Slim) interviewed by Sandra Gibson 30th January 2007.
(9) Jim Farmer, interviewed by Sandra Gibson June 2006.
(10) Phil Doody, from a conversation at Custom Amplification, 19th March 2009.
(11) David Rushworth, the rep. from Inter Music, from a conversation at Custom Amplification 15th May 2007.
(12) From International Musician and Recording World February 1977.
(13) Guitar & Bass, February 2006.
(14) Guitar Magazine, vol.7, no 8. June 1997.
SECTION SEVEN
A View From The Verandah
It’s not very rock ‘n’ roll to survive until you’re sixty – I thought I’d die a young man’s death. Living to experience an old-life crisis puts you into contemplative mode. For the first time in my life I was keeping very still: looking back in order to move forward. How had my past experiences and key decisions prepared me for the old age I never thought I’d reach? What had sustained me and what had I sustained? What would sustain me? Having seen so many untimely deaths what did I think about the prospect of a timely death?
No. It’s not very rock ‘n’ roll.
Up Yours
By 2005 the edginess of my life had been amplified by circumstances which pressurised me materially, creatively and emotionally. I was hard up, the music scene had dried up and my hands were fucked up. Zoe wanted us to sell up. Sell up and cast our fates to the canal waters in a less than viable boat.
For quite a while I was immobilised on a metaphorical verandah: finger picking tunes, drinking cider and assessing. I’ve come to the conclusion that the three main things that have sustained me have been music, friendship and sex. Of these, music has been the most important because it has been the constant factor. The other issues: wealth, fame, hard work, taking risks, having fun, innovating, learning have all contributed in varying degrees and at various times.
Immaterial
Wealth was important to get things moving but I was never taken in by wealth per se. It facilitated things; it bought experiences but it didn’t make me happy. Having it in abundance did me an unexpected favour – it taught me that it was worthless! But it did leave me in the enviable position of having bought that, been there and done that whilst I was still young enough to enjoy it all so I have no lingering aspirations to make me feel dissatisfied. And I have enough to get by. Meeting some of my musical heroes has meant more to me than anything money could buy and developed my economic and political views as well as my musical vision.
I had no romantic notions of starving in an attic for my music either; there was no need.
Sustaining The Ego
I never achieved great fame, though a lot of people know me and I have been praised for my work by good musicians and by people who share my musical tastes. There’s a photograph of me with two of the most successful and esteemed guitarists in the business: Woody Mann and Bob Brozman, taken at Lichfield. One time at my Acoustic Night at Square One in Mill Street, a tall silent man sat through my first set without taking his eyes off me. He then congratulated me on my work and it turned out that he was also familiar with the work of Mann and Brozman. “But you’re better,” he said. Praise is nice, though not essential. Whilst in Georgia I received fulsome praise. Hearing my radio interviews on WRFG, fans travelled long distances to see me. Many asked me to put my hands on their guitars – some brought two or three – and one man asked me to sign his. I declined. It would have been almost sacrilegious.
But fame doesn’t impress me in myself or intimidate me in others. One night I was gigging at Alexander’s Jazz Theatre in Chester. The place was full of actors who had just finished their last night and they were making a noise. I spoke to them: “It may be your last night but it’s my first night and it’ll be my last night if this row doesn’t stop.” It stopped. I spoke to one of the actors – Gerald Harper – at the end of the evening. I didn’t know him but it wouldn’t have made any difference if I had. As actors they would expect their audience to be respectful. The fame that comes from being an entertainer seems trivial and it only sustains you in the moment.
Friends
I’ve had the good fortune to have friends. My friendship with Whitty was based on music and on his good company – when he wasn’t too pissed. He was a loveable, creative and intelligent man and we shared a sense of humour and many a convivial time, and I was prepared to look after him – feed him, keep him from getting too drunk – in order to preserve that. We never had to discuss things conventionally; our communication was intuitive, musical and direct. Whitty was a soulmate. I tried to minimize his self-destructive tendencies, believing that there was enough light in him to dispel his demons and just as this was happening – his letters from Australia were so full of hope – the bastard died. I lost more than a friend. There was no way of replacing that precious musical compatibility we had. It transcended everything else.
I’ve never got over the loss of my musical brother.
But I’ve been sustained by the company and efforts of many people over the years. Bert Bellamy opened doors to the world of blues where I made some inspirational musical friends and I’ll never forget the musical help I had from Son House. People with generous hearts like John Billington and Keith Bellamy appreciated my music and helped me financially. Others like Graham Roberts and Tom Jackson helped further my professional standing. I had an extended musical family: Melvyn and Deanie and Plum and Moggsie and Bootie and JD and Dave and Shep and Slim that made up for the depleted home life of my younger days. Keith Brammer and Count Bartelli were sporting companions. Both of my brothers could be counted on in survival situations. My mother was an enormous support to my musical success and my father became one of my role models, the others being Eugene Van De Hoog for his zest for life and Mike Slaughter for his courageous quirkiness.
My friendship with Des is more balanced than the one with Whitty and has endured for over thirty years. I’m used to looking after people and I used to try to look after Whitty but this is a friendship where I have been the one looked after. Des helped me get through some bad bouts of depression, especially when I was worried about my hands and he has recklessly confronted me to make me see sense. It’s been reciprocal – I’ve been there for his bad times too.
This friendship isn’t so strongly based on musical compatibility, though we do admire one another’s musicianship and we do perform together so the compatibility is there. Des still says he’s the apprentice! We have different approaches to preparation and performance. He plays it by the book whereas I favour a more fluid, intuitive approach. I find it difficult to compromise what I do to accommodate him and he must find it equally difficult. I can’t relax into the music and lose myself; I can’t spontaneously change the vers
e order or introduce an alternative ending as I could with Whitty. I am aware that Des is someone else whereas with Whitty we were the same. The banter between us is spontaneous but the songs are worked out and I don’t blame Des for that. With Des there has been an enduring love more than a musical compatibility.
My relationship with Des is based on shared values and there is a sense of easiness between us, an acceptance of each other, a social compatibility that means we can sit in silence.
It’s a spiritual bond if you want to so-call it. Pete has kept me away from the rock ‘n’ roll machine. We’re actually an odd couple Pete and I. We shouldn’t be friends at all.
Des Parton. (1)
We’re best mates. The best.
I Just Always Loved Being Loved
I’ve had some good friendships with women too. I did experience the sex and drugs and rock ‘n’ roll cliché, though not to the point of excess. I need women because I lost my mother, because of my libido and because I like them. Without a woman I’m back in the despairing time when life felt empty. I’ve just always loved being loved. There’s a song line: “I’ve never been to bed with an ugly woman but I sure woke up with a few” and I can honestly say this has never applied to me. There were plenty of women: all beautiful and I remember every one of them, no matter how brief the encounter. I’m not a womanizer and although I have been out on the pull there have been many times when women have taken the initiative with me.