LINKS

Here are some links to friends and other useful contacts on the web.

Guitar making friends

www.spanishguitars.co.uk Stephen Hill, classical and flamenco maker of world repute and one of my teachers. Stephen has moved from Lewes to Spain and is now offering month long Spanish guitar making courses.

www.osborneguitars.co.uk Richard Osborne, maker of the best flat back mandolins, bouzoukis and octave mandolas I've heard, carved top mandolins and even some guitars now appearing (hence the new website). Richard is now offering acoustic guitar making evening classes based on construction methods in the same style as mine.

www.vihuelademano.com Alexander (Sasha) Batov. Sasha makes the most incredible fluted back viheulas, baroque guitars and viols, I've never seen work like it, his site's worth a look even if you'll never play period instruments, you'll be amazed.

www.loweguitars.co.uk Classical guitar maker and friend, making beautifully inlayed guitars influenced by Torres and Hauser.

www.spanishguitar.org.uk Pablo Requena, classical and flamenco guitar maker based here in the Star Brewery. Also stocking many Spanish made guitars covering a broad price range. Pablo also runs an evening class.

Festivals

www.lewesguitarfestival.co.uk Festival of the guitar based here in Lewes, featuring word class musicians every year, usually in the first week of August but having a year off in 2008.

www.ullapoolguitarfestival.com Ullapool guitar festival.

www.bathspa.ac.uk/igf/ Bath International Guitar Festival.

Luthier's supplies

www.lmii.com Luthier's Mercantile International.

www.stewmac.com Stewart Macdonald lutherie supplies.

www.alliedluthierie.com the guys that used to run LMI.

www.luthierssupplies.co.uk Dave Dyke, the one and only.

Guitar related sites

www.acousticmasters.com Guitar players website featuring Eric Roche with pictures of Eric's Benjamins.

www.ultimaguitar.com Italian guitar based site who did a feature on me recently.

www.acousticmagazine.com New UK acoustic guitar publication.

www.guitarcds.net All your guitar CD needs!

www.amazingnails4guitarists.com Midge fits and shapes nails as well as selling repair and DIY kits online.

Players (see my Players page for details of and links to some better known Benjamin owners)

www.thomasleeb.com Thomas is an Austrian guitarist now based in California. He and Eric Roche were musical sparring partners for many years. Thomas plays in an exhilarating percussive style and I recently had to glue together one of his guitars after a particularly enthusiastic drumming session. Thomas took a prototype 'Percussion' model guitar to test out for me last year (2007) and used it for several tracks on his latest album 'Desert Pirate'.

www.clivecarroll.co.uk Moving on from where the old-guard left off Clive has taken British guitar music to new level of compositional and technical skill without losing a sense of history and legacy. Clive now has a Benjamin Orchestra Model!

www.myspace.com/kakiking Kaki is an extraordinary musician, her four albums have been on near constant rotation in my workshop since I first discovered her. Going from progressive percussive acoustic guitar to huge textured soundscapes she draws deep emotion where most others find only shallow musical technique. Yes, I do rather like her music, as you can tell!

www.jongomm.com I had the pleasure of meeting Jon this summer at Thomas Leeb's 'Acoustic Guitar Boot Camp'. He sings and plays percussive guitar with a distinctively dark but humorous approach, combining elements of Nick Harper and Radiohead with modern percussive guitar to produce a uniquely Jon Gomm experience!

www.johnfahey.com American primitive guitar.

www.nomadland.com Michael Hedges, the main man.

www.jonimitchell.com Joni was a big factor in why I carried on playing acoustic music despite the teenage lure of the electric guitar.