News
Rick Franklin and John Miller Sit In With Dave King Acoustics at EBA Blues Week
Rick Franklin was a very welcome visitor to our small exhibition
of National and Dave King guitars at the EBA Blues Week, held at The University
of Northampton, England. Rick was at Blues Week as a teacher, tutoring
young and old alike in the art of blues guitar.
Rick's musical style of blues is known as the "Piedmont" style identified
with such legendary players like Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller and William
More along with more recent players like late Virginia residents John
Cephas, John Jackson and the late Maryland resident, Archie Edwards.
He was keen to try all three of the Dave King guitars on display; the
parlour-size Louise, (see photo), the OOO-style Katrina
and the dreadnought-size Matilda. Rick and Bob Long then had a
Blind Blake jam in which Rick played a Matilda and Bob played rhythm on
a Louise, sharing the vocals on Rope Stretchin' Blues.
Equally welcome was teacher John Miller, who played the obscure
but beautiful Tommy Johnson number, Lonesome Home Blues. John is
probably the world's greatest authority on pre-WW2 blues guitar music
and an exceptional player. It was a huge pleasure to hear him playing
the Dave King Katrina which, incidentally, he judged to be "very
nice".
Rick Franklin plays a Dave King Acoustics Louise
John Miller plays a Dave King Acoustics Katrina
Promenade Music
We are delighted to announce Promenade Music, in Morecambe, Lancashire,
has been appointed as a dealer for Dave King Acoustics LLP. Promenade
Music is a successful, family owned, independent music business that was
established in 1989. They offer customers "One of the Largest and Best
Stocked Music Shops in the North of England" with a wide range of
services including Musical Instrument & Equipment Sales.
Contact details:
Telephone: 01524 410202 (8 lines)
e-mail: sales@PromenadeMusic.co.uk
Post: Promenade Music, 404 Marine Road East, Morecambe, Lancashire, LA4 5AR, England
It's always good to get some feedback from a customer who has spent
a few weeks with their new guitar. Here's a letter we've just received
from Paula Smith. The photo was taken in our workshop when Paula played
her new guitar for the first time.
Dear Dave
Thank you so much for making such a lovely guitar. It plays beautifully
with a good action and superb tone. I can play classical music on
it, as well as lots of other pieces in finger style and play the hymns
in church. In addition, the guitar is so beautiful, with the wonderful
inlay with plants and butterflies that you carefully reproduced from my
design, and lovely blends of wood and purlings that you have put together
so expertly. I am looking at the guitar now and the binding around the
top and bottom of the main body is almost glistening in the light.
The classic size is just right for me too and seems to project the
sound much better than my old guitar which is a much larger dreadnought
size.
Thank you again. I am delighted.
Best wishes for a good year of guitar making and I hope you have lots
of people coming in to buy one. I would certainly recommend you to anyone
who is looking for a lovely hand made guitar.
Paula
Now Dave King is Authorised Repairer for C.F. Martin & Co
We're proud to announce that Dave King is now the United Kingdom authorised repairer for Martin Guitars
http://www.martinguitar.com/dealers/services.php?state=INAT
. (We already enjoy this status for Santa Cruz and National Reso-phonic guitars.) Dave has been repairing and refinishing
Martin guitars for many years but we're delighted that the quality of his work has been recognised and acknowledged
officially by CF Martin & Co.
Reorganisation of Our Business
Our "big news" is that with effect from 01 January 2010, we have reorganised our business.
Dave King Acoustics LLP will continue operating at Kingsclere with business as usual.
The partners are now Dave King and Bob Long and our contact details, set out below are unchanged.
Our former operation at Denmark St. in London, known as Luthiers Corner, is no longer part of
Dave King Acoustics LLP but is now owned and managed by Celine Camerlynck and will also continue
with business as usual. Contact details are below.
We wish Celine every success in her new, independent role.
Contact details
Dave dave@daveking-acoustics.com
Celine celine@luthierscorner.co.uk
Bob long.boblong@gmail.com
Dave King Acoustics LLP
Unit C3, Knowl Hill Farm
Knowl Hill
Kingsclere
RG20 4NY
Tel: 01635 299137
Luthier's Corner
Third Floor, 21 Denmark Street
London, WC2H 8NA
Tel: 0207 836 0816
Bob Brozman Workshop Class and Concert
As part of his current European Tour, Bob Brozman, the legendary slide
guitar virtuoso, recently spent a day with us at Kingsclere.
We're pleased to report it was a big success. Some of our guests travelled
hundreds of miles for this special occasion. The photo below shows the Workshop
Class in progress. Feedback from the students was positive, particularly
on his emphasis on rhythms and the distinction between playing loudly
and playing with punctuated emphasis. The Robert Johnson riffs were good
too!
In the evening, Bob Brozman performed a solo concert at Heath End Hall
in our neighbouring village of Baughurst. It was a breath-taking, high
energy, show in which he played blues, Hawaiian and many other styles
of music on a variety of instruments. Dave and Kirsty put on a mini exhibition
of National Reso-phonic and Dave King Acoustics guitars, Glen of The Rising
Sun at Stockcross, provided the drinks and Lee Jones did an excellent
job as sound engineer. Everyone enjoyed the concert and we were grateful
to friends and family who helped to make it run smoothly.
New Dave King Acoustics Models Launched at London International Music Show (LIMS)
We're just back from The London International Music Show, tired
but happy. We had a hectic few days at Kingsclere, putting the finishing
touches to the new models in readiness for their launch at this prestigious
exhibition, then set-up day coincided with the London Underground strike
and we had some serious traffic jams to cope with. Somehow, we got everything
done and our visitors to the stand gave us some very rewarding comments.
Details of the new models, The Louise, The Katrina and The Matilda are
shown below. These high quality guitars at affordable prices are now
available in addition to Dave King's individually built Signature Models
for which he is well known.
Also on display at the show were some of our Faithful Reproduction electrics
which attracted much interest from Tele and Strat afficionados and six
resonator guitars from National Reso-phonic, including the first of
NRP's Triolians to arrive in The UK.
We had a number of "trade" visitors, interested in stocking
the new models and we will be announcing some new dealerships soon.
Here are the details of the new acoustic models
The Louise, a parlour-size guitar, based on a late Nineteenth
Century design
Available in 6 string and 12 string versions, left-handed or right-handed
12 frets to the body; scale length 626mm 6 string. 610mm 12 string
Slotted headstock, mahogany or maple neck
Rosewood, maple or mahogany back/sides. Sitka or Engelmann spruce or
cedar top
Celluloid binding and purfling.
The Katrina, a 000-size guitar, based on a 1930s design
12 frets to the body; 645 scale length
Available in 6 string and 12 string versions, left-handed or right-handed
Solid headstock, mahogany or maple neck
Rosewood, maple or mahogany back/sides. Sitka or Engelmann spruce or
cedar top
Celluloid binding and purfling
The Matilda, a dreadnought-size guitar (see below)
Available in 6 string and 12 string versions, left-handed or right-handed
14 frets to the body; 626 scale length
Solid headstock, mahogany or maple neck
Rosewood, maple or mahogany back/sides. Sitka or Engelmann spruce or
cedar top
Celluloid binding and purfling
Dave King Acoustics LLP now Sole Distributor in UK for McFadden
We're pleased to announce we are now sole distributor for McFadden
lacquers in The UK. These products are, in Dave's opinion, unrivalled
in terms of the high quality finish a luthier needs. Soon we will be
contacting other leading British luthiers to offer supplies. In the
meantime, feel free to contact Dave at
dave@daveking-acoustics.com
with any enquiry.
Bob Long demonstrates the classic National Reso-phonic Style O
A total of 19 guitars on display this year
"Hi, I'm Matilda. Will you take me home?"
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