b'But when James Howe of Rotosound strings tookpedestrian crossing on the North Circular Road, I me to lunch in his Rolls Royce in 1975, and askedlooked out of the window, and there was Barry on me to make an acoustic bass for his son Jason, Ithe pavement a few feet away! We spent an hour in didnt have to think for long.The character is theBarrys flat to recover. I do love coincidence stories.large jolly drunkard in Twelfth Night; the nameIm noticing that I cant keep the timeline straight doesnt work for a mainstream 6-string guitar,while Im writing this, because many of the stories but Sir Toby is rather obvious for the bass.Allrun side by side, but hopefully its easier to follow I did was take an Olivia, thinking that the softthis way. There was so much going on, Ill probably timbers would enhance the low frequencies,get some details wrong and Im sure Im going to built it with a deeper body, and a 30-inch scale. Ileave a lot out. I might even need to write a second thought that anything bigger would be too difficultedition. to play. Before long, various famous musicians were commissioning custom versions and havingSee - I was right, I did need to write a second edition.me ship them as presents to each other at secretBusiness was good, the acoustic guitar was in addresses in New York or tax havens in the Southfashion, and I was in the right place at the right of France. My address book at the time wouldtime, with the right ideas. Most of the UK folk have been worth a fortune. Stanley Clarke stillguitarists were buying from me, and it actually plays his, and Jon Entwistles was auctioned afterbecame a bit of a problem. Some artists I was in his death. Jason Howes bass is currently in mytouch with started to say, everyones got a Fylde, workshop after falling off the wall of his studio.ItsI dont want to be the same as everyone else, and repairable, but taking quite a long time.bought from another maker instead, even if they On the way back from London to Lancashire afteractually did like the guitar I was showing them; it one of my visits to Rotosound, Dave Walters waswas really annoying! driving my van with me in the passenger seat, weThere were many wonderful matches between were talking about Barry Dransfield, who was thecharacter name and instrument, and many fiddle player on Mutiny on the Bounty, and weopportunities to make connections, but they didnt had his music on the tape player. We stopped at a Fylde Acoustic albumBob Fox and Stu Luckley I am rather proud of this album. It has I have very few regrets, but one of them is that Bob and Stu were not on the Fyldemusic not recorded elsewhere, and Acoustic Album, its their own fault, because they werent playing together at the time,artists cooperation that you wont find but that is no excuse, they would have fitted the album a treat. Stu is a friend of the onlyanywhere else. It has several absolute other acoustic bass guitar player in the world, Phil Murray. They have one bass guitargems of acoustic guitar playing, and it each but only one case between them, and they live in different countries so I dontis a terrible shame that it is no longer know how that works. Bob is a troubadour, he can sing and play just about anything, heavailable. I am slowly putting together has had several guitars from me but the old Falstaff still tours the world with him. Bobplans for a volume two, everybody I have and Stu were The great white hope of English music in the late 70s and early 80s,asked so far has said yes, and I have a and played at many of my birthday parties. Bob has recently been playing the part of therecord company on board.Songman in Warhorse in the London West End and took Moira and myself on a back stage tour to met Joey, the amazing puppet horse who is the star of the show.45'