b'was me that had to make them.The guitar wasElectric guitars might have filled the gap, but Im solid Rosewood, carved back and front, laminatedglad I didnt go that way. through neck, and silver inlays. It was used on theThe next part of the story isnt easy to talk about, front cover of the DiMarzio pickups catalogue forbut it is crucial to me personally and I cant leave it a time, and while it was in the US, it was borrowedout. If I tell the whole story, this book will no longer and investigated by some influential people.be about guitars, but if I dont say some of it, one There were soon several guitars with the doubleof the turning points in the business and in my life cutaway, heavy contours and exotic inlays on thewont be explained, and I will feel as if Ive ignored market. Back in England, by the time we had madea very important person. enough for showing to pro musicians and guitar reviewers, we had run out of money and energy. At one point some of the staff planned a holiday The 70 or so guitars that we did make are nowoverland to Asia, and needed various inoculations. highly valued, and sometimes referred to as theMy three-year-old daughter Alex suffered from ultimate electric guitar, which is nice. Being firstchildhood skin problems and no one had warned and innovative is all well and good, but it doesntus about the dangers that presented. One of the put bread on the table. guys had a bad reaction to the injections, and I had built quite sophisticated and heavy toolingbecause we all spent so much time together, Alexs for Pack Leader, including an automatic carvingskin became infected. Our beautiful little girl died machine for the arch tops, so I carried on using itafter three weeks of horrible suffering. Only a few all to make a simplified model, with the even morepeople know how bad it was, I cant write about it. original name of the Fylde Electric, which againComing out of the hospital after our final goodbyes, is still valued, over 30 years later.By 1979 I hadeverybody else was going about their business as made nearly 2,000 acoustic guitars with a staff ofusual, and everybody elses sun was still shining. about 15. At one point I think I was making aboutHow does that work? the same number of guitars every week as Martin,In writing and rewriting this book, I must have read but the market for acoustics had started to shrink.that paragraph a hundred times, to make sure I said everything I needed to. It can never be enough. It Christine Collister Nic Jones GuitarChristine has links with George Daniels,This is the Falstaff that was badly the watchmaker who I have referred todamaged in the infamous car crash. I elsewhere. only got hold of it around the time that Howard Lees introduced me to her whileNic came out of hospital,he wasnt she was singing with Clive Gregson.going to be playing forquite a while.When the duo split up, Christine wantedI was deeply involved in the snooker to take over her own guitar backing andbusiness at the time, and the guitar was needed help to find the right guitar. Aftera mess so I wasnt sure how far to go a short time with one of my experimentalwith it.I fitted a neck that I had spare models, she ordered a Goodfellow, whichand patched up the body quite quickly so she is still playing about 15 years later.that he could get it back for therapy and My daughters once took turns beinginspiration. I did more work later on, but carried up and down our very steep fellsthe original damage can still be seen.on Christines back. She has a voice thatJoe Jones plays this now on stage with defies gravity, so maybe that helped. his dad.Howard has been known to be a little forthright. Christine once said to me you know, between you and Howard, you could upset everybody. I have no idea what she means.58'