b'was the next brilliant step, as I know a bit aboutyellow - orange of the pine. I could play around with whisky, maybe you noticed that. I managed to makethe colours and almost build pictures. The finished some contacts and was promised some sampleguitar looked fantastic. The sound was a little brittle pieces.- sort of rag timey, and didnt suit everybody, but When they arrived, it wasnt what I expected atwhen I made a mandolin out of the same timbers all, it was long lengths of thick Columbian pinefor Archie Fisher, something clicked. One of the from the washback vessels at Talisker rather thanstories about Stradivari is that his timber was the oak barrels, but it solved a problem. It was allseasoned in water ponds before being dried, and a very well making the body from reclaimed timber,mandolin is more or less a violin with frets on so it but if the important part, the soundboard, wasdoes make sense. The wood reclaimed from years of still made from rare wood from the usual sources,immersion in alcohol suits the mandolins perfectly, the sustainable concept wasnt worth very much.they sound sweet and warm, and have become very It occurred to me that I could use the oak frompopular. Its also convenient; because I dont think I barrels for the guitar body, and pine from thecan get any more of the washback material, and the washback for the soundboard. It would look rathermandolins dont use very much wood so my current odd, but that would add to its character. I could usestocks should last for some time.the same timbers for the neck and fingerboard, andI have been criticised for using these woods, and apart from the internal structure which I didntsometimes by people who should know better. I dare risk, the whole guitar could be made fromcan point to the Lute, which is an icon of musical reclaimed and wonderfully interesting wood.instruments, and historically they have been made The wood from Talisker had to be cut into thinfrom just about everything, including Sycamore, pieces and re-assembled to get the width and grainEbony, Pear,Ash, Rosewood, Ivory and even character that I needed, and because of the stainscopper. Each one has been a valid, working musical from the iron bands and years of immersion in hotinstrument, with its own individual character and alcohol, the finished soundboards had a repeatedtone. Nobody ever suggests that those materials matching pattern of green, red and black over thewere a bad choice. Its about twelve years since the first Single Malt guitar, and Ive recently heard John GoldieJohn is a stalwart of the Ullapool Guitar Festival. He plays with Martin Taylor, Tommy Emmanuel, Ike Isaacs, GeorgeJoseph SobolBenson and Joe Pass. Storyteller, musician, folklorist, and author, Joseph directed the Graduate Program in Ive been writing on the Fylde and haveStorytelling at East Tennessee State University, and in 2017 became Director of the four or five pieces so far which will endGeorge Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling at the University of South Wales. up on my next CD. Its a pleasure to playJoseph plays a lot of Stefan Sobells instruments, and several Fyldes, this one was a lovely instrument but even better whenoriginally a ten string Cittern until we converted it to a fan-fret hybrid guitar, mixed single youre inspired to compose on it! and double strings.84'