BERT JANSCH'S FYLDE ACOUSTIC

Gordon Giltrap tells how an instrument made for folk legend Bert Jansch in the early 70s now takes pride of place in his own collection

- David Mead

Back in the early 1970s, acoustic guitarist and songwriter Bert Jansch was already a legend. His albums became inspirational reference points for a whole generation of instrumental players, and his name was readily associated with the likes of other acoustic pioneers such as Davey Graham and John Renbourn. At the time, premium-quality acoustic guitars were quite the rarity in these isles and dedicated builders not as plentiful as they are today. Word of mouth was often the starting point that matched a player to such an instrument - and this was the case when Gordon Giltrap first met Bert and recommended that he commission a build from Roger Bucknall, at the time when Roger's enterprise, Fylde Guitars, was in start-up mode.

Although Bert never really settled with his Fylde, becoming more associated with Yamaha instruments over the years, the guitar lived on and by a very circuitous route found its way back into the hands of Gordon. "The first time I saw Bert play was in Les Cousins," he remembers.

"John Renbourn had just got married and Bert was his best man. So Bert turned up at Les Cousins wearing his wedding suit, knitted tie, suede shoes. He came on stage and he was so cool, so relaxed, and he had this John Bailey guitar. It was unbelievable. He did all the stuff that I loved, like Tinker's Blues. Blew me away."

Would you say that Bert was a significant influence on your own playing?

"That first album [Bert Jansch, 1965] changed my life. It made me realise what can be done with one man and one guitar. But not only that, that album was a work of genius. And I know I've said this many times in interviews, but it's like you put the album on and the atmosphere in the room changed, somehow. It was magical.