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This is me with one of my favourite instruments. I have three hand-made instruments by 'Richard Bartram'. The one shown above is a Gibson J45 shaped acoustic guitar made of solid mahogany for the back and sides, with a sitka spruce top. I tend to stick to the standard tuning of EADGBE when playing guitar, with strings ranging from 12 to 53.

The bouzouki is tuned in a similar way to a violin, but with the 'E' string drop tuned to 'D' i.e. GDAD. This instrument is made from the same materials as the guitar and has identical inlays. Because the scale length of all these instruments is the same, and also the way the strings are attached, I have the benefit of only having to carry a few spares.

My third 'Bartram' special is a classical guitar shaped bouzouki which gives a mellow and deep sound making it ideal for voice and tune accompaniment. It too is made from mahogany.

For barn-dances and song sets, when performing through a P.A., I use a 'Yamaha APX-4A' electro-acoustic guitar (which also sounds great without P.A). It's small size lends itself to family holidays when space in the car is at a premium.

My main job, within the band, is to provide vocals, rhythm and general accompaniment to the songs and tunes. Other duties include, sound engineer, booking agent and Chauffeur. Although I have been playing music for my own enjoyment for nearly thirty years, it is only within the last ten years that I have performed with other musicans on a semi-professional basis. I was a founder member of East Anglian folk groups 'Don't Forget the Donkey' and 'Clutching at Straws' in the early nineties, but my time now is spent mostly within the family band. Our style of music has settled around a Celtic repertoire (due to our Irish connections) but I still find time to sing other traditional and contemporary songs. I listen mainly to groups and singers like, Show of hands, Christy Moore, Andy Irvine, Patrick Street, Mary Black, Ralph McTell and Flook.

....Bartram.........Bartram..........Yamaha

......Bouzouki.......Guitar/Bouzouki....Guitar APX-4A

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