20/07/2009

Interview with Alister Atkin, guitar maker - Part 2

Do you own guitars from any other makers?

I do, I'm quite lucky that occasionally sometimes people come in and part exchange guitars with me. I had a couple of Collings guitars which I've really enjoyed owning and I can also have a good look at them. I've got a couple of Martins in at the moment as well, one of those is quite nice. So, I've had various guitars. I think it's actually quite important to look at other people's things and living with them there's no better way to find out what works and what doesn't. I'm sure I'll have more over time. I never keep anything though, everything goes eventually, we're not in the business of keeping guitars. One day I might if a really nice Gibson mandolin comes in.

Which other makers do you admire?

The American makers I'm a big fan of are Collings and Santa Cruz. And some of the smaller makers. There's loads of great makers. In England my favourites are Brook and Dave King and there's Patrick Eggle as well. But a lot of us are mates and we all sort of revere each others instruments a little bit. We swap ideas and look out for each other and we like what each other does. There's some good ideas there.

You moved into your new workshop in 2006. What has that allowed you to do differently?

It's given us a lot more space to work on detail really. Areas we can do a certain job in, finishing in one area without having to stop one job and move on to another. And we've just brought a CNC machine and we've got the first decent neck off it last week. I'm very conscious that it has to be of a standard that is the same or better than we are doing now and it's looking really cool actually, so that is quite exciting. As much as anything it was a bit of an investment. It means we can do what we want to do all the time without having to worry about a landlord. If we want to bash the place around and have a different set out it's all down to us really.

Your models have been broadly based on some timeless designs with your own unique twists. However, now you seem to be developing something new. Tell us about your AA model.

I used to look at the OM model we make and think, on an aesthetic basis, I wanted to tweak that model, thinking that could look a bit sweeter and then we built the small jumbo which I think is a really great shape but it can be quite big for some people. So I wanted those two together. Also there's a lot of people enjoying small guitars now and in England we don't sell a lot of dreadnoughts. So, I wanted to find something sweet and did a good job. So, I got together with some of the players that use the guitars and talking to them about what they might want. It's been nicely received. The first person to buy one was Callum McColl and he's been gigging it. That's been helpful because he can point out the pros and cons of it and how it's working. We've sold a good few of those.

I'm actually working on a new version of it though, I'm tweaking it again. Some things take years to develop and you get an inkling. I'm going to widen the top shoulders and the waist. I think it will just suddenly do something I'm hoping for. Having lived with it for a while as well.

The first batch we made, we made some deeper bodied versions, and I was never sure how this worked, so we ended up doing a different body. Two things happened: Jim Moray's got one - his third Atkin - and he reckoned it was one of the best ones he's got. Then, Bill Collings came over and he picked up the deeper bodied one and he said 'Wow man, this sounds really neat' and I was thinking maybe I need to readjust some of this. So, yes, there's some scope for taking that on so it's absolutely tip-top.

Probably my favourite guitar moment last year was Anna Massie at The Isle Of Colonsay Festival. Just for an example, how did Anna go about choosing one of your models. Were you involved?

She phoned me up and I've got to admit I didn't know who she was. She said she'd been playing with Eddi Reader and Eddi had a small jumbo of mine and did I have a cutaway one in stock. She just ordered it. It was finished, she never played it, and it was sent to Scotland. I didn't meet her for another two years and then I heard her play and I thought oh wow! That's frightening.

You must have already achieved some of your original goals. What do you plan/hope for now?

I just want to make the guitars better and better. We make about sixty guitars a year at the moment and I'm not even sure I want to make more than that. I just want to get to the point where it becomes slicker and slicker and getting really on top of it. Once it gets slicker it becomes more fun. Then just developing more ideas, there's always something that comes up, always players that come out of the blue.

I would like to make a guitar for Richard Thompson or Joni Mitchell. But, to be honest, right now I'm seeing the young players of the era playing my guitars, I just think that's as good as it gets actually. They are out there doing it, they're involved. Seeing people like Kris, Jim Moray and Boo out there doing those concerts, writing new songs on them, you feel somehow you've helped to progress the music. Maybe I'm wrong about that but that's my little part in the whole thing, I've perhaps helped inspire them to do something, you know, for me that's where it's really at and I would like to continue making guitars that inspire people.

David Kushar

www.atkinguitars.com/

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