EMAIL THE BEEKEEPER

Updated 11.25.07
The purpose of this section is to provide general information regarding the various gear and tunings of Richard Thompson. Specific questions (considered on
an individual basis) available here. Please click the 'envelope' icon at the top of the page to submit your question.
"Well folks, I mainly play on stage a Lowden L32C (old model name - it's called something else now). I own a spare of the same model, but with Walnut back/sides and cedar top - used on Old Kit Bag. I also have a baby Lowden, currently in London, so I can't check the model number, and three Ferrington acoustics, and my old Martin 00018, which is a bit bashed about. The main stage guitar has a Sunrise magnetic soundhole pickup, and a Countryman Isomax Condenser Mic in the soundhole. These both run through a 2 channel Gas Cooker Pre-Amp, made by Ridge Farm Studios. The Sunrise also goes through optional effects - a Line 6 Delay Modeller and a UniVibe rotary effect (Dan Armstrong?). From there into the P.A."
'59 Sunburst Stratocaster, with a maple '55 neck (serial #38309)

Since he was a founding member of Fairport Convention, this Strat was Richard Thompson’s chief electric guitar, and was the tool used for the harrowing guitar work on 1982’s Shoot Out the Lights, which Rolling Stone magazine rates as one of the best rock albums of all time. Thompson purchased it in 1971 on London’s Denmark Street, having previously used a mid-‘60s Strat. “When I started playing Fenders in 1968, it was unfashionable because everyone in England was playing Gibsons and trying to get a big, fat sound like Eric Clapton had in Cream. I just wanted a little more bite,” he recalls. After ten years the first neck was literally wore out, and replaced with a 1955. The original bridge was another casualty.
photo credit: Neil Emond
Ferrington Custom Guitar (with a mixture of pickups)

"I like my blue Ferringtoncaster best, although the top string could be louder."

"The blue Ferrington has a P90 at the neck, an Alnico Strat in the middle, and a Broadcaster at the bridge. It has a 5 position p/u selector. Each p/u has a volume control, but no tone. In the blend positions, this gives infinite tone combinations between p/us, by backing off the volumes."
photo credit: Ron Slenzak
"I get confused with the numberings, but I think I play L27FCs, medium body, single cutaway. George Lowden, the founder of the company, has just taken back the rights to Lowden Guitars, after concerns about quality, and his new production line is up and running; I was at the factory in Northern Ireland this summer, and witnessed the first guitars of the new era, and I must say – they are absolutely superb! They will be in short supply for the next couple of years, I suspect, so put your name down early."


photo credit John Swanda

photo credit kellyguitars
 This guitar is shown on the cover of Richard Thompson's recent CD, Front Parlour Ballads. It is a 'Kellycaster Blackguard' modified by Bobby Eichhorn.

"And fab in a whole other way is the Kellycaster, a 3 pickup Tele-type, which really screams. This guitar was a gift from my guitar tech, Bobby Eichhorn, who used to work at Kelly Guitars." He says:

‘The specs as far as I remember are:
Scale is 25 1/2 inch
12 inch Radius
1 inch 5/8 's at the nut
Medium Jumbo frets
I believe an alder body
Swamp Ash is also a very good choice
Your particular Kellycaster has a Strat headstock.
Otherwise it has pretty stock fender measurements.
Pickups: Neck & Bridge are Vintage Tele
Middle Pickup I believe is a Lindy Fralin Strat pickup.
A fairly recent addition to Richard's collection...
Eastman Uptown AR805-CE

Scale Length: 25"
Neck Width at Nut: 1 11/16"
Bracing: X
Body Width: 16"
Back & Sides: Solid Maple
Top: Solid Spruce
Neck: 3-ply Maple
Fingerboard: Ebony
F-Hole with Cutaway & Pickup
photo credit: Ron Slenzak
I bought my hurdy gurdy as a kit from the Early Music Shop in the UK, in the 80s. At the time, it only cost 120 Pounds, I’m sure it’s gone up since then. The key box was preformed, and the wheel was cut, but everything else needed some, or a lot of, work. The Early Music Shop rated it as ‘difficult’ (but not as hard as a harpsichord). It took me well over a year to make it, because I would get frustrated, curse the poor diagrams, and throw it in a drawer for months at a time. Danny Ferrington seriously baled me out on several occasions, sprayed on the lacquer, and cut out the little cutesy moons and stars. I would say, it's not as easy to play as a dulcimer, and far, far harder to keep running. It’s crucial that the wheel is revolving accurately, and rosin is required to keep the strings biting properly. Mine is currently suffering from a knock, and the wheel has shifted. If it
is possible, geared tuning pegs will save huge amounts of frustration. To play a basic drone and a simple tune (about my level) is not too hard, but to play like Nigel Eaton will take great application and dedication. If you admit defeat, and just hang it on the wall of your living room, it’s a fine conversation-piece.
...It's a Ferrington custom.
This instrument was featured in the asymmetrical coffee table
classic, 'Ferrington Guitars' (never off MY coffee table) page 67
et seq. Since the book,
a third pickup has been added.


photo credit: Ron Slenzak
 What a poser I am! Sometimes I do photo sessions with a guitar chosen for the colour only, shame, shame. The Dano is an old friend, however. I used it on many tracks on many records , 'Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen' and 'Crawl Back' spring to mind. I love the baritones and basses too.

photo credit: Ron Slenzak		 This is a Peerless, manufactured in Korea. Fred Walecki, who runs my local music haven, Westwood Music, bought up a bunch of the prototypes for this model at a trade show, figuring that the manufacturing standard would probably drop away once the orders were rolling in. The price was v. reasonable, and it sounds terrific; it probably cost a tenth of what you would have to pay for a Gibson Switchmaster.