A Guitar Podcast
The Acoustic Soundboard UK gatherings started in 2010 at the White Lion in Hebden Bridge. The Soundboard itself came about…
The Acoustic Soundboard UK guitar forum hosts an annual gathering of guitar nerds. It started out in Hebden Bridge, hence…
Rosie Heydenrych of Turnstone Guitars had been on my radar for a while, so naturally I was jumping for joy…
The Acoustic Soundboard UK gatherings started in 2010 at the White Lion in Hebden Bridge. The Soundboard itself came about on the back of the old Acoustic Life forum that was run by the UK magazine Acoustic. When the magazine folded, the forum was put to sleep without any warning. Some of the regulars got together under the leadership of Martin Robertson and rebranded their backup forum as the independent Acoustic Soundboard.
I recorded an interview with Martin at HB9 in 2018 and he goes into the history a bit in that recording.
Martin Robertson is the founder of the Acoustic Soundboard UK acoustic guitar forum and the organiser of the annual gatherings in Yorkshire. I attended the gathering for the first time…
The gatherings have always been in Yorkshire, as it’s a fairly central location for the whole country. After its beginnings at the White Lion in Hebden Bridge, it moved to the Wool Merchant in Halifax, then to the Imperial Crown Hotel. It’s still lovingly referred to as HB#, with the # representing the number from the first gathering.
I joined the forum in 2015, having found it through Bernd, a player with a shared love of the instruments on the late Heiner Dreizehnter. I’m pretty sure I found Bernd through Heiner’s website. As far as I know he’s been to every gathering!
Hi folks, just found my way here thanks to Aquarius, a fellow Heiner Dreizehnter player, who I discovered on YouTube through Heiner’s site I think. Some of you might know me from the old forum days. I used to be on AG magazine forum, APM, Harmony Central and AGF, as well as my own Celtic Guitar Talk. I’ve been out of the loop for a while since moving back to my native Scotland from Luxembourg in 2008 and having the old job and family thing. This looks like a fun place to hang out and I’m betting I’ll know some of you!
Looking forward to some guitar related banter once again!
My first post on the Soundboard, 6 March 2015
The Acoustic Soundboard UK guitar forum hosts an annual gathering of guitar nerds. It started out in Hebden Bridge, hence the HB title. The last few have been at the…
This was my first time at the Acoustic Soundboard annual UK gathering, now in its 9th year and held in Halifax. Its roots are in Hebden Bridge, hence the moniker…
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The Acoustic Soundboard UK guitar forum hosts an annual gathering of guitar nerds. It started out in Hebden Bridge, hence the HB title. The last few have been at the Imperial Crown Hotel in Halifax.
It starts off on the Friday and runs through to Monday morning, with guitar players, guitar makers and some significant others and offspring coming and going as their lives permit.
The 10th anniversary gathering was in September 2019 and had lots of really magical moments.
Catching documentary film of the event is tricky when you have a guitar in your hands, but I did capture what I could. My goal is to make a proper vlog style documentary of the next gathering, which will most likely be in 2021 because of COVID-19.
A big part of the Acoustic Soundboard UK gatherings is Saturday night’s song circle, lovingly called the Circle of Death. Everyone that wants to play sits around the function room in a big ‘circle’ and the playing goes around the room, with each person taking their turn. It continues until there’s one person left, so generally daylight!
I recorded a few performances and present them here for your enjoyment and entertainment.
First up is Rosie Heydenrych of Turnstone Guitars, playing her personal Turnstone TS model.
Next up is Doc from Scotland.
I took some photos of the event in between shooting video and, well, playing guitar! Here are a few of my favourites.
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I had a really good time at this gathering and recorded interviews with a quite a few players and luthiers. I’ll present them here as they are published. Apologies for the lack of video on the interview with Rosie – my technical skills let me down, but I’m learning! Next time Rosie and I meet, we’ll do a proper video. Can’t wait!
Rosie Heydenrych of Turnstone Guitars had been on my radar for a while, so naturally I was jumping for joy when I heard that she was coming to the tenth…
I recorded a few interviews over the weekend with players and makers. I will present them here as they are published.
Turnstone Guitar Company
Rosie is a luthier working out of Surrey in England. She uses traditional tonewoods but is also becoming known for her E series, where she builds guitars entirely from woods native to the UK.
This is Martin playing a NK Forster guitar at the Acoustic Soundboard UK gathering in Halifax in September 2018 during the Saturday night Circle of Death performance circle.
Iain goes by lavaman on the Acoustic Soundboard forum. Here he is singing at the Circle of Death at the 9th annual gathering of the Acoustic Soundboard forum.
This was my first time at the Acoustic Soundboard annual UK gathering, now in its 9th year and held in Halifax. Its roots are in Hebden Bridge, hence the moniker ‘HB’. This is a selection of photos that I took during the weekend. I had an absolutely wonderful time and was made to feel so welcome. If you enjoy good music and good people, I urge you to attend the gathering if you can. There were several luthiers showing their work, including Colin Symonds who built a guitar and raffled it off with the proceeds going to Prostate Cancer. That’s a glimpse into what kind of people you’ll meet in Halifax.
You can read an interview with Colin on the Acoustic Soundboard Forum here: Interview
If you’re keen, head on over to the Soundboard forum and register for an account. All the info you need will be published there, but it’s generally held in September.
I spoke to a few attendees in my little hotel room and really enjoyed doing it. It’s such a relaxed environment and that really comes over in the recordings I think.
It was so nice to catch up with Andy Howell after having known him online for many years. We talked about podcasts, guitars and music in our hotel in Halifax…
Dave White runs De Faoite Stringed Instruments where he builds guitars, ukuleles, bouzoukis and all manner of strings instruments. I caught up with him in Halifax at the 9th annual…
Martin Robertson is the founder of the Acoustic Soundboard UK acoustic guitar forum and the organiser of the annual gatherings in Yorkshire. I attended the gathering for the first time…
Here is a selection of videos from the weekend, both Circle of Death and Plucky Dip performances.
Cams Campbell
Cams is a guitar enthusiast living on the Isle of Arran in Scotland with his wife and two teenaged children. He has a fine collection of instruments and enjoys playing live around the island.
