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14 June 2020 By Cams

Acoustic Soundboard UK Gatherings

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.

podcast

Martin Robertson

Cams2 October 20181 min read

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…

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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

Acoustic Soundboard UK Posts with Video and Photos

Acoustic Soundboard UK Gathering – HBX

Cams29 May 20202 min read

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…

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Acoustic Soundboard UK Gathering – HB9

Cams12 October 20182 min read

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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29 May 2020 By Cams

Acoustic Soundboard UK Gathering – HBX

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.

Circle of Death Performances

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.

Photos of the Acoustic Soundboard UK Gathering

I took some photos of the event in between shooting video and, well, playing guitar! Here are a few of my favourites.

HB10

54 photos

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Interviews

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

Cams28 May 20202 min read

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…

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Interviews

I recorded a few interviews over the weekend with players and makers. I will present them here as they are published.

Rosie Heydenrych

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.

5 November 2018 By Cams

Nick Harper House Gig

Just a quick one to check in and show a few pics from last night’s house concert with Nick Harper in Glasgow last night. Utterly astounding. Nick claimed not to have been on good form, but I and the rest of the 20 or so people that were I’m sure would disagree with that. He played well, with real emotion. The connection was real, so very real.

Podcast with Nick Harper

I was very lucky to get the chance to sit down with him before and after the gig and record some conversation for my podcast, which I’m very excited to edit and publish. I’m away to Steemfest3 in Poland tomorrow, so it’ll probably be a couple of weeks before I get to that content.

I also have lots of video to produce and publish from that show. You’re all in for a real treat to hear just how on his game Nick was.

Oh, and I learned that one of my favourites of his, The Verse that Time Forgot was written in Lochranza on the Isle of Arran, just up the road from where I’m writing this!

Two Nick Harper fans wearing Harperspace T-shirts — Great to meet Graham, with a rather less laundered copy of the shirt I was wearing!

House concerts really are the best way to hear a musician, particularly when there’s a real connection between artist and audience. I don’t know of any artist that I connect with on quite the same level.

The version of This is the Beginning was outstanding. Such emotion. I’m tearing up now thinking about the performance, just as Nick was tearing up telling the story of the song’s provenance. A special moment indeed.

No Lowden?

Yes, Nick wasn’t playing his Lowden; he was playing a PRS Angelus A40E. What stood out to me about that was that it sounded just like Nick. That’s all I’m going to say about that for now as we covered a lot of that in the interview.

Can’t wait to see him again! Should be in April when he’s touring with cover songs on a cheap guitar to commemorate the musicians that used to come round Roy’s flat.

Performance Videos of Nick Harper

Thanks to Nick Harper for giving me permission to record some video of his show.

17 October 2018 By Cams

Midnight Run – Goodbye Old Pal

Bluegrass band Midnight Run visited Crofters’ Music Bar on Arran in October 2018 during their UK tour and played a blinding set. The music was tasteful, with great tone and timing, and the vocals and harmonies were a sheer delight to listen to.

Rodney Worley leads the vocals on this old Bill Monroe number.

Check out the band on their website: Midnight Run

16 October 2018 By Cams

Bogey’s Bonny Belle

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.

15 October 2018 By Cams

Gordon Giltrap Workshop

Gordon Giltrap was one of the guest performers at the 21st annual UK gathering of the RMMGA newsgroup, held at Springhill in the Cotswolds. The setting was beautiful – a large country estate in the heart of one of the prettiest parts of England.

Gordon played a fantastic concert on the Saturday night, but before that, we sat in the beautiful parlour and listened to Gordon’s talking about his life and music, including a few musical numbers up close and personal. He discussed his wonderful new signature series Fylde guitar, composition, technique and shared many wonderful anecdotes from his musical career.

I invite you all to put the kettle on, load up the video and enjoy an enchanting hour with Gordon Giltrap.

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Your Host

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.