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TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Guitars currently in use by Steve Phillips.
GIBSON ES100 (circa 1938)
Spruce top, maple back and sides and a mahogany neck.
This model was the smaller version of the first Gibson guitars ever manufactured, the ’Charlie Christian ES150’. It was a complete wreck when I bought it around 1996, though all the original parts were there the body was out of shape and held together with masses of epoxy resin, 2’’ x 1’’ timber and screws!
It is probably the most daunting restoration job I have ever undertaken but it has proved being worthwhile with all the brain ache as it has turned out to be the electric guitar that I had been looking for all of my life. Gibson used the same body shape that they used in the design for the popular L00 flat top guitar.
GIBSON L4 (circa 1928)
Spruce
top, maple back and sides and a mahogany neck.
This is very similar in design to the first guitars Gibson built around 1900. It has a carved front and back with an oval soundhole, after the mid 1920’s ’F’ holes became more popular on arch top guitars like these.
This particular guitar has a beautifully profiled neck as comfortable as any ’Les Paul’ electric guitar from the 1950’s.
I bought it from a retired dance band musician around 1970.
I have also fitted it with a P-90 pick-up and quite often use it on any band type gigs I do. It also features on my last two albums.
GIBSON L-50 (circa 1937)
Latest addition to the family ........ which is a bit of a pun as this guitar has been given to me by my brother Jonathan Phillips.
Spruce top, maple back, sides and neck.
From the 1930's to the 1960's these instruments were the 'no frills' standard cello guitar of the company.
I have restored the guitar to its former glory, fitting and old P-90 pick-up to a new replacement pick guard. I now use this guitar for my band gigs as it has a unique sound. Thank you Jonathon.
MARTIN 00018 (circa 1931)
Spruce
top, mahogany back, sides and neck.
Although this is one of ’Martin’s’ basic models these instruments are quite scarce as they were changing over to 14 frets to the body by the early 1930’s. Before 1926 most 12 frets to the body ’Martin’s’ were built for gut strings so there is a relatively small output braced for steel strings.
These are among the most powerful finger style guitars ever made, this instrument has now been retired from going out on the road though it has been used on many of my recordings.
The guitar was discovered, long forgotten, in the back of a wardrobe in the late 1970’s.
MARTIN 0016C (circa 1964)
Spruce
top, mahogany back, sides and neck.
These instruments were produced during the folk revival of the 1960’s. It was originally built for nylon or ’gut’ strings but it didn’t sound good in my opinion so I have rebuilt it for steel strings, cutting down the neck to the same profile as my ’00018’, fitting an ebony fingerboard and an ebony pyramid bridge.
It sounds fantastic now and this is the instrument that I strum on late at night when I am trying to work up new ideas.
It was a very generous gift from my good friend, Andre De Moller, the Suffolk based bluesman.
RALPH BOWN 12 String (1999)
Spruce
top, maple back and sides and a mahogany neck.
Ralph has got to be one of the finest luthiers around, this instrument is based on the smaller size 12 string that ’Stella Guitars’ produced in the pre-war days. Ralph managed to get a plan for it from a guy in the U.S.A who owns an original one.
I have this one strung higher than the ’Phillips’ 12 string to around ’D’ so I can get more of a jangly sound. The body shape falls somewhere between a Martin ’000’ and a ’00’ size.
NATIONAL LAP STEEL (circa 1936)
Solid
aluminium body.
These guitars are among the first electric instruments National made aimed at the Hawaiian music craze.
The bodies are cast aluminium and apparently the process for casting was aided by the famous electric guitar maker, ’Rickenbacker’ who was the first man to put electric Hawaiian guitars into production at the beginning of the 1930’s. The solid metal body gives the instrument a truly phenomenal tone – the first heavy metal guitar!
I used it on my recording of ’Evening Star’ on the ’Been A Long Time Gone’ album.
BELTONA ELECTRIC RESONATOR (circa 1992)
Nickel
plated brass body and mahogany neck.
This was a prototype that Steve Evans and Bill Johnson built for me. This has been my number one stage guitar for playing bottleneck since I first acquired it.
The body is based on a Gibson Les Paul shape, fitted with a P90 pick-up and two transducer strip pick-ups on the resonator. It sounds equally good plugged in through a P.A. system to achieve a more acoustic resonator tone or plugged straight into a guitar amp to get a more tough RnB sound.
This has also been used on my last three albums.
N.S. PHILLIPS 12 string (1977)
Spruce
top, Indian Rosewood back and sides and mahogany neck.
This is the first instrument I ever made. I was inspired to build it because in the 1970’s it was impossible to buy a factory made 12 string that delivered the goods. It has a long scale length at 26.5’’ like the ’Stella’ guitars that Blind Willie McTell used.
This is also the guitar that I have used for all the 12 string work on my albums.
The body shape is the same as my ’00018’. ’Martin Guitars’ made only three special order ’000’ 12 strings in the early 1900’s, none of which have resurfaced to my knowledge. I figured this body size would make a great 12 stringer as my six string ’000’ version is so powerful. I usually have this instrument fitted with heavy strings so I can tune it down to around ’B’.
Other
musicians who own N.S. Phillips guitars include:
Brendan
Croker: 1 x ’000’ model and 1 x Phillips/Beltona resonator model.
Mark
Knopfler: 1 x ’000’ model and 1 x ’000/J185’ model.
Sholto
Lenaghan: 1 x ’000’ model.
Dave
Peabody: 1 x ’000’ 12 string model.
Dave
Speight: 1 x ’000’ model.
Tony Joe White: 1 x ’000’ model.
N.S. PHILLIPS 6 string (1986)
Spruce
top, Indian Rosewood back and sides and mahogany neck.
This is one that I built and has been my stage acoustic guitar since I retired the ’Martin 00018’ from the road. During the period of my life when I made my living repairing musical instruments I built about ten flat tops – this one was the last I ever made as I was starting to become very busy touring by 1986, so I figured I ought to keep one for myself.
I recently revarnished it as it was looking in a bit of a sorry state after enduring 18 years on the road.
The body shape is somewhere between a ’Martin 000’ and a ’Gibson J185’.
PHILLIPS-JOHNSON RESONATOR (2002)
Brass
body and maple neck.
I
no longer own any original acoustic resonator National’s as the very
rare ’DON’ style 2 I used on stage for many years eventually became
worth a small fortune and it was too much of a liability to take out on
the road anymore so it has gone to a collector of ’National’s’ in
Canada.
The body of this instrument was made by Bill Johnson, a very talented metal worker who made the bodies for ’Beltona Guitars’ when they were based in England. I made the neck out of maple which has been finished in black french polish. It has turned out to be a great substitute for the ’DON’ and is fitted with an original early 1930’s resonator that I restored.
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Perhaps I'll comment on some old flames in due course!