People sometimes ask me what guitar I play. It's a fair question — when you're a solo acoustic act, the guitar isn't just one of the instruments, it's basically the instrument. So you might as well pick one you actually love and know inside out.
This is mine. Why I picked it, what it sounds like, and what I've learned about gigging with the same instrument for years.
Why one guitar for everything
When I started out I had a few different guitars and I'd swap them around for different gigs. Big jumbo for the loud rooms, smaller body for the quiet ones, electric for the times I felt like being a different person. After a few years I realised I was making my life unnecessarily complicated.
So I narrowed it down to one. One guitar that I know like the back of my hand, that I've played hundreds of gigs on, that I trust to behave the same way in a packed Saturday-night pub as it does in a quiet wedding ceremony. The strings have been changed a hundred times, the body has a couple of dings I'm fond of, and the sound is exactly what I want it to be.
If you're a gigging musician reading this — pick the guitar you can play in the dark. The one you can grab without looking at it. That's the one worth taking out four nights a week.
What it sounds like
Warm, woody, balanced — not too bright, not too dark. It's got enough bottom end to carry a strummed Oasis song without sounding thin, and enough top-end clarity that fingerpicked Ed Sheeran or Tracy Chapman parts cut through cleanly. It's a guitar that gets out of the way and lets the song do the work.
I run it through a small acoustic preamp into the PA. Nothing fancy — no effects pedals, no loop station, no clever tricks. Just the guitar, a microphone for the vocal, and a clean signal path. I'm a big believer in making the gig the simplest version of itself, because the simpler it is, the less there is to go wrong, and the more attention I can put on the room.
Looking after a gigging guitar
A guitar that gets played four to six nights a week leads a hard life. Mine lives in a hard case between gigs, gets a fresh set of strings every couple of weeks, and gets a proper setup from a local luthier once or twice a year. I check the action and the intonation regularly because nothing kills the vibe of a gig faster than a guitar that's gone slightly out of tune halfway through a quiet ballad.
A few things I've learned the hard way:
- Never leave the guitar in the van overnight. The temperature swings will warp the neck.
- Direct sunlight at outdoor gigs is the enemy. I always rig some shade.
- Carry a spare set of strings, a tuner, a capo and a couple of plectrums in the gig bag at all times. Things break at the worst moment.
- If something feels off, get it checked. A small thing left alone becomes a big thing in three weeks.
Why this matters for the gig
This whole page might sound like nerdy musician stuff and you might wonder why it's on the website at all. The honest answer is — when you book a solo acoustic singer, you're effectively booking the guitar too. So I think it's worth knowing that the instrument I'm bringing to your wedding or your pub is one I've played hundreds of times, that I trust completely, and that's set up to sound its best from the first chord.
It's not a fancy guitar in the price-tag sense. It's just my guitar — and that's a much more useful thing for the room you're putting me in.
See you out there ❤️