Short video about Nick Drake's tone

VimFuego

Nice little video about Nick Drake's guitar tone. I like this Josh chap, been following him for a few years now. Think this vid would be useful for all fingerstylists, not just Drake fanbois.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzdQE3fJW2E

Kittyfrisk

He's very good indeed. Great tone & explanations, thanks for the posting.
Despite him appearing to be about 12... grrrrr.

GTC

Very interesting and thorough analytical  video. I believe ND's signature guitar was a mahogany Guild F-20 (small body) - from the days when Guild were arguably on par with Martin for fine US-made guitars .

I had a lefty one of these (spruce / rosewood) which I'd owned from new in 1977 - but then sold it two years ago when I returned to music making after a 10-year sabbatical and mistakenly thought ukes were going to be my thing! Lovely guitar, something I now regret - double grrrr.
The presenter does look a lot younger than the average policeman!

bbill335

Thanks for that, interesting info on the strings, i spent years wondering why old recordings sounded nothing like the acoustic sounds you hear in the 21st century, then i discovered that the ubiquitous and nasty phosphor bronze was a product of the 70s and everything before was probably nickel or steel or something, and sounded much different.

VimFuego

yeah, the thing about the strings I had never heard of before. Interestingly, I've never liked new strings, and will go years between changes (I do occasionally cause outbreaks of the plague), so, in that regard anyways, I'm in good company. And yes, him looking like an earnest 12 year old is annoying in the extreme. 

Lewy

GTC said:

Very interesting and thorough analytical  video. I believe ND's signature guitar was a mahogany Guild F-20 (small body) - from the days when Guild were arguably on par with Martin for fine US-made guitars .

I'm pretty sure the ND fans say he only had a photo shoot with that guitar and never played or recorded with it.

TimmyO

Lewy said:

GTC said:

Very interesting and thorough analytical  video. I believe ND's signature guitar was a mahogany Guild F-20 (small body) - from the days when Guild were arguably on par with Martin for fine US-made guitars .

I'm pretty sure the ND fans say he only had a photo shoot with that guitar and never played or recorded with it.

just watching the vid - the guy calls it "...the red herring Guild pictured on the album cover..." 

GTC

TimmyO said:

Lewy said:

GTC said:

Very interesting and thorough analytical  video. I believe ND's signature guitar was a mahogany Guild F-20 (small body) - from the days when Guild were arguably on par with Martin for fine US-made guitars .

I'm pretty sure the ND fans say he only had a photo shoot with that guitar and never played or recorded with it.

just watching the vid - the guy calls it "...the red herring Guild pictured on the album cover..." 

Perhaps, but no-one seems to know for sure. The reviewer did say it sounds like recordings were made with a small body. Whatever the truth is, it didn't stop Guild making claims that he played their guitar.

An interesting forum on Nick Drake Guitars is https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/printthread.php?t=102351  . I don't think it makes the matter much clearer -but it does place the M20 (the mahogany version of the F20) as a possibility (e.g. the quote from Richard Thompson saying that he'd only ever seen Nick playing his small-bodied Guild guitar)

KKJale

It's so weird that the matter of what guitar/s ND actually played is still undecided. That little LP cover Guild definitely belonged to the photographer, the guitar still exists and has an unbroken history via the family (you can see the guitar and hear a talk about it somewhere on youtube).

Some feel it was most likely a D28, as that's what Five Leaves Left arranger Robert Kirby remembers.
On the other hand, the most Nick Drake-sounding guitar I ever played was a 1962 Levin Goliath. Exactly like, um... this.

https://i.imgur.com/aArJb5D.jpg

Kittyfrisk

KKJale said:

It's so weird that the matter of what guitar/s ND actually played is still undecided. That little LP cover Guild definitely belonged to the photographer, the guitar still exists and has an unbroken history via the family (you can see the guitar and hear a talk about it somewhere on youtube).

Some feel it was most likely a D28, as that's what Five Leaves Left arranger Robert Kirby remembers.
On the other hand, the most Nick Drake-sounding guitar I ever played was a 1962 Levin Goliath. Exactly like, um... this.

https://i.imgur.com/aArJb5D.jpg

Nice period pic.
Looks a bit like you have 3 feet though 

Back in the day I had a bit of a crush on Nick's sister Gabrielle Drake in Space 1999.

KKJale

Haha. It's not me! It's Nick Drake. 

VimFuego

Kittyfrisk said:

KKJale said:

It's so weird that the matter of what guitar/s ND actually played is still undecided. That little LP cover Guild definitely belonged to the photographer, the guitar still exists and has an unbroken history via the family (you can see the guitar and hear a talk about it somewhere on youtube).

Some feel it was most likely a D28, as that's what Five Leaves Left arranger Robert Kirby remembers.
On the other hand, the most Nick Drake-sounding guitar I ever played was a 1962 Levin Goliath. Exactly like, um... this.

https://i.imgur.com/aArJb5D.jpg

Nice period pic.
Looks a bit like you have 3 feet though 

Back in the day I had a bit of a crush on Nick's sister Gabrielle Drake in Space 1999.

Nick Drake in he's Cornish shocker!!!

Schnozz

I have a USA Guild M20, but I didn't know about Nick Drake until I bought it.

I'm not sure if he played one or not, but it's a good all-rounder IMO.

jonnyburgo

I think that whatever he played he still would have sounded like Nick Drake

richardhomer

Great video - shows it really is ‘all in the fingers’....

jackorion

There's a great book called 'Remembered for a While' which was put together by Nick's sister where they categorically say the Guild M20 was not his and he never owned it, and a friend who knew him all through university and through his recording years who recalls him using a large bodied Martin... The last guitar he owned was a 000-28 but that was purchased after Pink Moon and was only used for the last recordings.

The thing about the guitar having little low end on the recordings therefore it must be a small guitar is a bit misleading I think - there's a lot of bass in Nick's vocal tone on Pink Moon, it's obviously very closely mic'd and it could just be that John Wood decided he would mic the guitar in such a way as to control the low end, who knows?

GTC

I think it is pretty clear that the photoshoot M20 wasn't his - but there are quite a few references to him having either an F20 or M20 at some time or other. Richard Thompson accompanied him on two albums and he stated that he only ever saw him play a small-bodied Guild. Here's another interesting reference https://nick-drake.tumblr.com/guitar 

Having said all that, it is more likely that the main contributors to his distinctive guitar sound were (i) playing style, (ii) using old strings and (iii) use of open tunings (not necessarily in that order) - rather than the guitar itself.

The above link also mentions a nylon-strung guitar.

Professor_SourTone

II have a 50’s M20 and don’t believe ND used one. He had big hands and the neck/nut is narrow. Also, they are lightly built and ND used some testing alt tunings. A 60’s one might be different, though. I believe it was a D28 most of the time, with dead/old strings. He owned a 000 later on, and a cheapish Yamaha classical. Early on a Levin dread. It’s still a mystery and the family approved bio doesn’t clear it up. At least one survives, owned by a friend.

GTC

I bought my F20 new around the mid-1970's and I don't remember it being particularly lightly built or having a particularly narrow neck / nut. It was my second proper left-handed guitar for which I traded in a Guild D25 lefty I hadn't bonded with at Guitar Village. I used a lot of different open tunings back then.

I really wanted a Martin 00018, like Martin Carthy's - and the F20 was similar. There are also references to Nick Drake with a 00018 - the mystery continues

earwighoney

GTC said:

I bought my F20 new around the mid-1970's and I don't remember it being particularly lightly built or having a particularly narrow neck / nut. It was my second proper left-handed guitar for which I traded in a Guild D25 lefty I hadn't bonded with at Guitar Village. I used a lot of different open tunings back then.

I really wanted a Martin 00018, like Martin Carthy's - and the F20 was similar. There are also references to Nick Drake with a 00018 - the mystery continues

I tried a 000-18 from around the time from Martin Carthy (Davy Graham too) early 1950's mystery spruce one and it was the best acoustic guitar I have ever tried.  

The F20 is a smaller bodied instrument than a 000-18, the F30 was the one that was closer to the 000-18. 

GTC

earwighoney sai

I tried a 000-18 from around the time from Martin Carthy (Davy Graham too) early 1950's mystery spruce one and it was the best acoustic guitar I have ever tried.  

The F20 is a smaller bodied instrument than a 000-18, the F30 was the one that was closer to the 000-18. 

You could be right. I was going from memory and that is notoriously unreliable. I tried a 000-28 lefty recently and thought it was a similar size to the F20 I sold a couple of years ago (I was heavily into ukes at the time I sold the F-20  and it is something our now regret).