Action speaks louder than words! Part I. Opening Chords.

Around two year ago, I was stood in a queue in a shop in Liverpool's vibrant Baltic Triangle. Gazing around the room, I noticed a stack of postcards on a small display table. I was drawn to the photograph of a rather nice looking, but unusual, electric guitar. No surprises there: I had spent most of my spare time at school between trying get to grips with this wonderful instrument and poring over guitar magazines and catalogues. Some of you may remember the famous Bell catalogue!. According to the information on the card, Palfray guitars was just around the corner from the Life Sciences UTC, in the Cains Brewery Village. I put the card in my pocket and forgot about it. However, a few weeks later, while trying to wrestle with the tuning on my 40 year old Maccaferri copy (the iconic guitar played by legendary acoustic jazzer, Django Reinhardt over 70 years ago), I thought here was an opportunity to get my CMI fixed up once and for all. I rang the number on the card, but unfortunately Ray (Palfray) who answered, was too busy to take a look until the New Year: by now it was near Christmas.  In January 2017, I finally met Ray and he not only fixed a problem that had come between me and my prized possession, but he added an "invisible" pick-up, integrated into the bridge turning my much loved acoustic guitar into an electro-acoustic. Looking around his workshop: compact and bijou maybe; but to me, an Aladdin's cave, I envied his lot in life!

A few months later, I had the good fortune to persuade one of Liverpool's finest guitarists, Mark Flanagan, of Jools Holland fame, to come to the NLA, en route to Glastonbury, to deliver a great version of the Lennon and McCartney classic All You Need is Love, deftly accompanied by the choir at the North Liverpool Academy. I think it made for a great denouement, to a wonderful evening celebrating ethnic and social diversity at the school. The evening continued into the early hours, with a celebration in the traditional manner back in the city centre. I then thought: why not bring the guitar making (luthier) skills of Ray and the musicianship of Mark together as the centre-piece of a schools project. After all, Liverpool is possibly a world heritage site for popular music, and has an incredible luthier legacy from Unilever engineer Stan Francis, in fact Mark has a Stan Francis original! And so, with the support of students and staff at the North Liverpool Academy, the Liverpool Studio School and the Life Sciences UTC (all part of the Northern Schools Trust) and a generous gesture from the founder of the Northern Schools Trust, the project got underway. 

The finished article
Photo credit Michael McGloughlin)

As the year progressed, the guitar design took shape with Ray introducing the students to his woodcraft, his electronic skills, and of course his passion for The Blues! Ray discussed design principles, selection of wood, neck curvature, pick up design, switching, "bucking-the -hum", balance of the body and neck over the player etc. etc. The students discussed body designs, made mock ups, interacted with Ray, stood star-struck as Mark talked of accompanying Eric Clapton, rehearsing with Paul Simon and deliberating over the piano skills of Jools Holland and  New Orleans' very own Dr. John. I think you will agree, a totally unique project and one that will be the first of many.

And I hope you agree, the guitar that Mark collected is, as Michael McGloughlin commented (as he captured the event with his camera) "a work of art". I am going to leave you now with a quote from Mark Flanagan, which made me choke, and I think sums up the whole ethos of the project, conjuring up for me, the spirit of Annie Proulx's great novel, Accordion Crimes: .

"Let me just say that as I accept this beautiful instrument, it is on the understanding that it is in my custody, until the day comes when I keel over, and then arrangements will have been put in place for the guitar to be returned to the Academy for the next lucky recipient."

Coming next

• Part II The Luthier's story
• Part III The Journey and the Journeymen
• Part IV The Axeman cometh
• Part V Hootenanny and the next project!