Ian's Guitar

[Tommiebaby]

I'm sure this has been discussed but I never heard an explanation. There are many excellent sounding acoustic guitars of normal size out there. Why does Ian play that real small one. Is it a problem for him to play the ones he used to? Has this been discussed? Thanks.

[jtul07]

Jan 26, 2013 20:04:56 GMT -5 Tommiebaby said:

I'm sure this has been discussed but I never heard an explanation.
There are many excellent sounding acoustic guitars of normal size out there. Why does Ian play that real small one.
Is it a problem for him to play the ones he used to? Has this been discussed? Thanks.

I'm not sure, but it seems the smaller guitar surfaced in '95 with the Roots to Branches Tour.
I think Ian has mentioned being happy to play a lighter instrument in general as long as the sound was right.

[Tommiebaby]

I see. It just looks funny to me. haha.

[housebrick]

I think his Martin guitars were too valuable also to take onto the road

[jtul07]

This fuzzy image was taken at the Beacon in November '95. The next time I saw Ian in March of '96 his guitar was much smaller.

It may be that the smaller guitar became a necessity after the injury in Peru which put Ian in a wheelchair.

[Teacher]

Seems like I read or heard somewhere that he can carry the smaller guitar on the plane and it fits in the overhead compartments. No chance of loosing the thing. He doesn't seem to be missing anything as far as sound goes. I like it!

[flutestobranches]

I've gotten so used to his tiny acoustic guitars that if he switched to a larger one it would look odd to me! I love the sound he gets from them, too!

[Tommiebaby]

It looks to be the size of a mandolin. Must be a lor easier to play

[Deleted]

My girlfriend has a Baby Taylor acoustic which is tiny, but gets a great sound and it is a lot easier to handle.

The man who designed dreadnought guitars (the most popular acoustic guitar design) thought they would never sell because they were so big!

My theory is Ian likes the guitar because it makes him look big

[Deleted]

These small guitars were custom made for Ian by Andrew Mason from the UK. www.andymanson.com. I believe The Martin guitars became too valuable to travel with and Ian also wanted something smaller for this purpose. Here are Ian's words about them from jtull.com

During the eighties, I switched to guitars from Andrew Manson, an English luthier, who works in Devon producing hand-made guitars for aficionados of acoustic instruments. Based on traditional designs by the Martin Company as well as on the ideas of Andy and myself, we have come up with modern variations on the theme, giving a compact guitar with the resonance and playability associated previously with the big "jumbo" style guitars favoured by Country artists. The sexy little parlour guitars are not at all common in pop and rock music: indeed, I am probably one of the very few to use them. The instrument currently on tour with me is the smallest ever! It is a 3/4 size parlour guitar based on a French design of 150 years ago. I sent Andrew Manson the drawings and measurements and even he was surprised at how well it played and sounded, especially fitted with one of the Fishman transducer pick-ups which I have been using since the late eighties.

[Burgess]

I don't think he stopped using the Martin's because they were too valuable. Ian has a collection of valuable old Martin's but his stage guitar was always a Martin New Yorker which wouldn't be any more valuable than his hand made baby guitar he uses today which is based on old parlor shapes. I can see why he likes the small body instrument on stage, small or big they sound the same plugged in. I do wish he wouldn't use it in the studio though, to me it doesn't sound as nice as a the larger bodied guitars.

[Deleted]

Feb 9, 2013 9:46:04 GMT -5 Burgess said:

I don't think he stopped using the Martin's because they were too valuable. Ian has a collection of valuable old Martin's but his stage guitar was always a Martin New Yorker which wouldn't be any more valuable than his hand made baby guitar he uses today which is based on old parlor shapes. I can see why he likes the small body instrument on stage, small or big they sound the same plugged in. I do wish he wouldn't use it in the studio though, to me it doesn't sound as nice as a the larger bodied guitars.

Interesting you should say that. I agree that the smaller bodied guitars don't fit the "Tull sound" as much as the larger bodied guitars do, but they do have their place--to me it has almost become part of the "Tull sound", probably just by experience.

[Deleted]

Feb 9, 2013 9:46:04 GMT -5 Burgess said:

I don't think he stopped using the Martin's because they were too valuable. Ian has a collection of valuable old Martin's but his stage guitar was always a Martin New Yorker which wouldn't be any more valuable than his hand made baby guitar he uses today which is based on old parlor shapes. I can see why he likes the small body instrument on stage, small or big they sound the same plugged in. I do wish he wouldn't use it in the studio though, to me it doesn't sound as nice as a the larger bodied guitars.

Could it have something to do with the kind of pick-ups he's using?
He used to have to tape all the pick ups and connections to the outside of a very valuable old guitar. With the custom made Mansons (is it?) I've noticed he he can plug a 3/4 inch plug right into the guitar, so the pick-up is built right in and he doesn't have to violate an old beauty.
He made a big deal back in 76 about finally putting a pick-up on his acoustic
" plugging in the embellical chord of E Lec Tricity"
Darin

[tabitaanderson]

Jan 31, 2013 14:51:40 GMT -5 @kaibailey said:

My girlfriend has a Baby Taylor acoustic which is tiny, but gets a great sound and it is a lot easier to handle.

The man who designed dreadnought guitars (the most popular acoustic guitar design) thought they would never sell because they were so big!

My theory is Ian likes the guitar because it makes him look big

Good Kai! What matters is the sound and everything he makes good on stage, the size of the instrument does not matter, but how you use it.

[tabitaanderson]

is good out of the sameness of...

[Burgess]

Feb 9, 2013 13:56:05 GMT -5 @darincody said:

Feb 9, 2013 9:46:04 GMT -5 Burgess said:

I don't think he stopped using the Martin's because they were too valuable. Ian has a collection of valuable old Martin's but his stage guitar was always a Martin New Yorker which wouldn't be any more valuable than his hand made baby guitar he uses today which is based on old parlor shapes. I can see why he likes the small body instrument on stage, small or big they sound the same plugged in. I do wish he wouldn't use it in the studio though, to me it doesn't sound as nice as a the larger bodied guitars.

Could it have something to do with the kind of pick-ups he's using?
He used to have to tape all the pick ups and connections to the outside of a very valuable old guitar. With the custom made Mansons (is it?) I've noticed he he can plug a 3/4 inch plug right into the guitar, so the pick-up is built right in and he doesn't have to violate an old beauty.
He made a big deal back in 76 about finally putting a pick-up on his acoustic
" plugging in the embellical chord of E Lec Tricity"
Darin

He doesn't use the pickup when recording, he mics it as is the norm. Pickups are a trade off when playing live. Of course he could use a mic live but he would never get the volume required. I've always liked his live sound though, he's got it about as good as you could get. But on recent albums I can hear the little guitar, even miced up it lacks body and bass which is to be expected considering its size. Not that its a bad sound but I prefer the sound of his larger guitars. But in a live situation the size of the guitar doesn't matter when using under saddle pickups.