PAUL
VERNON CHESTER
Manouche Maestro
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Manouche Maestro |
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Roy Sainsbury's - Guitars
His first memory of playing a really good-quality jazz guitar was when he had a
residency with a quartet in Bristol.
Frank Evans, one of Britain's finest
guitarists, was at the hotel one night and he asked Roy if he would like to use
his Gibson ES-175, which he did. In comparison to his own
Abbot Victor guitar, the quality of the ES-175 was amazing.
Years later he realizes that it was a particularly good one, as none of those he
has subsequently played
Roy heard that Ivor Mairants was selling his Gibson Johnny Smith. Ivor had used it during the many years when he was recording and broadcasting with the Mantovani Orchestra. He brought it to Bristol from London and Roy bought it for £400. By today's prices that sounds pretty cheap, but it was about the correct price at that time, and bearing in mind that Ivor Mairants was one of the best known guitar players in Britain and also owned the mecca of guitar emporia in Rathbone Place, London. It wouldn't have been sold at a bargain price. Roy used that instrument for a number of years, and sometime later he got a very good job playing six nights a week with a twelve-piece dance band at the Locarno Ballroom in Bristol. The Gibson Johnny Smith wasn't really suitable, as they needed to play all types of music from pop to strict tempo dance music and he sold it and replaced with a cherry-red Gibson ES-335. The first year in production the ES-335 had a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays, 2 humbuckers, bigsby vibrato or stop tailpiece, bound top and back, neck joins the body at the 19th fret, 4 knobs (2-vol 2-tone) , tuneomatic bridge, pickguard extends below the bridge, large fat neck, and were made in sunburst or natural finishes . (this model is highly desirable and sought after by collectors) 1965 Gibson 
Trapeze tailpiece replaces stop tailpiece (Bigsby
vibrato is also still available), chrome parts replace nickel parts, neck
nut width decreases from the standard 1 11/16" to 1 5/8" or 1 9/16" (known
as the "small" neck, and this subtle 1/16" to 1/8" change is very noticeable
to anyone familiar with these guitars). These changed transitioned in during
1965, so a 1965 model could still have a stop tail, nickel parts, and a 1
11/16" neck (or have chrome parts, trapeze, and a 1 9/16" neck).
Roy had carried an elusive jazz guitar sound in his head for many years, but until he finally found his 1937 Gibson ES-150, he had never quite attained it, The history of this seventy -year-old guitar has been lost in the mists of time. However, it came about that a friend of his, Tom James, buys and sells guitars, and he had seen this old ES-150 advertised on Ebay. Tom contacted the advertiser, who lived in New York. The vendor said that his business was house clearance and he had been clearing out the attic of an apartment when he came across this dusty old guitar total forsaken and neglected. Where had it come from? Who had played it during its long lifetime? Oh if only it could talk! Tom expressed interest in buying the instrument and the seller informed Tom that it was in extremely poor condition. He must have known something about guitars because he mentioned that it sounded very nice. Tom won the bid for it and needed to arrange delivery from. New York to England. The seller asked if by chance he lived anywhere near Bourton on the Water in the Cotswolds, because he would be visiting there on holiday the very next week. So one week later and after only a twenty-minute drive from his home, Tom had the guitar in his hands. Roy subsequently received telephone call from Tom who told him that he had guitar that he thought had the sort of sound Roy was looking for, so Roy made the journey to Tom's house in Gloucestershire. When he first set eyes on the guitar he wondered why Tom had bothered to ask him down. It was in appalling condition, with the neck worn down to the bare wood It was cracked in several places, the neck was very rough under the fingers and the frets were dreadful. It was fitted with the original bar pickup, later known as the Charlie Christian pick-up, which was the one without the notch under the second string, but as soon as he picked it up and plugged it in he said "Yes"! It sounded sweet, with tremendous clarity and a certain beautiful mellowness about it. It was exactly the sound that he'd been looking for. Roy told me how difficult it is to describe a sound, but jazz players will know what he means.
After spending a fair amount of money on the instrument it looked more presentable, played like a dream and precisely the sound that Roy had in his mind. The guitar is fitted with a string damper made by guitarist Pat Farrand, which is an improvement on the original George Van Eps damper. It takes up less space, making it easier to play in the first position; also the pressure on the strings can be varied by the lock to increase or decrease the degree of damping, and the open strings can still be played and they still sound good.
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Roy
has played with many of the finest jazz players, including Scott
Hamilton, Peanuts Hucko, Tommy Whittle and Don Lusher, and done has
done several engagements with the "British Kings of Swing," consisting of
Digby Fairweather on trumpet, Roy Williams on
trombone, Alan Barnes on all of the saxophones, and clarinet,
Neil Bullock on drums and Tom Hill, a
wonderful bass player from the USA. During his residency at the Westmoreland
Hotel, Roy took delivery of a custom-made guitar by the revered English Luthier
Dick Knight. It was a large-bodied archtop aptly named the
Knight Imperial. He has fond memories of the first night he
used that guitar when they performed to a full-house.
Roy traded in some pickups
that he had, and with the trade and a cash adjustment, the guitar cost him about
£1,800. Roy then took it to Gordon Wells, Dick Knight's
son-in-law, who had taken over the manufacturing and repairing of guitars. He
worked or Roy's guitar for many hours and repaired the cracks which are still
there but are almost invisible. He re-fretted it, refinished the neck and parts
of the body and brought it up to standard. 
