PAUL VERNON CHESTER

Manouche Maestro

Terry Usher - Jazz - Classical Guitarist & Tutor

Playing on the left is Terry Usher tutor to  ‘Jack’ Duarte, later John W Duarte. Roy Plummer (Right) - who could be the 3rd Guitarist - Curly Clayton? or Jack Duarte?
This picture was taken in the late 40s or very early 50s.

The Guitar is an Epiphone but the the Frequensator Tailpiece has been opposed to place the treble strings to the longest reach.
Tailpieces:

Terence (Terry) Usher, Tutor of the guitar at the Royal Manchester College of Music, recitalist and broadcaster, composer and arranger of works for the guitar, and author of many articles on playing the guitar, recently compiled a paper for The Galpin Society in which he paid tribute to the genius of Marco Roccia. He wrote:

"Most of the modern luthiers have been content to copy the designs (fan strutting) of Torres, Enrique Garcia, Ramirez and other earlier makers whose designs are accepted as standard.  One British Luthier, however Marco Roccia recommenced making guitars after the second world war by casting aside all pre­conceived ideas except those of body size and shape and, calling upon his experience in repairing thousands of old guitars by all the world's makers, began again on new lines. The experiments included double cruciform and other unorthodox barrings; barring found beneath the soundboards of early square pianos; barrings without uniformity of structure placed empirically where the soundbox was proved to be under stress and variations of wood thickness for treble and bass sides of the belly and sides."

A few of us went backstage one morning after rehearsals to meet Django Reinhardt in person at the Manchester Ardwick Hippodrome 1938 (I recall the faces of Terry Usher, John (then) - Jack Duarte, Peter Sloan and other Manchester early guitar stalwarts). Django spoke no English and we but a little, bad schoolboy French. Stephane Grappelli did the honours and conveyed our congratulations, enthusiasms and questions.

The Manchester Guitar Circle was founded in 1946 by Terry Usher and John Duarte with the stated aim of "increasing interest in the classical guitar".

Care of the Guitarists Fingernails -
Daily maintenance after achieving the ideal length/shape is less hassle than a longer once-a-week session. For many years I have carried a pebble in my pocket for the purpose - millions of them available on beaches, pathways etc and by trial and error you will find the ideal abrasive quality. I got the idea from an article by the late Terry Usher (friend and associate of John W Duarte).

The Spanish Guitar in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Terence Usher
The Galpin Society Journal
Vol. 9, (Jun., 1956), pp. 5-36
(article consists of 34 pages)

The Question of Good Taste by Terry Usher 

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Last modified: 13/09/2011