’79 Kevin Aram Jumbo

So pleased was I with the Explorer he made for me that I asked Kevin Aram almost straight away to build me an acoustic. The big body shape came from a form he had lying around, and the neck profile is loosely modelled on my ’72 Guild D25M.

It became my main acoustic for years until I attended Robert Fripp’s Guitar Craft courses and switched to the Ovation Legend. Its big body gives lots of bass, and over the years I have found that it is therefore particularly suited to dropped tunings, of which I only use two – dropped D and my favourite DADGAD.

Unfortunately, the wood from which Kevin fabricated the top instrument moved slightly over its first few months in a domestic environment. It went back to Kevin to be fixed and has been stable ever since.

It lives in the case it’s always lived in, and for about 20 years has been fitted with an Ibanez bug pickup under the top just below the bridge. Plays great and sounds superb for Michael Hedges / Joni Mitchell-type voicings.

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