Ditch The MuuMuu

A number of DTM fans have enquired: “What lengths will you go to in order to get your authentic, down and dirty, yet up and clean sound?” I trust the following will help you on your path to enlightenment.

 

We start with distressing amounts of talent in the song writing department. Then, using the best facilities that money and bribery can provide, we start to record.

 

“OK. But what guitars do you use?”

 

Thank you so much for asking. If you have been listening very carefully to MuuMuu releases you might have detected a variety of Fender 6 & 12 string electric guitars, as well as a Keisel Airies and an old Ibanez Road Star II. The Bass end is usually provided by a venerable 1973 Fender Jazz and a 1986 Fender Precision.

 

“That's all well and good. But I which ACOUSTIC guitars?”

 

Ah. Well, there's Eric’s trusty Seagull C6 Cedar in the mix, along with his Guild D40 and a GibsonJ45. Less often you'll hear my Takamini. But without question, the cherry on the top of our acoustic cake is my Lowden O50, seen here at Tresco Road Studios.  If you don't know about Lowden guitars, they hail from Northern Ireland.

 

 

And so it was purely on the grounds of guitar research that yours truly visited the Lowden Workshops in Down Patrick, Belfast recently. I had imagined that they'd be crafted in an idyllic, rustic setting perhaps surrounded by a babbling brook and a grove of trees. Nope. Lowden guitars are built in a decidedly non-bucolic repurposed commercial vehicle garage. But one should never judge a book by its cover, right?

 

The welcome from John, our guiding luthier, could not have been warmer. His planned one hour tour expanded to become two and a half hours of fascinating guitar goodness – with tons of minutiae perfect for a guitar geek such as I.

 

We start by visiting the wood house loft, where modern flame maple is dried, along with ancient mahogany (from local church pews) and thousand year old bog oak. 

 

 

The facilities are a delightful blend of hi and low tech. The latest in million £ computer-aided cutting machines sit alongside repurposed hand drilling machines which, among other things, push in the frets individually.

 

Later on the tour I spot something that blows my mind. As I raise my camera to capture the image, John asks us not to photograph ‘that’; a prototype instrument lying regally on George Lowden’s own work bench. As it is the High Altar, I deferentially acquiesce (lest a bolt of lightening suddenly descend to smite me).

 

It turned out that we had missed the great man himself by a couple of hours - he was at that moment off playing golf.

 

Our guide (no doubt glad that there was no smiting on his watch) related that George is very much a ‘hands on‘ craftsman and is “very, very, very, very, very“ particular about everything that goes into making a Lowden guitar - for example, the thickness of lacquer that is hand applied to each instrument (the 5 “verys” are straight from John mouth).

 

Here's a cool fun fact: 20 squash balls are used to cushion the compression when the guitar back and the sound board are glued together.  

 

 

I trust when you listen to ‘Fractured Feelings ‘ - our latest Ditch The MuuMuu track that is in progress - or any other DTM song for that matter, you will feel a small part of the love and craftsmanship that George and his colleagues have put into the Lowden guitar that I proudly call my own.

 

Tim
1 August 2024
Belfast

 

PS: But wait – there is more! Whilst in Ulster your correspondent visited The Giants Causeway and it did not disappoint. The hexagonal basalt pillars on the Northern coast line formed the back drop for Led Zepplin’s iconic 5^th Album cover. I briefly considered using an adaptation for the art work of our forthcoming ‘Difficult 2^nd album’ but… that would require nudity. At our stage of being? Fear not. To misquote Meatloaf “We’d do anything for DTM fans, but we won't do that!”