visiting times at the horsemouth guitar museum

so as you know horsemouth is something of a collector of (and sadly also a distributor of) cheap guitars (being too mean to spring for expensive ones). none of them are particularly valuable - at the moment the collection consists of;

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•  an oscar schmidt (by washburn) OR6CE resonator guitar - a biscuit resonator guitar with a pickup, volume and tone controls for live performance. (now all horsemouth has to do is get an amplifier and work out how to transport it to gigs). it's a strange beast. horsemouth wasn't planning to buy one - he thinks they're a pain to tune - but then one was offered and he thought 'oh what the hell.' it certainly looks good. 

• a laramie (by rosetti) a cheap copy of a gibson hummingbird. (aka. the 'bad taste country and western' guitar - the pick guard features a drawing of a hummingbird drinking nectar from a hibiscus flower (!)). this is the one where horsemouth's mum found it battered at a jumble sale. horsemouth's dad helped him reglue the bridge. horsemouth then restrung it. this horsemouth usually tunes daddad (so the open chords are neither major nor minor). it's a pleasant bright acoustic guitar (though a little bass heavy for horsemouth's tastes). it also looks good. this is the main guitar on sorrows of tommorow, fanfare for the common mule, the worldes blisse etc. 

• similarly the almeria BM (made in spain) - also found by horsemouth's mum at a jumble sale - this is the nylon-strung guitar on which horsemouth recorded most of the musicians of bremen's songs - the werewolf, the devil song, you're not god etc..it's these last two guitars you'll see in photos of the musicians of bremen. 

• an artisan lap steel - essentially a small plank of wood with cheap tuning pegs and a cheap pickup, bought for the second round of recording this is the guitar horsemouth uses for the solo on silver raven and as backup on sorrows of tomorrow (there are some photos of this). horsemouth hasn't even replaced the strings on it yet. he should (of course) get an amplifier for it, and probably a foot volume control so he can do those 'country' swells. 

• a woodstock rb6 'jumbo' steel-strung guitar (charity shop islington) - last heard when horsemouth was recording partie de camapgne round mr. nick's flat - it's been sitting neglected in the cupboard tuned dgdggd waiting his decision to get on and record a version of debussy's pagodes. the action is terrible (which makes it good for slide guitar) and it needs restringing. ok he just pulled it out of the cupboard, tuned it dgdgbd and tried the start of la fille au cheveux de lin on it (sounded good). 

 of course realistically horsemouth can only take two of these out at any one time. he's a little unethusiastic about getting into onstage retuning.

one day horsemouth will construct a list of guitars that went walkies on him - his yamaha sg300 for example (the electric guitar on which he recorded most of the boom clan and bush house music, the one rust used in the snatch foster band), the clanky 3/4 size acoustic (made in czechoslovakia) which horsemouth strung with superslinkies and on which he recorded most of the horsemouthfolk music and with which he played the wild hare club, the one he had to abandon at stansted airport (ryan air bastards). the bass the kid from bournemouth ran off with etc.