John Williams, guitarist, talks about playing Greg Smallman's guitars.

John Williams, guitarist, talks about playing Greg Smallman's guitars.

Australian Guitar Journal 1990 - John Williams cover

From the "Australian Guitar Journal" interview by Austin Prichard-Levy
(early 1990's).

AP-L: You made a switch some years ago to Greg Smallman's guitars. Can you tell us about that and your reasons for it, because I think it shocked a lot of people that you gave up playing Fletas after so long?

JW: I first met Greg when he was still making guitars with Pete Biffen ten or twelve years ago, and they showed me a couple of their guitars which were okay but not great. I played my Fleta for them, and showed them the sort of sound I was getting from it. Later, Greg got in contact again and said he wanted to come and have another chat about guitars. In the course of that conversation, Greg told me that he loved the sound of the Fleta, but wanted to know what aspects of its sound I would like to improve on, assuming that were possible. I thought that was a great attitude, because it wasn't just some smart arse trying to say, "Look, here's a great guitar, try it. Often I have found that after trying out a new guitar at the request of a maker, you give them your opinion, pointing out weak spots as well as good things, and they just start arguing with you, trying to persuade you that it really is a better guitar than it is!

John Williams performing the Concerto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo in 2005 at the Prom Concerts

Greg impressed me from the start because he was always willing to listen. I told him that I liked the resonance of his instruments, because I sometimes found the Fletas a little too percussive, especially on the top string. Soon after that I came back for a tour with SKY, and Greg came to the hotel to see Kevin Peek and I with two guitars. At that stage, Greg didn't even presume that I might give up playing the Fleta, so he just wanted to get some comments. Kevin Peek loved one of the guitars, and has still got it. The other guitar was one Greg had fashioned out of some old pieces of wood that he had had lying around, and I particularly liked that guitar and ended up doing a couple of recordings on it; it had a rather stripy pattern in the soundboard. And that's basically where our association started in earnest.

AP-L: Was Greg Smallman using the carbon fiber bracing then?

JW: No, just the grid strutting, but no carbon fiber at that stage. I feel that the loudness of Greg's guitars is a by-product of their musical qualities rather than an end in itself. One of the main changes in the sound that Greg achieved which is an improvement on the Fleta, is that the sound doesn't change as the volume of the sound increases or decreases.

The Fleta always tended to emphasize a more percussive sound at higher volumes, which is a deficiency in the traditional design of the guitar generally, and it is fundamentally an unmusical thing. Of course all instrumental sounds change somewhat as they increase in volume, but with the guitar it is inordinate, like hearing distortion as you turn up the hi-fi. The bottom line is that as you drive the conventional guitar harder, say in the Bach Chaconne or Albeniz, you're getting a lot more plonk and thwack, and a lot less truly musical sound.

John Williams performing the Concerto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo in 2005 at the Prom Concerts

I should say that I've seen many other guitars by good makers which were lovely instruments, but none of them solved this problem the way Greg has, and for me as a soloist and ensemble performer that has been a crucial consideration. I've had a number of guitars from Greg and the latest was sent to me last November, which is a great instrument. The thing about Greg, and I'm sure that I'm not doing him any disservice in saying this, is that he is always experimenting and learning further, such as getting to know the properties of woods with different weights. But what's important is that he knows what he's doing with it all and why he's doing it.

I've also noticed that Greg has been very open about the lattice bracing and has given seminars on it; he's not just keeping all the knowledge to himself, which I think is admirable, because guitars don't last like a violin will. So the benefits of his work will be felt very widely in the end, which is great. I know some guitar makers who are incredibly secretive, but thankfully Greg is not one of them, and I think that's reflected in his very enquiring mind, an openness and honesty about his successes and failure, and willingness to adapt and change.

Like any creative person, Greg sometimes has doubts about his latest guitars; for example, when I saw him in Brisbane last year, he showed me two new guitars, and we compared them to mine and Julian Byzantine's. Greg felt that perhaps the sound of the new ones was a little too dark, but I think that's a matter of taste, because Ben Verdery's in New York is also like that, and he loves it. He's been showing it around the guitar scene in the States and getting a very enthusiastic response to it, and finds it blends very well with his wife's flute playing, whom he performs duets with.

John Williams performing the Concerto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo in 2005 at the Prom Concerts

As you know, Julian Bream and I have quite different musical personalities and therefore also taste in guitars, but he was enormously impressed by Greg's guitars, especially the sustain and dynamic range, and the fact that they respond so well to even the faintest touch. I don't think that this means we'll be seeing Julian playing one next week in concert, but I know he was very taken with them.

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