He borrowed the guitars on his first album.
“I borrowed the guitars on my first album — Martin Carthy lent me his Martin 0028. The prestige of owning a Martin was just beginning then. Later I had a hand-built guitar from John Bailey which I loved but which was stolen. Then after I left Pentangle I had a contract with Yamaha, and the first thing they gave me was this FG1500.”
That is the complete guitar history of one of the most influential acoustic guitarists in British music, in three sentences: borrowed, stolen, Yamaha. The guitar that recorded Bert Jansch (1965) — one of the most praised folk albums in British history, cited by Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Johnny Marr, and Fleet Foxes as a formative influence — was a borrowed Martin that belonged to someone else.
The debut was recorded in Bill Leader’s flat in Camden on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Not a studio. A flat. Four or five borrowed Martin guitars. One reel-to-reel machine. The record that changed British acoustic guitar was made with borrowed instruments in somebody’s living room.
Neil Young called him “the Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar.” Jimmy Page took his arrangement of the traditional tune “Blackwaterside” for Led Zeppelin’s debut album without attribution — renaming it “Black Mountain Side.” Nick Drake studied his fingerpicking obsessively. Johnny Marr cited him. Fleet Foxes cited him. Paul Simon cited him.
He recorded 25+ albums. He co-founded Pentangle. He opened a guitar shop that failed. He had his best guitar stolen. He used a thumbpick. He preferred dull strings to bright ones. He died of lung cancer on October 5, 2011, aged 67.
Rolling Stone ranked him 94th on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists. He should be higher.
Background: Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, and the Living Room Recording
Herbert Jansch was born November 3, 1943, at Stobhill Hospital in the Springburn district of Glasgow, Scotland. He grew up in West Pilton, Edinburgh — a working-class residential area — and as a teenager began visiting The Howff, a local folk club run by Roy Guest. His introduction to the guitar came through skiffle — the 1950s British genre blending jazz, blues, and folk that produced Lonnie Donegan and that taught a generation of British teenagers that music was something you could make, not just listen to.
His early influences: Big Bill Broonzy, Brownie McGhee, Davey Graham, Archie Fisher. “The only three people that I’ve ever copied were Big Bill Broonzy, Davey Graham, and Archie Fisher,” he said. Graham — the British guitarist who had created “Anji,” the fingerpicking piece that Jansch would adapt as “Angie” — was the specific technical influence who showed him that the acoustic guitar’s fingerpicking potential extended far beyond the folk accompaniment tradition. Archie Fisher gave him a few lessons at The Howff.
He moved to London in the early 1960s and embedded himself in the folk club scene centered on Les Cousins in Greek Street, Soho, and the Troubadour in Old Brompton Road. He met John Renbourn — the guitarist whose jazz-influenced fingerpicking would complement his own — and the two began performing together as a duo, developing the interplay that would be called “folk baroque.”
The debut album Bert Jansch was recorded in 1965 in Bill Leader’s Camden flat on borrowed Martins through a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Leader had recorded Jansch and other folk musicians informally; when Island Records (through Transatlantic label) heard the recordings, they were released as a proper debut album. The album’s combination of original compositions (“Needle of Death”), traditional adaptations (“Angie”), and innovative fingerpicking technique made an immediate impact on the folk scene and beyond.
Pentangle formed in 1967 with Jansch, Renbourn, vocalist Jacqui McShee, bassist Danny Thompson, and drummer Terry Cox. The group’s fusion of folk, jazz, blues, and traditional music produced Basket of Light (1969), which reached number 5 on the UK charts — one of the highest chart positions for a folk album in British history. Their track “Light Flight” became the theme song for the BBC drama Take Three Girls.
After Pentangle’s breakup in 1972, Jansch had a complicated solo career: successful artistically, difficult commercially. His struggles with alcohol are documented. His guitar shop at 220 New King’s Road, Fulham — Bert Jansch’s Guitar Shop, specializing in hand-built acoustic guitars — failed commercially after two years. The later career produced consistently high-quality music with declining commercial recognition.
He died October 5, 2011, of lung cancer, aged 67. His wife Loren died of a different cancer just two months later. They are both buried in Highgate Cemetery.
Tone note: He recorded his debut on borrowed guitars in someone’s flat. The record that Jimmy Page studied, that Nick Drake absorbed, that Neil Young called the work of the Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar — that record was made with borrowed instruments in a living room on a tape machine. There was no studio, no engineer, no producer in the conventional sense. There was a guitarist, borrowed guitars, and a reel-to-reel recorder. The rest is history.
The Rig: Bert Jansch’s Guitars
Guitars: From Borrowed Martins to Yamaha
Martin 0028 (Borrowed from Martin Carthy) — The Debut Album Guitar
Bert Jansch’s debut album Bert Jansch (1965) was recorded using a Martin 0028 borrowed from fellow British folk musician Martin Carthy, along with several other borrowed Martins — four or five total, according to Grokipedia’s account of the sessions in Bill Leader’s Camden flat. The Martin 0028 is a 0-size (smaller than the Dreadnought) guitar with spruce top and rosewood back and sides — a sophisticated instrument that was becoming prestigious in British folk circles in the mid-1960s.
Jansch’s comment — “The prestige of owning a Martin was just beginning then” — reflects the specific moment in British folk culture when American instruments were becoming aspirational. Before this, British folk musicians typically played whatever was available. The Martin’s arrival as a prestige instrument was a contemporary development.
He did not own a Martin at this point. The debut that changed British acoustic guitar was made with someone else’s guitar in someone else’s flat. The instrument’s quality was borrowed along with the physical object.
John Bailey Custom Guitar — The Pentangle Instrument (Stolen)
During the late 1960s and his tenure with Pentangle, Jansch turned to a custom guitar built by British luthier John Bailey, which became an early favorite for touring and performances. This guitar — hand-built specifically for Jansch — was used for most of the Pentangle recordings.
Then it was stolen.
The theft of the John Bailey guitar is one of the consequential instrument losses in British folk history — comparable to Bert losing the guitar on which “Angie” had developed, the guitar that embodied the Pentangle period’s specific acoustic character. There is no documentation of when or how it was stolen; the loss is simply recorded as a fact.
He also owned a Bailey twelve-string acoustic during the Pentangle period, and an experimental Bailey electric for band use. The twelve-string acoustic is now owned by Soren Venema, the owner of Palm Guitars in Amsterdam.
Rob Armstrong Customs — The Transitional Guitars
After the Pentangle period and before his Yamaha contract, Jansch used two six-string guitars built by Rob Armstrong — a luthier based in Coventry. One of the Armstrong guitars appears on the front and back covers of the 1980 Shanachie release Best of Bert Jansch. Armstrong’s instruments bridged the gap between the lost Bailey custom and the subsequent Yamaha relationship.
Yamaha FG1500 — The First Yamaha (Modified by Red Rhodes)
After Pentangle, Jansch signed a contract with Yamaha — a relationship that would sustain his guitar needs for the rest of his life. The first instrument from that contract was a Yamaha FG1500, which he played on LA Turnaround (1974).
The FG1500 underwent a significant modification by Red Rhodes — a West Hollywood guitar electronics specialist and pedal steel player. When Jansch visited Rhodes’ store, Rhodes cut a hole in the body to insert volume controls — allowing live amplification level adjustments without reaching for an external pedal or control. This modification, while unusual for an acoustic guitar, reflects the practical requirements of performing with amplification.
The FG1500 was, in Jansch’s words, “battered over the years” — it accumulated burns and other wear — and he eventually gave it to his son, then retrieved it to have it restored.
Yamaha LL11E — The Primary Road Instrument
Bert Jansch’s primary guitar for the majority of his later career was the Yamaha LL11E — a jumbo-body acoustic-electric with a piezo pickup under the saddle and an internal contact microphone for live amplification. Guitar Player confirmed: “these days he almost exclusively uses an LL11E on the road, with an LL400 as backup.”
He described what attracted him to it: “I really like the big neck on it. I don’t like shallow necks — they cut into my hand too much. I prefer big-bodied acoustics too, like jumbos. My guitar has the stock Yamaha preamp, which allows me to blend a piezo pickup with an internal contact mic. I never use the piezo, however, and we always place some type of condenser mic in front of the guitar on stage.”
The technical specifics of his live approach: he ran the internal contact mic from the LL11E but always had an external condenser microphone positioned in front of the guitar as well. He didn’t use the piezo pickup — contact mic and condenser only. This hybrid approach — internal contact mic plus external condenser — captures both the instrument’s body resonance (contact mic) and its projected acoustic sound (condenser) simultaneously.
His relationship with Yamaha was long-running enough that they presented him with a special guitar for his 60th birthday — an acoustic with gold trim and abalone inlay, valued at approximately £3,000. Jansch described it as “too good for stage use.”
Other Documented Instruments
- Yamaha LL400 — The backup to the LL11E; confirmed in Guitar Player documentation
- Lowden acoustic — Played on at least one documented early 1990s US tour; the Irish-made Lowden is known for its sustain and warmth
- Franklin acoustic (borrowed from John Renbourn) — Played on the same US tour where the Lowden was documented; borrowed from his Pentangle colleague
- Fender Montara — For at least two years, 1993 and 1994, Bert Jansch played a Fender Montara, with solid spruce top, and laminated mahogany back and sides. Visible in amateur videos of his concerts from that period
- Martin (various, borrowed, debut) — The borrowed Martin 0028 from Carthy and additional borrowed Martins for the debut recording
- Epiphone (various, 1960s) — Pictures of Jansch in the middle 1960s show him playing a variety of models, including Martin and Epiphone guitars
- Red Höfner “cello” jazz guitar — Used during his apprenticeship/early career before the folk scene period
- Self-built guitars — As a boy in Edinburgh, he built or assembled guitars before acquiring proper instruments
- Banjo, Appalachian dulcimer, recorder, concertina — Through Pentangle, Jansch played a number of instruments in addition to guitar
Complete Guitar List (Key Instruments)
- Martin 0028 (borrowed from Martin Carthy) — Debut album Bert Jansch (1965); recorded in Bill Leader’s Camden flat on reel-to-reel
- John Bailey custom guitar — Pentangle era primary; hand-built British luthier; most Pentangle recordings; stolen
- John Bailey 12-string acoustic — Pentangle period; now owned by Palm Guitars Amsterdam
- Rob Armstrong custom (×2, Coventry) — Post-Pentangle; one appears on Best of Bert Jansch cover (1980)
- Yamaha FG1500 (modified by Red Rhodes) — First Yamaha; LA Turnaround (1974); volume controls added to body; battered; given to son; retrieved for restoration
- Yamaha LL11E (primary road instrument) — Main guitar late career; piezo + contact mic (piezo unused live); condenser mic in front additionally; “big neck” appeal
- Yamaha LL400 — LL11E backup
- Fender Montara — 1993-1994 documented use
- Lowden acoustic — Early 1990s US tour
No Amplification, No Effects — Acoustic Purity
Like Nick Drake before him in this series, Bert Jansch’s recordings are acoustic. No amplifier, no effects, no pedals. The signal chain for his recordings: guitar → microphone → recording equipment. In live contexts, the Yamaha LL11E’s contact microphone and an external condenser provide the amplification — but through a PA system rather than a guitar amplifier.
This is the complete acoustic tradition that Drake absorbed from Jansch and that runs through the British folk guitar school: the instrument, the room, the microphone, and the performance are the totality of the sound.
Strings & Setup
Martin Light Gauge .011-.052 — And the Philosophy of Dull Strings
Jansch used Martin light gauge strings (.011-.052) — confirmed in Guitar Player documentation. But the specific gauge is less important than his philosophy about string freshness, which is the most explicit statement of the “dead strings” preference in this series:
“For strings I use Martin light gauge .011-.052 sets. I don’t like phosphor bronze strings. They’re too zingy. I’d rather have dull-sounding strings than bright ones. After a couple of gigs, strings start to sound much better as the treble response settles down a bit.”
This is Nick Drake’s dead string preference made explicit as a philosophy rather than a habit. Jansch actively preferred strings that had been played for some time — the “dull-sounding” strings with reduced treble response were better, in his view, than the “zingy” brightness of fresh phosphor bronze. The settled treble response gave the guitar the warmth he wanted.
The specific rejection of phosphor bronze: standard 80/20 bronze strings (which he used — Martin Darco 80/20 Bronze confirmed in Equipboard) have a brighter initial character than phosphor bronze but age to a warmer sound more quickly. Phosphor bronze strings are generally considered brighter and longer-lasting; Jansch rejected them specifically because they were too bright and zingy. He wanted strings that sounded good after they’d been played in.
The Thumbpick
Guitar World confirmed: “Jansch used a thumbpick.” The thumbpick — a plastic pick worn on the thumb, allowing both thumbed bass patterns and naked-fingertip melody playing — is the standard tool of the Travis-picking and fingerstyle traditions that Jansch inhabited. Compared to bare-thumb playing, the thumbpick provides a more consistent, louder bass attack while preserving the fingertip sensitivity of the melody strings.
Nick Drake, by contrast, used no picks at all — pure fingertip. The distinction reflects a different approach to the bass/melody balance: Jansch’s thumbpick gave his bass lines more authority relative to the melody, suited to the more rhythmically assertive approach of his repertoire (including blues and jazz-influenced material); Drake’s bare thumb produced a more unified, blended tone across all strings.
Playing Style & Tone Philosophy: The Invention of British Fingerpicking
Bert Jansch’s playing style is the foundational document of British acoustic fingerpicking — the source from which Nick Drake, Jimmy Page, Neil Young (in his acoustic work), Paul Simon (in his British-influenced period), and Johnny Marr all drew. Understanding what Jansch did technically explains why these connections exist.
The Thumbpick Bass Pattern
The foundation of Jansch’s technique is the alternating thumb bass — the thumb on the thumbpick maintaining a steady or syncopated pattern on the bass strings (4th, 5th, 6th) while the fingers play melody on the treble strings (1st, 2nd, 3rd). This simultaneous bass-melody independence is the fundamental challenge of fingerstyle guitar: to make the thumb and fingers operate as if they were two independent musicians.
Guitar World described his specific approach in the “Needle of Death” fingerstyle pattern: “thumbed bass notes, each bar featuring a challenging ‘third string’ hammer-on, whereby the second-fret note, hammered on, sounds at the precise moment a bass string is picked.” The coordination of a hammer-on on the melody strings coinciding precisely with a bass string strike is the specific technical challenge that his fingerpicking demands — a demand that made his recordings sound unlike anything in British folk at the time.
“Angie” — The Defining Piece
Jansch’s arrangement of Davey Graham’s “Anji” — which he titled “Angie” on his debut — is the fingerpicking piece that an entire generation of guitarists studied as a technical benchmark. It demonstrates the alternating thumb bass, the hammer-on technique, the jazz-influenced harmonic vocabulary, and the specific dynamic expressiveness that characterizes his approach. Paul Simon learned it, recorded his own version, and acknowledged it as a formative piece. It is one of the most influential solo guitar pieces in British folk history.
The Irregular Time Signatures
Guitar-list.com documented a specific and unusual compositional approach: “Jansch often fitted the accompaniment to the natural rhythm of the words of his songs, rather than playing a consistent rhythm throughout. This can lead to occasional bars appearing in unusual time signatures.” His version of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” switches from 4/4 to 3/4 and 5/4 — not as a compositional choice imposed on the song, but as a natural accommodation of the words’ speech rhythm. The meter follows the language rather than the language following the meter.
Pentangle extended this further: “Light Flight” includes sections in 5/8, 7/8, and 6/4 time — a progressive approach to folk music’s rhythmic structures that anticipated progressive rock’s time signature experiments.
String Bends on Acoustic Guitar
Guitar World noted one of the most unusual Jansch techniques: “unexpected string bends — yes, on acoustic.” String bending is standard electric guitar technique but requires significant effort on acoustic guitar, where the higher string action and heavier gauge make full pitch bends difficult. Jansch bent acoustic strings anyway — a blues influence (Big Bill Broonzy, Brownie McGhee) applied to the folk instrument, producing a vocal, expressive quality in melody lines that more conservatively folk players didn’t attempt.
The Jazz Harmonic Vocabulary
The “folk baroque” label applied to Jansch and Renbourn’s duo playing reflects their use of jazz harmonies — extended chords, chromatic passing notes, modal scales — within the folk fingerpicking tradition. Jansch drew on Charles Mingus alongside Big Bill Broonzy, integrating jazz’s harmonic sophistication into the blues-folk technique. The result was a guitar vocabulary that felt simultaneously traditional and progressive — rooted in the folk and blues past but oriented toward a more complex harmonic future.
How to Sound Like Bert Jansch: The Acoustic Fingerpicking Approach
The Guitar
A quality steel-string acoustic in dreadnought or jumbo body size — the jumbo specifically matching Jansch’s stated preference for “big-bodied acoustics.” The Yamaha LL series (LL11, LL16, LL36) provides the closest authentic character to his primary instrument.
- Yamaha LL16 or LL26 — Current production equivalents to the LL11E; solid tops and backs, appropriate tonal character
- Any quality jumbo acoustic — Guild, Taylor, Gibson J-45 or J-200; the jumbo body’s volume and bass response suits the alternating thumb bass technique
- Strings: Martin 80/20 Bronze Light (.011-.052); allow them to age for several gigs before recording — “I’d rather have dull-sounding strings than bright ones”
The Thumbpick
A standard thumbpick — Dunlop medium or any equivalent. The thumbpick allows louder, more consistent bass attack while maintaining bare-fingertip sensitivity on the melody strings. Without a thumbpick, the bass-melody balance shifts toward the melody; the thumbpick restores the bass authority that Jansch’s style requires.
The Technique Fundamentals
The alternating thumb bass is the first element to develop: thumb strikes bass string (4, 5, or 6) on beats 1 and 3 (or syncopated variations thereof); fingers play melody on strings 1, 2, 3 across all four beats. The thumb and fingers must operate independently — the thumb’s pattern must continue regardless of what the fingers are doing. This independence is the fundamental challenge of the style and requires dedicated practice to develop.
| Element | Details | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Thumbpick | Dunlop medium or equivalent | Consistent bass attack; matches Jansch’s documented practice |
| Strings | Martin 80/20 Bronze .011-.052 | Age for several gigs; “dull-sounding strings” preferred |
| Alternating bass | Thumb on strings 4-5-6 | Maintain independent of finger melody |
| Melody fingers | Fingertips on strings 1-2-3 | No fingerpicks; bare fingertip sensitivity |
| Hammer-ons | Coincide precisely with bass strikes | The specific Jansch technique; “Needle of Death” pattern |
| String bends | Acoustic string bends for expressiveness | Blues-influenced; unexpected on acoustic; requires effort |
Budget vs Authentic
Budget:
- Guitar: Yamaha FG800 or equivalent entry-level solid-top jumbo
- Strings: Martin 80/20 Bronze Light .011-.052; play them in for a few weeks
- Thumbpick: Dunlop medium thumbpick
- Study piece: “Angie” (Jansch’s adaptation of Davey Graham’s “Anji”) — the essential Jansch study piece
Authentic:
- Guitar: Yamaha LL16 or LL26 (solid spruce/rosewood, jumbo body)
- Strings: Martin Darco 80/20 Bronze Light; played in to dull brightness
- Thumbpick: Standard medium thumbpick
- Recording: Close-miked condenser; no effects; natural room acoustic
Influence & Legacy: The Man Jimmy Page Copied Without Credit
Bert Jansch’s influence on guitar is one of the most extensive and most under-credited in this entire series. The artists who have cited him directly span British folk (Nick Drake, John Renbourn, Fairport Convention’s Richard Thompson), American folk-rock (Neil Young, Paul Simon), British rock (Jimmy Page, Johnny Marr), and contemporary indie-folk (Fleet Foxes, Beth Orton).
The Jimmy Page situation is the most discussed: Led Zeppelin’s debut album (1969) contained “Black Mountain Side” — Page’s arrangement of the traditional tune “Blackwaterside” in DADGAD tuning, essentially taken from Jansch’s recorded version of the same tune on his 1966 album Jack Orion. Page was not credited as the arranger of Jansch’s arrangement; “Black Mountain Side” was listed as a Jimmy Page original. Jansch never received credit or compensation. He commented on it with characteristic understatement — acknowledging Page’s admiration for his work without forcing a confrontation.
Neil Young’s tribute was more generous: “the Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar.” This comparison — placing Jansch in the same category of instrumental innovation on the acoustic that Hendrix represented on the electric — is the most accurate short description of his significance. Hendrix transformed what the electric guitar could be. Jansch transformed what the acoustic guitar could be in the British tradition.
The documented direct influences:
- Nick Drake — Studied Jansch obsessively; the fingerpicking foundation of Drake’s three albums is built on Jansch’s technique; appears in the next article in this series
- Jimmy Page — Acknowledged influence; “Black Mountain Side” = Jansch’s “Blackwaterside” arrangement; Page studied Jansch’s folk playing intensively
- Neil Young — “The Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar”; Young’s acoustic work reflects the Jansch tradition of blues-folk fusion
- Paul Simon — Learned “Angie” in the 1960s; his fingerpicking approach has the Jansch influence; Simon Bridge Over Troubled Water-era acoustic sophistication draws on this tradition
- Johnny Marr — Cited Jansch as a major influence on his approach to guitar as melody and rhythm simultaneously
- Fleet Foxes — Cited; the contemporary American folk group’s approach to close harmony and acoustic guitar sophistication reflects the Pentangle tradition
- Beth Orton — Collaborated with Jansch; presented him the MOJO Merit Award in 2006
Rolling Stone ranked him 94th. For the depth and breadth of his direct influence — Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Johnny Marr — this ranking is spectacularly conservative.
Tone note: His best guitar was stolen. The John Bailey custom that he “loved” — the instrument on which Pentangle was recorded — was stolen. He had to go on without it, through the Rob Armstrong period and then the Yamaha period. He never replaced it with something he loved as much. The specific gravity of the Pentangle recordings is partly the specific guitar’s contribution; the stolen instrument took something specific with it. This is the most consequential guitar theft in this series — more consequential even than Morello’s stolen van amp — because the instrument was irreplaceable in a way that the amp (replaced by the JCM800 that served for thirty years) was not.
In Bill Leader’s flat in Camden, in 1965, Bert Jansch borrowed a Martin 0028 from Martin Carthy and recorded his debut album on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. The record that Jimmy Page studied, Nick Drake absorbed, Neil Young called the work of the Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar — that record was made in a living room with someone else’s guitar.
Then the John Bailey custom guitar he loved was stolen. Then he signed with Yamaha. He played the Yamaha LL11E for most of the rest of his life — “I really like the big neck on it” — with an LL400 as backup, and he always had a condenser mic in front of the guitar on stage, never using the piezo, always using the contact mic. He used Martin 80/20 Bronze Light strings (.011-.052) and let them age until they settled down, because he preferred dull-sounding strings to bright ones.
He used a thumbpick. He bent acoustic strings the way Big Bill Broonzy bent electric ones. He fitted the rhythm to the natural speech of the lyrics rather than forcing the lyrics into consistent meter. He played in 5/8, 7/8, and 6/4 with Pentangle in 1969 before progressive rock made that normal.
Neil Young called him the Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar. Rolling Stone put him at 94th. The difference between those two assessments is the story of British folk’s relationship to mainstream rock recognition.
He should be higher on the list. But the music is all there, in the records, regardless of the ranking.
If Bert Jansch’s thumbpick alternating-bass fingerpicking — the borrowed Martin debut, the stolen Bailey custom, the Yamaha LL11E, the dull strings, and the playing that inspired Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, and Neil Young — has you exploring the British acoustic tradition, check our complete guide to Nick Drake’s guitars and gear — the previous guitarist in this series, and one of Jansch’s most devoted students, whose open tunings and intimate acoustic recordings built directly on the Jansch foundation.
And for the guitarist in this series who extended the British folk fingerpicking tradition in a different direction — through songwriting, solo recordings, and a career as individual and idiosyncratic as Jansch’s own — don’t miss our breakdown of Richard Thompson’s complete gear guide, the next in the series.
FAQ: Bert Jansch Guitars & Gear
- What guitar did Bert Jansch play on his debut album?
- A Martin 0028 borrowed from British folk musician Martin Carthy, along with several other borrowed Martin guitars — four or five total. The debut album Bert Jansch (1965) was not recorded in a professional studio but in Bill Leader’s flat in Camden on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Jansch described it: “I borrowed the guitars on my first album — Martin Carthy lent me his Martin 0028. The prestige of owning a Martin was just beginning then.” He did not own a guitar at the time of recording; the debut that influenced Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, Neil Young, and Paul Simon was made with borrowed instruments in someone’s living room.
- What happened to Bert Jansch’s John Bailey guitar?
- It was stolen. The custom guitar hand-built by British luthier John Bailey — which became Jansch’s primary instrument during the late 1960s and Pentangle era, and on which most Pentangle recordings were made — was stolen at some undocumented point. Jansch described it as a guitar he “loved.” After the theft, he went through guitars by Coventry luthier Rob Armstrong and then signed a Yamaha contract that supplied his primary instruments for the rest of his career. He never found a replacement he loved as much.
- What was Bert Jansch’s main guitar in his later career?
- The Yamaha LL11E — a jumbo-body acoustic-electric with a piezo pickup under the saddle and an internal contact microphone. Guitar Player confirmed he “almost exclusively uses an LL11E on the road, with an LL400 as backup.” He described its appeal: “I really like the big neck on it. I don’t like shallow necks — they cut into my hand too much. I prefer big-bodied acoustics too, like jumbos.” In live performance, he used the internal contact microphone (not the piezo pickup) alongside an external condenser microphone positioned in front of the guitar — a hybrid approach capturing both body resonance and projected acoustic sound.
- What strings did Bert Jansch use and why did he prefer dull strings?
- Martin Darco 80/20 Bronze Light gauge (.011-.052). His stated preference: “I don’t like phosphor bronze strings. They’re too zingy. I’d rather have dull-sounding strings than bright ones. After a couple of gigs, strings start to sound much better as the treble response settles down a bit.” He actively preferred strings that had been played in — the reduced treble brightness of aged 80/20 bronze strings produced the warmth he wanted. Fresh phosphor bronze (longer-lasting and brighter) was specifically rejected as too zingy. This philosophy directly parallels Nick Drake’s preference for dead strings, suggesting a shared aesthetic across the British acoustic tradition Jansch helped establish.
- What is the Jimmy Page and Bert Jansch “Blackwaterside” situation?
- Led Zeppelin’s debut album (1969) included a track called “Black Mountain Side” credited solely to Jimmy Page. The track is essentially Jansch’s recorded arrangement of the traditional Scottish folk tune “Blackwaterside” from his 1966 album Jack Orion, including Jansch’s specific DADGAD tuning approach and guitar arrangement choices. Page was not credited as having taken Jansch’s arrangement; the track appeared as an original composition. Jansch never received credit or compensation. Neil Young has called Jansch “the Jimi Hendrix of the acoustic guitar” and Page has openly acknowledged admiring Jansch’s work, but the specific appropriation without attribution remains one of the most discussed examples of unacknowledged musical borrowing in rock history.
- Did Bert Jansch use a thumbpick?
- Yes — Guitar World confirmed that Jansch used a thumbpick. The thumbpick (worn on the thumb) allows louder, more consistent bass string attack while maintaining bare-fingertip sensitivity on the melody strings. This distinguishes his approach from Nick Drake’s, who played with bare thumb and fingers (no picks at all). The thumbpick gave Jansch’s alternating bass patterns more authority relative to the melody — appropriate for a style that included blues-influenced rhythmic assertiveness alongside folk melodic sophistication.
- How do I learn Bert Jansch’s fingerpicking technique?
- Start with “Angie” — his arrangement of Davey Graham’s “Anji,” the essential Jansch study piece that Paul Simon also learned. Get a thumbpick (Dunlop medium) and steel-string acoustic (jumbo body preferred; Yamaha LL series is appropriate). Use Martin 80/20 Bronze Light strings (.011-.052) and play them in for several gigs before recording. Develop the alternating thumb bass independently: thumb on strings 4, 5, 6 in a steady or syncopated pattern; fingers on strings 1, 2, 3 for melody. The key technical challenge: the hammer-on coinciding precisely with a bass string strike — practice this coordination specifically. Add string bends on the melody strings — yes, on acoustic — as an expressive technique drawn from the blues tradition. The bluesy expressiveness over the folk rhythmic foundation is the specific Jansch synthesis.
