Nick Drake and the Guild M20 Guitar

The myth of Nick Drake and the Guild M20 guitar. Other guitars Nick Drake most likely did play.
Visit our acoustic instrument shop at 4 Maple Street, Chester, CT 06412 [phone] or order online at acousticmusic....

[@everythinggamingnow]

If your more interesting in a deep look at what Nick mostly likely used and how he played then i highly reccomend watching a video by Josh Tuner Guitar, he goes in depth looking at possible guitars he used, how old his strings where and how he picked and so on, very interesting!!

[@Talyessin63]

Yep, recommend that one, 's why this popped up in my feed, I'd just watched that!

[@onionjohnny4998]

Turner

[@Ledprostate]

Whatever he played was magic

[@tommorgan1449]

Nick was photographed on two separate occasions with a Yamaha classical guitar. The first time is the session for Keith Morris which was used for the cover of the Time of No Reply record in the eighties. All those pictures are in outdoor settings (Regents Park and Nick's back garden in Haverstck Hill) and the guitar is not pictured in enough detail to identify the exact model although it is clearly a Yamaha. The second session is in a studio setting for another photographer and yielded multiple pictures of Nick unshaven, in a slightly scruffy jumper and with the disturbingly long fingernails that his peers all recalled him having. These pictures include the one mentioned here that was used for the Treasury album cover and was originally used in press advertisements for Bryter Layter. There are very high definition versions of these pictures on the internet if you can find them which are revelatory. It is possible in some to partially make out the label inside the sound hole and most excitingly for Nick Drake obsessives like me the unusual rosette pattern of the guitar which reveals that it can only be a Yamaha G-50 dating from 1967-8. Interestingly this model which was only made for about a year (it was replaced in 1969 by the g-50A which has a different spec and a quite different rosette pattern) was like the Guild M-20 an entry level or student model albeit with a surprisingly great sound.

[@trojanlorrie]

Makes sense that Nick used different guitars and not just the myth of the M20 being his main guitar.

[@russfitzgerald]

Nick Drake is to British folk baroque what Robert Johnson is to Delta blues - the guy at the tail end of a musical movement who summarizes his forebears, dies young and becomes a legend. And I'm also in the camp that believes he played the Levin dreadnaught with light-gauge, very dead strings.

[@mjh5437]

Nickel strings

[@eelliott74]

Thanks for the walkthrough. Nylon string guitars are so underrated and overlooked.

[@mrsoul4231]

I guess no one will no for certain but Pink Moon to be sounds very much like a Guild M20 to me.Also Richard Thompson,an incredible guitar player in his own right,played on Bryter Later and was a friend of Nicks...he says the only guitar he remembers him with was a small bodied Guild.I'm personally more inclined to believe Richard as he is a professional guitar player and is therefore more likely to notice the guitar Nick was using.

[@lisac.9393]

Love the Drake!

[@bigdaddystinkeye]

Seinfeld, right?

[@alantracy6757]

He and Joni Mitchell are like siblings of open tunings

[@stevengarside]

To my ears the nylon-string Yamaha certainly seems to nail his tone on songs like 'Horn' and and 'From the Morning'. On the M-20, owning one I'd certainly say it also shouldn't be so easily dismissed as a legend. Especially as there is Richard Thompson's testimony puting a Guild in Drake's hands. In any case, just as the Gibson L-1 will always be 'the Robert Johnson guitar' on the basis of a single photograph, the Guild M-20 will still always be 'the Nick Drake guitar'. Regardless of however many self-satisfied kill-joys there are, who think they are the first person to dispel the 'myth of the M-20'. As a post below says, the forensic video by Josh Tuner Guitar on Nick's tone is brilliant. Shows how much of his sound was probably down to using dead strings, picking over the soundhole etc.

[@briankehew579]

You know what's funny; I had a '60s Guild M20 for years. It was not a popular choice at that time, a little Guild. I LOVED the sound of it. I didn't know Nick Drake, nor his music. When I finally heard those records, it sounded just like that guitar - which would be quite valuable today. It's the sweeter, darker sound of the mids, choked-off highs, and NOT big bass; just very gentle-sounding. I see below that nobody has the "right" answer - and likely he had a few different ones. Sonically, I could see an old 60s Yamaha could do that sound too - they don't work well strummed hard but do a sweet ringing midrange nicely.

[@Vor_Tex_Sun]

Nick could play a lump of lead and make it sound great

[@jeffryhammel3035]

Hey, thanks. I was always interested in Drake's choice of guitars. I really wish that he'd have allowed himself more to play with other musicians to alleviate his problems. Look at the fine stuff that guys like Neil Young, ect., did when collaborating with our greatest musicians!

[@AnthonyMonaghan]

Thanks for clearing that up. The Guild guitar story is completely bogus. Robert Kirby stated that he saw Nick using a Martin Dreadnought and a Martin 00028.

[@jali898]

Richard Thompson only saw nick with a guild.....so not so bogus..?

[@gillesserrigny6324]

The Martin 000.28 was his last guitar. You can see the photo of this guitar on the book "Remember For a While". It belongs to his sister. In Nick Drake's twenty concerts (Maximum, it's seems) , he has indeed played two or three times with a Guild M20. Personal or loaded guitar? We will never know. According to Robert Kirby, his best concert was at his beginning, in the first part of Sandy Denny. Beautiful show.

[@mjjames2442]

Thanks!

[@aliasname602]

if you put a guitar in a musician's hands for a photo shoot, he couldn't help himself to play it. and if he liked the sound, he may of asked can I borrow this for the recording session, or maybe he'd acquire a similar instrument. not saying he used a guild m20, but with the lack of documentation I don't think it could be completely ruled out.

[@jsullivan2112]

What if the photo shoot was done after the sessions were done?

[@johnnyguitar7921]

i just commented on a video about the "tone" of nick drake that he must have used a nylon string guitar becuase i used to play one as a child and grew up with it, then found about alternate tunings and tuned my cheap classical to open tunings and i was like, man, this things i make sound so sonically like nick drake,,,, no doubt about it,,, but American people think nylon guitars are a waste or only for Flamenco, not Pop, i tink they are better for recording,,,, anyways,,, my old cheap guitar needs some repair, or maybe im buying a new one, who knows,,, they do have better tone for my taste,,, i used to record the classical into an Uher reel to reel, i got some pretty good melodies, tonewise and all,,, cheers

[@isee1158]

He absolutely did not use a nylon string anytime on pink moon at least, maybe other albums but I doubt it.

[@triplec6453]

I was about to make a Joan Crawford joke, but then I saw your thumbnail... I'd always assumed Drake played nylons simply due to the warmth of his tone. I am one of the few, apparently, who value warmth over brightness in acoustic guitar sounds. Any player that can't get solid expression on a $100 Yamaha with black nylons is only as good as the money they can afford to blow on their gear.

[@jsullivan2112]

He definitely did not. The treble strings on all of his recordings are definitely steel, NOT nylon. All the photos prove is that too many people listen with their eyes and not their ears.

[@lukemarsden5872]

pink moon is almost all steel string FYI

[@AdamFoster-Music]

All steel. Only song recorded on the records with the classical was Bryter Layter from the album of same name.

[@lukemarsden5872]

@@AdamFoster-Music 'Horn' is Nylon String

[@AdamFoster-Music]

@@lukemarsden5872 Nope, John Wood told me all the same guitar on Pink Moon - steel string Guild.

[@mjh5437]

Nickel string

[@papajay111]

I hear a lot of the cool kids these days talking about a "Drake" who played acoustic, is this Nick Drake or is there another modern acoustic guy around these days??

[@lyrpat]

Interesting thought about Nick Drake.... what about part 2 of the story.

[@gloriatongol-oliveros3863]

The yamaha nylon string you used in this post sounds very good. What is the model please? thanks in advance.

[@gillesserrigny6324]

A Yamaha G50 NT.

[@adriannasanchez468]

Richard Thompson who was there on nicks first 2 lps said he saw nick using a small body guild in studio

[@brandonmarks239]

I recall John Wood saying the same aswell.

[@ThePhoenix9508]

And just like that everything I thought I knew was a lie.

[@gibsonlg2453]

What model of yamaha guitar?

[@johnnovack6168]

most excellent.

[@okrafeet]

That Yamaha cries Nick Drake to me.

[@russelmurray9268]

The photo of him playing isn't a guild

[@davidlewis2055]

He purchased a D28 actually read Richard Mortons book & speak to sister / friends

[@Baci302]

I swear I never saw so many video about a guy who never played the guitar being discussed.

[@sonyabladesbooty3890]

What tuning is that classical guitar in?

[@johnnyguitar7921]

oh, and Nick Drake, is related to that guy who used to go by the name of Jim,,,, Morrison

[@gillesserrigny6324]

In fact Nick Drake has been never in possession of a Guild M20 and he probably never play with it. This guitar was in the Nigel Waymouth's appartement (Where the cover of Bryter Layter has been made). This Guild was the property of Eric Clapton who left it there and after given the guitar to Nigel Waymouth. But the most important it's not the guitar but the Nick Drake music.

[@jali898]

once saw him live at Les Cousins club in Greek St Soho in 1969 or 70, he appeared as a guest during a John Martyn set and he was playing the very same Guild that appears on Bryter Layter, ....Richard Thompson who played with him on the first 2 records is quoted as saying he only remembers Nick recording with a small bodied Guild-.... fact

[@gillesserrigny6324]

​​@@jali898 You're a lucky man. Nick Drake has made 3 sets live at Les Cousins in 1970 . Only the first time Nick and John Martyn were on stage, but dont play together.

[@gibsonlg2453]

What model of yamaha nick 's guitar? Who knou?

[@conilmusician]

Nice one.

[@oronzo.persano.youtube]

Thank you man

[@TheDf2486]

I totally disagree, the colour of most of his recordings are tha of a "small body" Concert. The mids and the highs are clearly more pronounced and the low end is barely there, except a few songs, I just went through ""Bryter Layter" and am convinced/feel that your assessment in flawed. I can't say it's a Guild M20 but Nick was playing a small body concert through many of his recordings.IMHO. Most likely he "borrowed the photographers Guild" and prefered it over the Martin copy.

[@patrickcarr882]

There's two things you're forgetting- dead strings can seriously affect the tone of a guitar. With dead strings, you obviously lose the vibrancy the guitar would have with new strings, which can result in things like subdued bass strings. Also, not all guitars are created equal- I have many different dreadnaughts and all of them are different. I even have a Takamine Martin copy from the 70's that seems more muted than I would expect from a dreadnaught, especially after the strings have died. My 74 D-18 is quite vibrant and reminds me more of a D-28, but just a touch warmer. Lastly, there's the recordings themselves- there's a bunch of factors that play into the sound the recordings have, such as the mics used, mic placement, room acoustics, compression, EQ, etc. Even the technology used to record the records has an effect, since they obviously used tape machines which colors the sound and needed to be kept up and could be touchy at times. I'm definitely on the Nicke-used-a-dreadnaught team. I have a Guild M-20 because of the Bryter Layter album cover and I love it (it's my main guitar, especially live), but since there are at least two photos of him with a dreadnaught and people like Robert Kirby have stated they remember him with a Martin D-28 (or at least a dreadnaught) makes me believe so.

[@patrickcarr882]

There's actually quite a lot of doubt since no one really knows. Like I said, with the technology that was available at the time factored in with the small studio they recorded the records in (Sound Techniques), it's easy for the guitar to become colored due to a multitude of factors from the strings on Nick's guitar to the final mixing/mastering process. There wasn't a science to recording then as there is now; they used what they had and half of the things that are now studio standards were happy accidents. Finally, dead strings throws any sort of more than certain guesses as the tone of the guitar changes. Nick wanted dead stings since it changes the tone of the bass stings and gets that sort of "thump" sound. I've played dreadnaughts that sounded similar to the recordings after not changing strings for a while. There isn't a smoking gun when it comes to things like this unless there's photographic proof of him playing a smaller-bodied guitar during the Pink Moon sessions. Tow the Line as well as the other three songs (Black Eyed Dog, Rider on the Wheel, and Voice from the Mountain) were recorded on an early 70's Martin 000-28; that's not speculation... they really were. In the book released by his estate, Remembered for a While, they go over in detail about this guitar and how he used it for those final songs. I've listened to Pink Moon as well as the bootleg recordings numerous times; I know what the guitar sounds like. Sometimes it doesn't sound that great, like on Cello Song.

[@YASUNBEY913]

Patrick Carr would you recommend a martin 00-15 or guild m20?

[@richardmurphy9006]

And his sister Gabrielle was so outgoing wtf

[@iancalderon3206]

So, what's the model of the Yamaha guitar?

[@gillesserrigny6324]

A G50 NT.

[@davidallen346]

Hey I'm ur friend on Fb I know ur the keeper of Nick Drake's flame, I heard his favorite guitar was a cheap Yamaha acoustic

[@Handcraftedmusicvideos]

Fascinating- lots of good information

[@adriannasanchez468]

I cannot find any substantial evidence that Drake used a M20. Reports from sources at the time state that the Guild was not his and only used for the photo shoot. I love the m20, but I think it's a Guild marketing ploy

[@obdeisibcirrus993]

Adrianna sanchez I mean that’s most likely true but he did explain that in the video

[@jsullivan2112]

There are people that saw him live who claim that he was using a Guild M-20

[@jeffrey3498]

Wasn’t a Martin 000-18 part of the folklore as well?

[@bigdaddystinkeye]

Thompson played a 000-18 for quite some time before moving to Lowdens.

[@jsullivan2112]

No he actually had one, watch A Skin Too Few and you can see it in its case, lying on the bed.

[@johnnyguitar7921]

lol, he is Nick Drake,,, the purple shoes represents a lot,,, its not just that the photographer had them, its coded ;)))

[@hardfolk]

gUILD GUITAR ONLY WAS FOR THE PHOTO BRYTER LAYTER, NOT NICK DRAKE GUITAR

[@MaghoxFr]

hardfolk he says that within the first 40 seconds

[@Mr1945pete]

Great info! So many just believe whatever they are told without researching it first. Sounds like you did your homework. I wonder if that only know photo of him performing is actually a D-28 borrowed from John Martyn? I bet a martin historian could blow up that picture up and tell from the fret dots and shape of the pick guard. Also didn't one of the producers say they only remember him ever using a D-28 and a nylon guitar. Maybe he mistook the Levin for a D-28?? I kind of like the mystery. Thanks

[@GuitarsForTrade]

I believe that the guitar you are referring to is actually his Levin, and not a D-28. I have seen fairly good copies of that picture and there are details about it that support the idea it is the Levin, and not a D-28. I have been in contact with people who knew both John and Nick and they have stated John's D-28 never belonged to Nick.

[@theshyguitarist]

Came for Guild M20 demo. Left disappointed.

[@jsullivan2112]

Nope, there's way too much attack on his treble strings for them to be nylon. They're definitely finger nails on metal alloy. Set the classical guitar aside, put it out of your head, wait a few weeks, then go listen to the recordings with a fresh pair of ears and minimal bias.

[@mjh5437]

I`m happy to learn Nick wasn`t the owner of those horrendous shoes on the Bryter Layter cover!....The whole cover is dreadful in fact,really cheap and tacky and amateurish,I`m amazed Island Records approved it.

[@IOP121]

Too much talk; not enough play, don't you think?

[@Chance-ry1hq]

The Nick Drake myth. Let’s make up some more crap. Another mildly talented artist that died young, becoming far more famous years after his death because these bone heads can make up any story they want and he isn’t here to stem the bs.

[@johnnyguitar7921]

the PURPLE guys know how to play us, right?

[@MrJohnr47]

Not to be a jerk, but Drake was a little more than mildly talented.