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I received a series of e-mails from Donald Forbes of the UK
in August 2010. Here is his story:
Dear David,
Here's the story. I will attach a couple of photos. I don't
know if
you want to add links, but if anyone's interested, there are 3 videos
on youtube which I recorded at a small local studio in Dec 08, using
the 360. They can be found by putting my name in the youtube search
box.
I bought my 360 in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1976. Little did
I realize
then what a gem it would turn out to be. It was my 3rd guitar, but
since the first 2 were little more than glorified orange boxes, I
regarded it as my first real guitar. My price limit was £150, and I
tried quite a few models before settling on the 360, at £130. The
salesman did a good job, trying to explain to me that it was a
"special" model, etc., but he needn't have bothered. I was sold on
everything about it - the look, the feel, the sound. It was just right.
I left a deposit of £50, then returned a few days later to pay the
balance with that week's pay packet. That left me with hardly any money
for the following week, but, who cares - I was young, footloose and
fancy free, and I was now the proud possessor of a gorgeous new geetar.
Shortly after, I recall having a jam with a friend of a friend who had
recently bought a Martin. He was light years ahead of me in ability, so
that was the only time we jammed, but we had a shot of each other's
guitar, and when he handed back the 360, he was really enthusiastic
about it, saying he wished he'd tried it before he bought his Martin.
At the time I thought he was just being polite, but I've read a few
similar sentiments since, so perhaps he really did know what he was
talking about.
I was happy to do my playing in the privacy of home,
viewing myself as
more of a songwriter than anything else, but as the 70s drew to a
close, somehow I found myself in a band with some pals, and before I
knew it, we had played a couple of gigs, I loved it, and I was totally
hooked.
Of course, that meant amplifying the guitar, and I don't
know how many
different pickups I tried over the next 10 years, without finding one
that did a really good job. I guess those were still early days as far
as acoustic amplification (if that's not a contradiction in terms) is
concerned, and I never had a great deal of cash to spend on the best.
There was a point in the mid 80s when I was looking for an
alternative, and I found a guitar made by an Irish luthier whose name
escapes me. I was highly tempted, but money was tight, and it would
have meant part-exchanging the 360, so I told the guy in the shop I
would have to sleep on it. By the time I woke next morning I knew I
wouldn't be going back to the shop, and I have no regrets on that
score.
Eventually, in the early 90s, I got a saddle pickup fitted.
It gave
the best results up to that point, although I can't say I was ever
totally satisfied with it, and I ended up buying a Yamaha APX in the
mid 90s. By that time, gigs were a lot fewer and farther between, and
when amplification was involved, I used the APX, although for anything
acoustic, it was still the 360 I reached for.
I never had to do much in the way of maintenance. The
occasional tweak
of the neck, replacing some worn frets, new tuners at one point, that
was about it. There came a period, roughly '98 - '05, when I hardly
played, and I wondered if I would ever get back to it in any sort of
big way. I was a very late starter in the world of computing, but I
eventually saw the light and discovered the joys of home pc recording,
something I've been heavily engaged in for the last few years.
That really helped to rekindle my relationship with the 360, and it is
still going as strongly as ever. I own a number of other instruments,
including a couple of electric guitars, a fiddle, and a mandolin, but
none of them have the emotional bond I feel with the 360. I joked
recently that it would have to be buried with me, but as soon as the
words left my mouth, I realized how stupid and selfish they were. It
needs and deserves to be played long after I'm long gone. We've been
through a hell of a lot of the best of times together, and it has
performed wonderfully throughout, never letting me down in any way.
Donald Forbes
Our thanks to Donald for sharing his story with us.
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