Making Midge Ure’s new guitar with Jimmy Moon

Scottish guitar maker Jimmy Moon receives an order to make a custom-built acoustic guitar from musician Midge Ure, as the craft of handmade musical instrument making is put in the spotlight in this edition of In the Studio.

We follow the process from Midge’s initial specifications of size and finish, to the picking of wood, joinery, engineering work and finishing by Jimmy and his assistant Stephen Devine, to final delivery to Midge.

Midge needs a new acoustic to use on stage for a series of shows where he’s stripping back his solo hits and those as front man with electronic 80s band Ultravox to perform them with just an acoustic guitar.

Jimmy has eight weeks before Midge returns to Glasgow, and we follow this master instrument maker as he creates the guitar that will accompany Midge’s catalogue of classic tunes including If I Was, Vienna, Dancing with Tears in My Eyes and the Band Aid classic Do They Know It’s Christmas.

Along the way, Midge talks to guitarist supremo Martin Taylor about the different requirements for him as a jazz guitarist compared to Midge’s rock style. Midge throws up a challenge requesting an all-black matt finish, a first for Jimmy’s order book, so he has to juggle design as well as creating musical tonal perfection.

A Demus production for BBC World Service
this programme was originally broadcast in January 2019.
Producer: Nick Low
Image: Jimmy Moon (Credit: Struan Adam)