The Making of Phish Bassist Mike Gordon's Acoustic Guitar - Muiderman Shop Stories

Mike Gordon, best known as the bass player for the band Phish, also has a number of side projects, some of which use acoustic instruments. On his latest tour with guitarist Leo Kottke to promote their album called, “Noon,” he went in search once again of an acoustic bass guitar that had a reasonable tone and musicality for use on stage during their performances together. Unable to find an adequate commercial instrument, he commissioned a 5-string acoustic bass from me. After going through a prototype process, we achieved his goals, and he took the bass guitar on tour with Leo. While recording “Noon”, Mike loved the sound of the small guitar I’d made for Leo which he used on some of the tracks. Mike, therefore, commissioned a 6-string parlor guitar to play on the “Noon” tour as well as to play on various acoustic side projects. The bass has a cedar “ultralightweight” top with graphite composite bracing and East Indian Rosewood back and sides with a player’s soundport to better hear the subtleties during performance. The parlor guitar has an “ultralightweight” spruce top with graphite composite bracing and Imbuia wood back and sides. It was great fun to work with Mike on these projects.