AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR, PARLOUR MODEL, P12-DELUXE

Mark Knopfler received this acoustic parlour guitar as a gift from former GT driver Nicolaus Springer in 2014. Luthier Michael Millard told us that the original commission, which was placed through Tommy’s Music in Viersen, Germany, was for a small guitar to be played with bare fingers, with a voice greater than its size would suggest, exceptional responsiveness, dynamic range, and balance across its tonal spectrum. Interviewed by Jamie Dickson for Guitarist in April 2015 about his go-to guitars for newly released studio album Tracker, Knopfler mentioned that he had 'been playing two other acoustics at home, which are both beautiful guitars, just to get them played in a little bit. One of them is a Froggy Bottom parlour guitar, which is a beautiful thing that was given to me by somebody very generous.' Knopfler had in fact already used the guitar to record two songs on Tracker – namely ‘Wherever I Go’, featuring vocals by Ruth Moody, and the deluxe box set bonus track ‘Heart Of Oak’. Talking to Paul Sexton for the official album documentary, Knopfler revealed that '‘Wherever I Go’… came from listening to a friend talking about how it didn’t matter how long since he talked to a good friend, they would always just take up where they left off, it would always be great between them.'

Back in the studio following the 2015 Tracker Tour, Knopfler recorded his ninth soundtrack album for the 2016 Spanish biographical drama Altamira with percussionist Evelyn Glennie in early 2016. Footage of Knopfler recording the title theme on the Froggy Bottom guitar at British Grove Studios was featured throughout the official behind the scenes ‘making of’ documentary short for the Altamira soundtrack, in which Mark explained that 'The cave of Altamira was discovered by an amateur archaeologist, Marcelino Sautuola, with his eight-year-old daughter Maria - a wonderful character for me to try to make some music with that little parlour guitar, and they seemed to suit each other very well.' Footage of Knopfler on the Froggy Bottom during the Altamira sessions was repurposed for the official music video for the song ‘Good On You Son’ in 2018.

MICHAEL MILLARD AND FROGGY BOTTOM GUITARS
At the age of 24 Michael Millard possessed dual but unrelated passions: finger-style guitar playing and the finer aspects of wooden boat construction. Though first pursuing a doctoral programme in behavioural psychology, Millard left the academic world and his native New England, for New York City. Here he took a position in the workshop of the renowned luthier Michael Gurian. After working for Gurian for four years Millard departed to launch his own workshop in Richmond, New Hampshire in 1974. For the next eleven years it would be the home for Froggy Bottom Guitars until a move to Newfane, Vermont in 1985.

Throughout Foggy Bottom's history Millard has maintained the ethos of building each instrument by hand while employing the finest materials and executing the works with uncompromising craftsmanship. Millard has described Froggy Bottom this way: 'We are a no-growth company and see ourselves as designing and building highly refined tools around function in service to the personal expression of the serious guitar player.' It is the philosophy that Froggy Bottom Guitars embraces to this day, where Millard and his colleagues produce about one hundred bespoke instruments a year for an international client base of professional guitarists.