Australian acoustic guitar extraordinaire Tommy Emmanuel has shared the heartwarming — and also heartbreaking — origin story of one of his most cherished guitars, and how it ended an exhaustive search for a very specific sound.
Emmanuel, who recently shared a play-by-play of his gig-day routine with Guitar Player, is the latest guest on Kylie Olsson’s YouTube channel, and during a tour of some of his favorite instruments, he spotlighted a 1930s Gibson acoustic.
The guitar, crafted in the firm’s original factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, features a subtle but very pretty dark sunburst finish and heavy wear beneath the strings. It also bears the signature of its former owner, who gifted it to Emmanuel under rather extraordinary circumstances.
“His name was Peter Kömhoff, and he was from the city of Venlo, right on the German-Dutch border,” Emmanuel explains. “He had cancer that was taking him out.
“He had tickets to four of my shows and couldn’t come to any of them. My agent rang me and said, ‘There’s this guy and his family, and they want to come to the show, but he’s in bed sick.’ And it turned out that he was dying at home.
“So I said to my agent, ‘Could I call in and see them?’” Emmanuel continues. “So my tour manager took me there, and I came in through the kitchen. His mother was sitting close to him, and Peter opened his eyes, saw me, and started to cry.”
There’s a real tenderness to the story, which can be heard in Emmanuel’s voice as he recounts the moment. What happened next shows the true nature of his generous spirit.
“I jumped on the bed, and we held each other for a long time,” he says. “He was such a player and a song guy, and he wanted me to have this guitar.
“The funny thing is that for years I’d wanted a guitar that sounded like a cross between Django’s sound and Chet Atkins’ Del Vecchio Dinâmico resonator guitar. This guitar, for some reason, does that.”
He then plays the guitar to showcase its quirky characteristics, as if there were a reverb chamber within the nearly century-old body.
“Peter grabbed his book The Beatles Complete and opened it,” Emmanuel recalls. “And even though he was so close to the end of his life, he started singing, and I started playing song after song — all these beautiful songs.
“[Later] I had to leave and drive to where I was playing, and he passed away that night.”
Emmanuel feels that a little part of Peter lives on in the guitar, signed as it is just above the sound hole. It has since become a workhorse for the guitarist.
“This guitar has brought so much joy to me,” he says. “I love recording with this guitar because it has a particular voice.”
In related news, Emmanuel has recalled the time he showed up the late great Les Paul in front of a sold-out audience and was quickly humbled in return. He has also showcased his custom Maton electro-acoustic and given two good reasons to bring three guitars to a gig.
