William Fitzsimmons, originally from outside Pittsburgh, grew up with two blind parents. But his upbringing was full of sounds as the home was full of pianos, guitars, trombones, talking birds, classical records, family sing-alongs and even a pipe organ which his father built into the house himself.

With this aural arsenal at his disposal it is no wonder that Fitzsimmons wandered into music. He took a circuitous path into music, working with the mentally ill and attending graduate school in the field. He was a practicing therapist when he returned to music.

Fitzsimmons has been compared to the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine and Elliot Smith. His new CD, The Sparrow And The Crow, was produced by Marshall Altman at Galt Line Studios in Los Angeles.

He spoke to Gearwire about the acoustic guitars he uses. One of these is a Gibson L-130 (from 2000).

“Throughout my life I tended toward smaller bodied and brighter sounding guitars, probably more for the playability than for the sonic qualities, and they suited me just fine when it was for the sake of messing about, playing recreationally,” he says. “But in time I began to notice that while the handling of such guitars is really pleasant, the tone of my voice ended up being washed away due to its similarity with the tone of those guitars.”

He says that the L-130, while certainly not a jumbo, has depth and low end that those smaller, brighter guitars lacked. This low end helps to compliment the higher characteristics of his voice which is an important point. Choosing a guitar is a very personal thing once you get past a certain point. There are a lot of good and great guitars out there but there may only be a couple that suit you as a player.

He has another reason for wanting a Gibson too.

“So many guitar greats have used Gibson's over the years, that I think I also always wanted to look over and see that logo on my headstock,” he says. “It might seem a bit of an odd reason I suppose, but the music fan in me always wanted one.”

As to the guitar’s best feature he names then robust, hearty timbre of a Gibson of any size (jumbo, dreadnought etc). As to any feature he doesn’t like on the instrument he says there is one minor issue.

“Honestly there's not much I would change even if I could. I suppose the one item that seems to come up would be the weight of the guitar, which is something of small note really,” he says. “It's a bit on the heavy side, but it's never been a real issue for me. Compared to the brilliance of the guitar in every other area, it's something I don't even think about.”

The guitar has a spruce top and bubinga (an African wood similar to Ovangkol) sides and back. The fretboard is rosewood and the neck mahogany.

“I've never owned a guitar with that unique combination and I think it shows in the sound. Cosmetically too the guitar is rather brilliant to look at. The back and sides have a subtle flaming and the finish accompanying the spruce actually gives it that desirable vintage look,” he says. “There was a point in my life when I didn't give too much weight to the aesthetic of an instrument, and for certain we can never forget that the sound is always the most pressing issue. But as a performer, the instrument becomes an extension and key part of your performance.”

He does not use this guitar live. He is frightened to but is hoping to overcome his fear.

“Honestly I haven't actually had the courage to take it out of the house yet, only out of fear of something happening to it. It's going to be making its first trip on tour in July,” says Fitzsimmons. “I have no doubt it'll handle the travel and touring well. I don't think I've ever owned a guitar that seems to be made as stalwart as this one.”

He uses the active transducer that came stock with the guitar.

“I've found stock Gibson pick ups to be more than sufficient for the kind of work I'm doing,” he says. “At some point I might experiment with a Fishman unit with a condenser mic in order to increase the breadth of live sounds available. But really the stock appointments and such on this guitar really cover everything I need.”

More with Fitzsimmons soon.