Howard Smith - About Me

About me

I began playing guitar at the age of fifteen and made my first public appearance when I was about eighteen - a bit late by today's standards!

At about the same time, I started taking guitars apart and messing around with them, building my first electric guitar, a Les Paul copy, in my parent's study when I was nineteen.

Telecaster and Stratocaster copies followed and these helped to persuade Noel at Sheehan's Music Services in Leicester to take me on as his third employee under the watchful eye of luthier, Bob Dayfield.

I remained at Sheehan's for ten years, repairing a vast number of different stringed instruments and saw the business grow from just three employees into the establishment of renown that it is today.

I took a break from instrument repairing in 2000 to study for a degree in Computer Science at the Universty of Leicester and I sucessfully graduated with a first, in 2003.

After three years studying, I decided to return to music and instruments, and establish myself as an independent repair specialist, allowing me the flexibility to still pursue my musical interests as well as repairing.

Since my late teens, I've played guitar and sung in numerous bands, including the Pink Cadillacs, the Houndogs, the Razors, Parallel Blondie, the Hornets, BluesMove, the Kansas City Faggots (playing lap steel) the Longhorns, the Fabulous 55s, and Dawson Smith and the Dissenters. I have also played acoustic gigs both solo and with Sally Barker.

You can see some of these bands and people in the pictures below

Please note my new phone number is 0116 2709971

	The Razors with Craig Rhind on bass and Chas Chaplin on drums playing at the Vaults in Leicester.
	Parallel Blondie with Gloria Glover doing a fantastic Debbie Harry tribute.
	Dawson Smith and the Dissenters playing at DeMontfort Hall - our 15 minutes of fame!
	The Kansas City Faggots playing as a 3-piece - the late great Paul Allatson is on the left, Dan Britton is in the middle and I'm playing an 8-string lap steel that I made from a lump of walnut.
	Playing with Sherman Robertson when BluesMove backed him for some gigs in the UK.
	A last minute rehearsal with Sally Barker. This was a few years before she was a semi-finalist on the Voice in 2015.
	The Longhorns in the old back yard at the Musician in Leicester. The wonderful Caroline O'Donnel is playing the accordian.
	BluesMove playing at the Running Horse in Nottingham, with the remarkable Roger Innis on bass.
	Howard in his workshop.