Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Artist news
  • Guitars
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Guitar Amps
  • Drums
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Radiohead theory
  • Steely Dan's drum machine
  • Deep Purple in the dungeon
  • Prince's drummers
  • 95k+ free music samples
Don't miss these
Ray Cooper
Artists Percussionist Ray Cooper tells the story of his ‘lost’ live collaboration with Elton John
John McLaughlin
Artists “I’m not a collector. I get guitars, but I give them away”: Why John McLaughlin regrets gifting a '67 Strat to Jeff Beck
Yungblud
Artists Yungblud reveals his secret to making acoustics sound massive – and hints at future signature model
Zach Myers of Shinedown is bathed in blue stage lights and plays his custom-relic'd Silver Sky.
Artists Shinedown’s Zach Myers on Paul Reed Smith, signature model updates, and that relic’d Silver Sky
Zach Myers of Shinedown plays a hunter green PRS NF53 live onstage at Download Festival 2025.
Artists Zach Myers on Shinedown’s secret weapon, the limits of shred guitar, and getting schooled by BB King
John Fogerty wears a blue plaid shirt and plays his Fireglo 'Acme' Rickenbacker live onstage in 2022
Artists “Dumb idea to give a guitar away that meant so much to you”: John Fogerty explains why he let go of his iconic guitar
“The most talked-about guitar of the summer is coming to the Gibson Garage London”: P-90s, Light Aging from the Murphy Lab, handwritten Oasis lyrics… The Gibson Custom Noel Gallagher Les Paul Standard has been unveiled and is here photographed in the Gibson Garage, with a variety of close-ups to show every detail.
Artists Gibson unveils Custom Noel Gallagher Les Paul: hand-signed, limited run – the ultimate Oasis guitar?
Gretsch Electromatic CVT: The bolt-on double-cut assumes a familiar form to the Jack Antonoff signature model, and features dual humbuckers, a wraparound tailpiece, and some neat vintage finishes.
Guitars Like the Jack Antonoff signature Gretsch? Then you are going to love the CVT Electromatic
Dickey Betts [left] and Warren Haynes trade licks onstage with the Allman Brothers Band at the 1993 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Haynes's Strat would soon be stolen in New York.
Artists How Warren Haynes turned to Les Pauls after his favourite Strat was stolen
Jacob Collier
Artists Using his signature ‘DAEAD’ tuning, Jacob Collier recorded a 5-string acoustic guitar album in just four days
Mark Knopfler
Artists Mark Knopfler on the Dire Straits song he's come to accept that he has to start in the same way every time
A black-and-white image of Jimmy Page using a violin bow on his 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard.
Guitars Bare Knuckle supremo Tim Mills reveals the tone secrets of Jimmy Page’s ‘Number One’ Les Paul
Jackson Pro Series Limited Edition Phil Demmel KV King V: the V-style electric is finished in black-and-white polka dots, and looks good in all settings, against a white background or barroom scene alike.
Artists Jackson and Phil Demmel salute Randy Rhoads with limited run Pro Series King V in polka dot finish
Fender Custom Shop Ariel Posen Stratocaster: Posen's new signature model was inspired by the Jazzmaster and has custom-wound AP-90 pickups. Check out those cupcake-style control knobs.
Artists Ariel Posen’s new Custom Shop signature Strat is A) stunning and B) inspired by a… Jazzmaster?
Mark Knopfler
Artists "I did everything wrong, but I think they’re perfect notes”: Mark Knopfler's favourite guitar solo
  1. Artists

The Corrs' Jim Corr talks signature Avalon acoustic, gear tragedies and T Bone Burnett

News
By Kate Puttick ( Acoustic Magazine ) published 19 May 2017

The Celtic pop legend on his new toy

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Introduction

Introduction

With his new signature guitar freshly unveiled, Acoustic caught up with Jim Corr to hear the story behind the new model and find out what the Corrs have planned for 2017.

Whether for good or ill, The Corrs’ influence on the contemporary Celtic music scene has been, over the years, so ubiquitous that it should only really have been a matter of time before a signature model of their guitarist’s favoured instrument was produced.

A lot of my instruments were unsalvageable. I lost a whole load in the flood

Sure enough, in May 2016, Jim Corr (‘the boy one’) and Northern Ireland’s Avalon Guitars announced the fruits of a long-considered collaboration: the D340A Jim Corr Custom, a beautiful slope-shouldered dreadnought based on the popular D300 Americana series.

Unsurprisingly, a few months after his finished guitar was unveiled to the public, it’s fair to say Corr is still somewhat chuffed about the whole thing. We cut to the chase and asked how the project came about. As it turned out, there was quite a story behind it... 

“I first got involved with Avalon when one of the guys came along to one of our concerts and brought a guitar with him,” Corr begins.

“I fell in love with it and loved the fact that there was a world class luthier here in the north of Ireland, near to where I live. I went to the factory and met with the workmen and I was just very impressed.”

But tragedy was not far away. Having purchased an A25C from their Legacy range, a freak flood in 2002 wreaked havoc on the band’s lockup in Dublin, near to the river Liffey.

“A lot of my instruments were unsalvageable,” Corr recalls.

“I lost a whole load in fact. Some lovely Gibsons and Fenders and I think there were two Avalons that I lost. Funnily enough, the Edge from U2 had a room next to mine and his were badly damaged as well, but he wouldn’t let go of them. He had a guy that refurbished them and tried to repair them as best as he could.”

Page 1 of 5
Page 1 of 5
Avalon again

Avalon again

A galling tale for any guitar lover, we proffer. “Yeah... shit happens!” he sighs. But a knight in shining armour was just around the corner. 

What I need is a guitar which both records very well with flat-picking, but also has projection on stage

“Kindly, Steve [McIlwrath, Avalon’s director] replaced the A25C - which I still have and use - and the only alteration was the pickup. I put in an LR Baggs Anthem. And it sounds wonderful on stage. The Avalon guitars I have now represent the epitome of workmanship to me. And they were great to work with. They facilitated any request no matter how great or how small.”

Thus a lifelong bond was struck and the County Louth native would become a frequent visitor to Avalon’s Newtownards headquarters, which is where he first encountered an instrument from the D300 Americana series - the brand’s own version of the dreadnought.

“I happened to be in their factory, again, and I had a play on it,” he continues. “I fell in love with it! So I talked to Steve and said, could I possibly cosmetically design one with you, a custom one? He jumped at the idea and between the two of us we cosmetically designed this variant of it.”

Corr is, if not picky, quite specific in his needs for a guitar. After all, The Corrs work to quite a well-defined ‘spec’, with little dabbling in other styles.

“For me, what I need is a guitar which both records very well with flat-picking,” he says, “but also has projection on stage. That’s why I went with the particular woods, including quilted Tibetan maple. Normally maple would be a bright sound but this has more depth and resonance. More harmonic.”

Page 2 of 5
Page 2 of 5
Self-made musician

Self-made musician

Corr speaks ‘luthierese’ so fluently and describes his working practices with such clarity that it is easy to assume that he was born with a pick in his hand, destined for a life on the gigging circuit.

The reality, it seems, is not wildly different, but in fact, Corr did not start on the guitar until well into his teens.

I did get a couple of lessons, but essentially I have been self-taught. I’ve tried to mould myself around the band

“Well, I went to music academy,” Corr points out. “I started playing piano when I was about four. But I didn’t pick up the guitar until I was about 13 when a neighbour volunteered to teach me. Without him, I wouldn’t have started. So I went from there really. I did get a couple of lessons, but essentially I have been self-taught. I’ve tried to mould myself around the band.

“We grew up in a very musical environment. Both our parents played semi-professionally. My mother sang and my father played keyboards. We were constantly listening to what they were performing.”

Corr worked as a session musician and producer in Dublin for a few years after school, working with bands such as the Fountainhead and Hinterland, as well as celebrated folk singer Dolores Keane - a “beautiful” singer, says Corr, who he credits with giving him an invaluable foot in the door of the Irish folk scene. But the young musician moved home when it became clear that the family band was a success in the offing. 

“Myself and my sister Sharon got a small band together and we were playing locally. To be honest, we were just trying to generate a bit of money - we didn’t have that much in those days. We had a small record deal but we still needed to work. So we were listening to a lot of Irish music and we were trying to contemporise what we would term traditional tunes to our own - like we did on our Forgiven Not Forgotten album.”

Page 3 of 5
Page 3 of 5
Session star

Session star

Did he ever feel the need to rebel against the expected Irish tradition as a teenager?

“Well… it wasn’t really like that,” he replies. “I was only ever really in one other original band when I was living in Dundalk. But I worked as a session musician, so I worked with lots of different acts. I was touring the country doing top 40 stuff. So I was exposed to different music. but in terms of rebelling… not really.”

My mother had an acoustic that I called the cheese grater. It was prohibitive

Among Corr’s own guitar idols, artists such as Tommy Emmanuel and Andy McKee feature heavily. Does he model himself on them, I ask? Corr splutters with laughter. “If I could even come close to playing how they do…” he replies, modestly. “Well, those guys are masters.”

Surprisingly, Corr says he only recently learned to fingerpick. “On White Light there was a song called ‘Stay’ and I just taught myself how to do it. I have a lot to learn with fingerpicking but I guess it does sway the songs in a certain direction in terms of the subtlety of playing. 

“Basically I did straight strumming before that. But you know, there are people who can get an amazing sound through the quiet playing of their instruments. Less is more, sonically. Obviously it’s about fashioning a craft.” 

What was his first acoustic guitar? “My mother had one that I called the cheese grater,” he recalls. “It was prohibitive. It was probably why I didn’t pick it up for a few years.”

Does he remember the model? “Oh no, but my second guitar was great: an Eko. That was quite decent. The first really nice acoustic I got was a Takamine, but unfortunately that went in the flood.”

On that slightly grim note, we turn our attention back to happier times, and Corr perks up as chat moves back to his new pride and joy. The new Avalon D340A, Corr tells me with no little excitement, is finding some fans in high places - with one of Trevor Horn’s chief engineers reportedly being so impressed as to list it in his top two acoustics for recording ever. “The other one was a Martin,” Corr adds, with a laugh.

Page 4 of 5
Page 4 of 5
T Bone stakes

T Bone stakes

Speaking of recording, Jim has just that morning returned home after recording for the next Corrs album at RAK Studios in London with none other than T Bone Burnett at the helm.

And with a producer of that calibre and reputation, Corr explains, time is limited - after all, this is the man behind everyone from Roy Orbison to Tony Bennett, and soundtracks for pretty much all of the Coen Brothers films.

People will certainly recognise that it’s still us, but we have kind of moved subtly away from the pop

“It was a very intense three weeks there, with one week of rehearsal, which is an approach we haven’t taken before. Normally we go into the studio and do overdub upon overdub. This time we decided to do essentially a live performance.

“We were separated in the studio and then T Bone recorded to tape, 24 track, to get that transience, frequency range and compression that is very difficult to get with digital. Obviously it was very challenging for us doing that entire album, bar a couple of overdubs, in two weeks.”

Sounds like, dare we say it, he is quite happy with the result? “Yeah! It’s been an education and we loved working with T Bone. We couldn’t be happier with the recording process. Obviously there are still a couple of vocal dubs to be done and there’s still a mix. The proof is in the pudding. But yeah, I’m very cautiously going to say I think it will be great.”

Corr seems relieved to be moving slightly away from the band’s comfort zone. Often accused of playing it safe (one Evening Standard reviewer memorably described the band’s last album as representing a “pathological rejection of any kind of edge”), the new album, out early next year, Corr hopes, will signal a new chapter.

“People will certainly recognise that it’s still us, but we have kind of moved subtly away from the pop. Yes there are songs on the album, but they are not particularly in the pop vein that they would have been in the past. This is a little bit of a departure for us.” 

What’s next for the group? “Well, we’ll take a little bit of a break then I’ll perhaps go out to America, Nashville, with one of the girls, finish the mix. Next year will likely be a very busy year for us. But in the meantime, it’s back to downing our tools and looking after our children!”

For more info on the Avalon D340A Jim Corr Custom, visit Avalon. The Corrs’ latest album, White Light, is out now on East West Records.

Page 5 of 5
Page 5 of 5
Kate Puttick
We're the UK's only print publication devoted to acoustic guitar. image
We're the UK's only print publication devoted to acoustic guitar.
Subscribe for star interviews, essential gear reviews and killer tuition!
More Info
Read more
Ray Cooper
Percussionist Ray Cooper tells the story of his ‘lost’ live collaboration with Elton John
 
 
John McLaughlin
“I’m not a collector. I get guitars, but I give them away”: Why John McLaughlin regrets gifting a '67 Strat to Jeff Beck
 
 
Yungblud
Yungblud reveals his secret to making acoustics sound massive – and hints at future signature model
 
 
Zach Myers of Shinedown is bathed in blue stage lights and plays his custom-relic'd Silver Sky.
Shinedown’s Zach Myers on Paul Reed Smith, signature model updates, and that relic’d Silver Sky
 
 
Zach Myers of Shinedown plays a hunter green PRS NF53 live onstage at Download Festival 2025.
Zach Myers on Shinedown’s secret weapon, the limits of shred guitar, and getting schooled by BB King
 
 
John Fogerty wears a blue plaid shirt and plays his Fireglo 'Acme' Rickenbacker live onstage in 2022
“Dumb idea to give a guitar away that meant so much to you”: John Fogerty explains why he let go of his iconic guitar
 
 
Latest in Artists
Flava D in the studio
Flava D on why drum & bass is the toughest genre to produce
 
 
SCM All Stars logo
“I’m so grateful that our music can be a vehicle for their spirits to fly”: Students at Flea’s music school pay tribute to Chili Peppers
 
 
Musician Dave Grohl, founding member of Nirvana and The Foo Fighters
“Ladies and gentlemen, will you please welcome Ilan Rubin”: Dave Grohl introduces new drummer at Foos secret gig
 
 
Brian May
“I missed a couple of things": Brian May critiques his Last Night of the Proms performance
 
 
Ed Sheeran attends the European Premiere of F1 ® The Movie at Cineworld, Leicester Square on June 23, 2025
“It would be ‘Stop’ and then ‘Eject’”: Ed Sheeran reveals that plans for posthumous album are in his will
 
 
ELMONT, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 07: Sombr performs during the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena on September 07, 2025 in Elmont, New York. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for MTV)
“In the actual song you hear today, the guitars, the riff, the bass, the drums and all the vocals are from those initial takes I did in my bedroom”: Sombr on the making of viral hit Undressed, and his formula for creating "a legendary indie rock song"
 
 
Latest in News
Mk.pre
Audio Hertz's Mk.pre emulates the Tascam Portastudio preamp that colours Mk.gee's sought-after guitar tone
 
 
Zultan FX cymbals
“A versatile tool for sharp, modern accents and cutting effects”: Zultan add to their effects cymbal range
 
 
Deals of the week
MusicRadar deals of the week: Score a mind-blowing $1,000 off the stunning D'Angelico Excel SS, $500 off the gorgeous Heritage Standard H-535, and so much more
 
 
A robot band in 1958
Deezer report that it’s now receiving over 30,000 fully AI-generated tracks every day
 
 
Sphere lights up on December 08, 2024 in Las Vegas
“I’m hoping to go there and sit and watch myself doing it”: David Gilmour says he’d be open to a Floyd avatar show at the Sphere
 
 
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 10: Birdy performs at the VIP Opening of the David Bowie Centre, V&A East Storehouse, on September 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse)
Jeff Beck, Roxy Music and Miles Davis all make the list of David Bowie’s 15 favourite tracks
 
 

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...