Bert Jansch

You’ve been playing the same Yamaha LL11 acoustic for more than ten years now. What attracted you to that guitar?

I really like the big neck on it. I don’t like shallow necks—they cut into my hand too much. I prefer big-bodied acoustics too, like jumbos. My guitar has the stock Yamaha preamp, which allows me to blend a piezo pickup with an internal contact mic. I never use the piezo, however, and we always place some type of condenser mic in front of the guitar on stage. A mix of the contact mic and the condenser goes out front to the house, and I hear the internal guitar mic through the monitor, but the volume is low enough to where I can also hear the guitar acoustically.

Source: https://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/acoustic-bert-jansch

"Jansch has played Yamahas for years. He started with an FG1500, and when he visited Red Rhodes’ store in West Hollywood, the guitar-electronics guru tricked it out, cutting a hole in the body to insert volume controls. The 1500 has long since been patched up and remains one of the guitarist’s favorites, but these days he almost exclusively uses an LL11E on the road, with an LL400 as backup."

It was his backup guitar

For at least 2 years, 1993 and 1994 Bert Jansch played a Fender Montara, with solid spruce top, and laminated mahogany back and sides. You can see the guitar in some amateurs videos, shot during Bert's concerts.

For strings I use Martin light gauge .011-.052 sets. I don’t like phosphor bronze strings. They’re too zingy. I’d rather have dull-sounding strings than bright ones. After a couple of gigs, strings start to sound much better as the treble response settles down a bit.

Source: https://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/acoustic-bert-jansch