Tim Marten

Tim Marten, 1986 Tim Marten

Guitar Technician (1980-1990)

Tim Marten started repairing instruments professionally in 1977 when he joined the small but busy workshop in the basement of 27 Denmark St. known as Andy's.

The workshop was well known for the high quality of its repairs and was patronized by all the major bands and musicians of the time.

In 1980, Tim was asked to join the crew of Led Zeppelin as a guitar tech for Jimmy Page, in whose employment he remained for ten years, touring and recording extensively in Europe and America. He has also toured with many other major acts such as Roger Waters, Ray Davies, Steve Harley, to name a few.

In 1990, Tim started his own workshop with many famous clients and in the year 2000 was invited back to head the repairs dept at the now greatly expanded Andy's back in Denmark St.

After the sad demise of the shop in 2007, Tim And Mikhail Popov joined forces to form the current business.

http://www.timmartenrepairs.co.uk/about-us/

On Sunday, Jimmy Page's ex-guitar tech Tim Marten took the microphone and divulged some interesting tidbits from his tenure with Jimmy and the Zeppelin organization. Marten was working as a repairman at Andys Guitar Workshop in London when he got a call from Swan Song offering him a job on the 1980 Zeppelin Tour Over Europe. According to Tim, "I sat in this small basement [repairing instruments] for about two-and-a-half years and when they called looking for somebody to go on the road I immediately said yes." He stayed on with Jimmy after Zeppelin's demise through the A.R.M.S. tour, Live Aid, and the Firm's first tours, finally moving on again in 1987.

Marten talked about the Coda album and what a rush job it had been, accusing Atlantic of being singularly insensitive after the death of Bonzo in pushing Jimmy to fulfill Zeppelin's contractual obligation to provide one more album. He specifically remembered being sent away to find Walter's Walk, which Jimmy knew was in the can somewhere, apparently as an instrumental at that time. While Marten didn't comment on this, there is speculation in other circles that the vocals for that 1972 track were actually overdubbed onto the instrumental in 1981, specifically for the Coda release. A close listen to the track supports this theory - does that sound like Plant's voice circa 1972?

Another topic Tim Marten discussed was the rumored XYZ band - a collaboration of ex-Yes & Zeppelin members Page, Alan White, and Chris Squire - which according to Marten was definitely in the planning stages in 1981, but was abandoned after the press got a hold of the information and let the word out.

http://www.oldbuckeye.com/prox/p14.html

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/rock_chronicles/rock_chronicles_1980s_tim_marten.html