EQUIPMENT PICKS FROM DON WALSER, LOVE SPIRALS DOWNWARDS, CHRISTINE LAVIN, MICHAEL HEDGES, AND ROBYN HITCHCOCK,
is a one-guitar kind of guy. He plays a blond Gibson Everly Brothers model guitar he bought in 1959 for $450, which was more than he paid for his car. He played several Everly Brothers models in a friend's shop in Odessa, Texas, and he recalls that most sounded dead because of the heavy double pickguard, but one sounded great. "It was a fluke," he says.
The guitar has been through a lot in almost 40 years of constant use, surviving a car wreck in Abilene and the desert heat of El Paso. But under the scars, it is equipped with modern electronics--a Martin Thinline pickup under the bridge that runs through a Fishman preamp and then into the house PA. "That saves a lot of trouble for the soundman," Walser says.
Walser uses medium-gauge strings, because if he uses a light-gauge set he breaks too many. He uses very thin picks for the same reason.
Walser is particularly proud of his guitar strap, which was hand-woven at Ysleta Pueblo in El Paso and was given to him by an old friend who is an ambassador of the Tigua Nation.
--John Herndon
Ryan Lum owns and plays one acoustic guitar, an Ovation that he has had for ten years. "I forgot what kind it is," he admits. "The sticker on the inside has peeled off. It's a good mid-line Ovation acoustic guitar." A pick player, Lum uses light-gauge Martin strings. "I know a lot of acoustic players don't like [light-gauge strings] because the thicker strings are supposed to have more tone, but on my guitar, I've tried them all and light works best. It plays the best, it feels right, and the tone's good."
In the studio, he mikes his Ovation with an AKG C-1000 condenser microphone, compresses it a little bit with a DBX 160 compressor, then goes straight into a Tascam 388 eight-track recorder. During mix-down, he uses one of two chorus units, a Boss RCE-10 or a Roland Dimension D. He has an affinity for the latter. "When you have it on, you don't hear this wild chorusing," he explains. "But when you turn it off, all of a sudden the sound just loses some luscious quality. It's subtle chorusing, but it's powerful. You notice its absence more than its presence. That's why I like that box. It preserves the natural sound of the guitar."
Lum does not use his acoustic pickup in the studio unless he wants a more electric sound. "But live, I'll mic the guitar and also run the direct out from the pickup," he says. "It just helps out live; it's not as critical of a listening situation. It's a good combo--that way your guitar can be louder and there's less feedback."
--Bryan Reesman
was shopping for a second guitar when she discovered her first Larrivée six-string, a used model. "I tried maybe 30 guitars," she says. "I'm not a tech person. I don't know brands. I just know what I like." Though she had never heard of the Canadian luthier, she loved the instrument's rich sound. She has since acquired two more new Larriveés, though presently she's playing the used model live and in the studio.
Lavin travels with her own microphones, an AKG 535 for vocals and an AKG 451 for guitar. She also uses a Martin Thinline pickup that runs through a Model G Fishman preamp and a Boss CE-5 chorus pedal and into the house PA. All her accessories are battery-powered. "I've seen this happen again and again: performers who lose momentum in their show because a battery died," she says. "If you buy them in bulk, a battery is one dollar."
For strings, Lavin wavers between Eclipse and D'Addario, light and extra-light. She doesn't use picks, but she does rely on a weekly manicure for optimal string attack. "If I can keep my nails the same length and the same strength, it keeps my guitar-playing consistent," she says. Finding a good manicurist on the road can be tough, so she travels with her own salon kit. "I bring my own base coat and top coat. It's called Double Duty by Sally Hansen, and it makes a really strong acrylic finish on my fingernails."
--Steve Boisson
is touring with three guitars: his trusty and very well-worn Martin D-28, a Lowden, and a Dyer harp guitar. He uses string gauges from .013 to .056 and a Fender heavy plectrum. Hedges' warm and powerful live guitar sound is created with two pickups on each guitar--a FRAP piezo pickup and a Sunrise magnetic pickup. Hedges feels the secret to his amplified sound is the placement of his FRAP. "I do not use it on the bridge," he says. "I won't use a pickup in the bridge. I put it inside the body--that's why you can hear it when I hit it! When you listen to an acoustic guitar, you're not feeling the bridge, you're listening to the wood, so let's listen to the wood." The FRAP, which is three piezos in one, is placed in different spots on different guitars, and Hedges lets his guitar tech decide the exact location.
The fingernails on Hedges' right hand are not particularly long, except for on his little finger, which he uses quite a bit. He is unhappy when the nails wear down but doesn't like to apply anything to them unless it is an emergency. To avoid hand and arm problems from the repetitive motions involved in playing, Hedges constantly stretches his hands, arms, back, and shoulders.
--James Jensen
has played the same acoustic guitar for the past 12 years. It's an English-made dreadnought called a Fylde ("F as in Frank, Y as in yellow submarine, L as in lip-smacking . . ." says Hitchcock). (Fylde Guitars can be reached at Unit 35, Progress Industrial Park, Orders Lane, Kirkham, Lancanshire PR4 2TZ, United Kingdom; phone/fax 44-[0]1772-671010.) Hitchcock strings it with Dean Markley medium-lights or Country Golds. He also owns a Martin D-28, a mid-'70s Telecaster, and a Strat. Although he tends not to use picks while he is writing at home, his stage picks are Dunlop .73s or .88s.
Hitchcock's live acoustic sound is generally a mix between a direct signal and a mic. "Ideally," he said, "I wouldn't use a direct signal--I don't like the sound of a pick on the strings through a DI. It has the quality of someone speaking through a blocked nose." He claims that he prefers to plug his electric guitars into the back of his head, but when that isn't convenient, a Vox AC30 does the trick.
--Mike Brenner
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