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Pedals

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Guitar Amps

Guitars

Steinberger SS-2F

As a Gibson Artist, this is one of my main guitars. I like the balance and weight, as well as the ability to travel easily. Playing with Julie Black, we play a lot of Blues festivals and events, & I love when I bring out this '80s guitar' in a world where if it isn't a Gibson or a Fender that is beat to hell, then you get that look. Then they hear it, and it stays in tune. Some people at the shows come up and ask 'what instrument is that?'

Mine is slightly modified, with a Duncan Alnico Pro II pickup in the neck and a Duncan Custom 5 in the bridge. I generally don't like the sterile EMG sound, although I tried to work with them for a year or so.

Brian Moore C-55PM

I am lucky enough to be endorsed by Brian Moore Custom Guitars of formerly of Brewster, NY. I am not exactly sure what this means now the company isn't quite the same as it used to be, but it just makes the guitars the former factory made rarer, I suppose.

They are one of the few companies making guitars with built in synth electronics, and they just so happen to put the electronics is some of the best guitars made. My guitar was custom built for me, with a few changes from stock models. The C-55 comes stock with locking Sperzel tuners and a graphite nut. The bridge is a Wilkinson unit, which is the finest floating bridge out there. It is super heavy-duty, and features RMC Piezo saddles which serve as the synth pickups as well as provide a separate 'acoustic' output. It is non-locking, so string changes are super simple when combined with the locking tuners.

I. Body & Neck

• The body is made of mahogany with a quilted maple top. I ordered mine with special chambers routed out in the body, in effect making it semi-hollow. As a result, it is really light and resonant- very loud acoustically.  
• The bolt-on 22-fret neck is made of maple with a rosewood fingerboard and abalone dot markers. Brian Moore is certainly capable of elaborate inlays, but I like necks to be plain and non-distracting. I also like 22 fret necks better than 24 fret necks- the pickups are farther apart and provide more of a drastic change when they are switched. The back of the body is curved to fit against your tummy, and it is easily the most comfortable guitar I have played. The color is a deep dark blue that I picked from an old Carvin ad.

II. Pickups

This guitar comes with 2 Seymour Duncan humbuckers and a set of RMC bridge piezo pickups. I did not want a middle pickup because my pick tends to hit it when I play.

Magnetic Pickups

• First, there is an Alnico II Pro in the neck position. This is a fairly low output pickup that is really warm- sounds great with just a hint of distortion. Clean chords sound amazing on this pickup as well.

Piezo Pickup

The RMC pickups are built into the Wilkinson bridge's saddles. They serve 2 functions (I will describe each separately):

• To provide output to the midi interface and then the synth
• To provide a piezo or 'acoustic' output via the stereo jack.

This guitar has a 13-pin Roland-style synth jack on its side.

Ernie Ball/Music Man Silhouette Special

• A Custom Custom for the bridge, for a great chunky early VH sound.
• An Alnico Pro II for the neck like in my Brian Moore. It is a low output pickup with a great low end and singing sustain. It really lets all nuances come through. I use this pickup most of the time.
• It is all connected with a 5 way switch. The guitar is now wired like their Axis Super Sport model, with the extra positions using the 2 inside coils or 2 outside coils. I built it on the new pickguard and connected a Molex connector that Ernie Ball sent me, and it snaps right in.

Scalloped fingerboards are something of a mystery to guitarists. True, they are not for everyone. It is just something different. It is not the same as big frets- people who say that have no experience with both big frets and scalloped boards. Or maybe they are a repairman trying to talk someone out of it because they don't have the skills to make one. Who knows, I just know it feels very different. You have to develop a light touch or else chords will go out of tune. You never feel wood under your fingers. I play lightly anyway so this isn't a problem. Bending strings the normal way is easier because you can really get your finger under the string, and you don't run into the 'hump' of the middle of the fretboard. It is a non-reversible modification, but I love it.

Ovation Viper

This is my main performing acoustic. It was made in 1992, and has a solid mahogany body, so acoustically, it is more like an electric than acoustic. It is extremely comfortable to play too, much more so than normal acoustics. I send this through one of my normal pedalboards and add an Aphex Acoustic Xciter pedal to add lower harmonics.

I bought this on Ebay and it was in rough shape. The gloss black paint had huge deep scratches, and there was glue all over the binding and tuners. I sent it to Ovation and I requested a textured finish all over the body and they did a wonderful job cleaning it up and painting it. I added Sperzel flat black locking tuners to go with the industrial vibe, and it is the only one like it in the world.

Fender ‘The Strat' 1982

This is the first good guitar I've ever had. It is part of a series that Fender had out from the late part of 1980 until late 1982. As a result, it is not a very common guitar, although I have run across a few here and there. Mine is ‘Sapphire Blue' which is an opaque dark blue metal flake finish- a pretty rare finish for this model. The body is made of hard ash (looks like 3 pieces), with a maple neck (no separate fingerboard). All of the hardware on this guitar is 22k gold-plated brass, and as a result, it is fairly heavy. The electronics are fairly different on this guitar, as the first tone control is a master tone control for all of the pickups. The second tone control knob is not a tone control at all, but a 2 position rotary switch. This switch allows different combinations of the three pickups.

This is the way it works:

5-Way Switch Position | 2- way Switch OFF | 2-way Switch ON

Ovation Adamas SMT

Acoustically, this guitar is LOUD, with great balance between individual strings. The mid-size bowl is really comfortable yet big enough to make those bass notes jump out. I'm not kidding, you really feel those low notes.  

It contains Ovation's Optima preamp system, with both 1/4" and XLR output. The preamp also has a chromatic tuner, which is great idea. Plugged in, the sound is unreal. Not traditional sounding (the middle strings don't 'mush' together like on wood acoustics), again, just great balance. Even chord played on the lower strings sound like individual notes, not buzzy and indistinct. And for single notes, the neck is as easy as an electric's. I generally process my acoustic sounds with compression & reverb, as well as with an Aphex Aual Exciter pedal, which adds even lower overtones to the lowest notes.