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Check out these equipment picks from artists featured in the April 2002, No.112 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.
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Dharma Blues showcases a number of Peter Lang’s guitars, including a 1932 Martin 000-18 that Lang rescued from a junk store and rebuilt, a Bozo, and an Epiphone Conquistador 12-string. He also uses a National Reso-Phonic guitar, a World War II–era plywood Gibson "GI" guitar, and a "cheap" Yamaha classical. Until recently when it was damaged by an airline, Lang performed live on a Yamaha Compass with on-board electronics that is now awaiting repair. —Ron Forbes-Roberts As he has since the ’60s, Loudon Wainwright continues to play Martins, which he calls "the Rolls Royce of acoustic steel-string guitars." He uses a 1991 Martin D-28 on the road and records with a late ’60s Martin D-21 and a 1969 D’Angelico archtop. All three are strung with D’Addario phosphor-bronze mediums. He also plays a five-string Bart Reiter banjo and claims to know a handful of chords on the piano. —Kenny Berkowitz For most of Two Journeys, Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott play O’Brien’s 1959 Gibson J-50, strung with medium-gauge GHS phosphor-bronze strings and played with a variety of picks. When O’Brien is on stage, he amplifies with a Fishman Matrix Natural pickup and sometimes adds a mini-mic if he can carry enough gear to do a stereo mix. O’Brien’s main instrument is a custom-made bouzouki designed by Mike Kemnitzer (PO Box 264, Central Lake, MI 49622; www.mandolincafe.com/nugget.html), who also made his A-5 mandolin. "It has the same scale-length (24 inches) as the Flatiron bouzouki, but it’s an archtop, so the tension is higher and it has a stronger thrust," says O’Brien. "It kicks ass! It’s made in the style and shape of the prewar Gibson L-5s, except shortened. Mike wanted to make me something special, either a guitar or a mandolin, so I said, ‘Let’s combine them.’ It’s got these nice little f-holes, an adjustable bridge, a carved top and back, with maple all around and spruce on top." Unlike most bouzouki players, O’Brien splits his low pairs of strings into octaves. "It wreaks havoc with the tuning," he says, "but it produces a different sound from an octave mandolin--a shimmery, sparkly, kind of Christmasy sound." —Rani Arbo When Jewel signed with Atlantic Records in 1993, she picked up a Taylor 912-C that was her steady companion for several years, along with an intricately decorated custom Ferrington given as a gift from a boyfriend. Since then, Jewel’s relationship with the southern California guitar company has deepened, as she’s acquired a whole rack of Taylors, including a 420-PF (pao ferro), 512, 612-C, 814-C, custom 915, and PS10 as well as her own signature model, built as a limited edition in 2000. Jewel’s stage acoustic guitars are wired with Fishman Matrix pickups, run direct with no external preamp or effects. At band gigs, she supplements the Taylors with a Stratocaster, a Paul Reed Smith, three Telecasters, and two Gibson Howard Roberts, plugged into a Matchless DC30 amp. All of Jewel’s guitars are strung with D’Addario mediums, and she plays either with her fingers (often combining strumming and fingerpicking) or a heavy pick. —Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |
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