Lisa
Loeb
has two custom-made Taylor cutaway acoustic guitars. "They're really comfortable to play because of the thin necks, and I like their bright sound," she says. She uses "whatever strings work, as long as they're not too bright," usually light-gauge and oftentimes D'Addarios. Her pickups are standard Taylor stock (Fishman Matrix Naturals). She uses a Fishman amp but expresses interest in getting a Trace Elliott acoustic guitar amp. Her pick of choice is a brightly colored medium Fender that she can spot easily on the stage floor when she drops it.
Loeb uses a Shubb capo. "I write most of my songs without a capo," she says, "but when I play them live, my voice is so low I have to use one." She capos the sixth fret on her hit "Stay," written capoless in the quiet of her bedroom, and the ninth or tenth fret for "Sandalwood," which was originally composed on a beat-up old guitar tuned low. "The notes have more clarity up high on the neck," she says. "Unfortunately, sometimes it sounds like I'm playing a mandolin."
Loeb also tours with a cherry red 1959 Gibson Les Paul Jr. electric guitar plugged into a Mesa Boogie amp. On her wish list is a Collings acoustic. She played one in Austin not too long ago and fell in love with it. "It was a new guitar," she says, "but it felt old. The wood was dry and resonant. The neck action was great too. Too bad it cost a zillion dollars."
--Dan Ouellette
Kristina
Olsen's
primary guitar when touring as a solo performer is a Taylor 512 six-string fitted with a Carruthers blended pickup system (Carruthers, 346 Sunset Ave., Venice, CA 99291; [310] 392-3919). The Carruthers unit features a custom internal condenser mic and a piezo transducer. For her signature bottleneck blues tunes, Olsen also carries a Model 36 metal-body Dobro six-string formerly owned by the late Jim Croce, which is also fitted with a Carruthers system. In most live situations, however, Olsen doesn't plug in, but prefers to use the house microphones, whatever they happen to be.
Olsen is a little pickier about picks, and plays with an aLaska Pik on each picking finger (aLaska Piks, 307 S. 18th St., St. Manes, ID 83861; [208] 245-2868) and a Golden Gate thumbpick on her thumb. Olsen also plays piano, a Wheatstone tenor concertina, a 1936 Conn alto saxophone, and a hammer dulcimer made by Dusty Strings (3406 Fremont Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98103; [206] 634-1656). She sometimes brings the lighter instruments to gigs, but not the piano. A die-hard acoustic troubadour, Olsen manages to tour to far corners of the planet without any signal processing gear whatsoever.
--Todd Ellison
Steven
King
has only been playing acoustic guitars for a short time, but he's already amassing a small arsenal of great instruments, including a maple Breedlove C-2 and a Gallagher Ragtime Special, which he won at Winfield. "I've just become a Taylor artist, and I'll soon be getting a grand auditorium with walnut back and sides and a cedar top," he says. He is very excited about the James Olson SJ guitar he recently ordered, which he'll collect next fall. He also owns a Deering six-string banjo that he plays with the Foggy Bottom jazz band.
For amplification, King uses a Sunrise pickup in the Gallagher and a Shadow SH470 magnetic humbucker and microphone combo in the Breedlove. He runs the signal from the pickup into a Rane AP13 preamp. The Taylor and Olson will both be wired with L.R. Baggs piezo pickups.
When playing smaller venues, King often uses one of two homemade 10-watt amplifiers that run off eight D-cell batteries. "I get plenty of volume," he says, "and they last for a month between battery changes." He uses a Boss reverb/delay pedal with his acoustics; and with his electric, a 1971 Gibson ES-175, he uses a rack-mount system, an array of foot pedals, and a Roland GM-70 guitar synthesizer controller with a Roland SC50 Sound Canvas.
All of King's instruments are strung with D'Aquisto strings (.011–.050 for the acoustics, .011–.048 flat-wounds for the electric).
--Dylan Schorer
| A.G. Homepage | Past Issues | Gearbox | Dear A.G. | Subscribe |