EQUIPMENT PICKS FROM JACK LAWRENCE,
ROB ICKES, HUMBLE
TIME, GUY CLARK, AND DOYLE
DYKES
uses a variety of guitars on stage with Doc Watson and in his recording work. He still has his first guitar, a 1946 000-21 Martin his father purchased, and he recently acquired a superb 1940 Martin D-28. "That's the guitar I take out when I'm playing an acoustic bluegrass kind of gig," he says. Another favorite vintage guitar is the 1945 D-18 that Watson gave him. He also owns a 1957 D-21.
For most of his performances with Watson, Lawrence currently plays a stock Collings D2H in Indian rosewood and Sitka spruce, preferring the clarity and cutting power of the Collings on stage. Lawrence uses natural tortoiseshell picks and strings his guitars with medium phosphor-bronze strings--"usually D'Addario J17s," he says.
Due to their frequent travel schedule and reluctance to depend on microphones for amplification, both Lawrence and Watson use internal pickups running into their own traveling preamp and EQ. Lawrence's current setup is a Jack Lawrence model McIntyre pickup system, which uses dual transducer units mounted under the bass and treble sides of the bridge (McIntyre Guitar Co., 719 Louise Ave., Charlotte, NC 28204; [704] 358-9497). On the Collings, he uses only the unit on the bass side and switches off the treble side, unless the stage situation requires the extra treble. His D-18, which he still sometimes uses on stage, has a newer McIntyre single-transducer model designed originally for smaller-bodied guitars.
Both Lawrence and Watson run their guitars directly into 15-year-old Ashly SC40 preamps with parametric EQ. "They're ancient old dinosaurs, but they sure sound good," Lawrence says. He acts as the duo's on-stage soundman, dialing in the sound they want for a particular venue. "With that setup, we can do a sound check in 15 minutes, then send either a flat or pre-EQ'ed signal out to the board, depending on the quality of the sound man where we're playing," he reports.
--David McCarty
does his picking on a Scheerhorn resophonic. Tim Scheerhorn (1454 52nd St., Kentwood, MI 49508; [616] 281-3927) builds these beauties with the finest woods and hardware available. Jerry Douglas and Mike Auldridge also own at least one. Ickes' current favorite is made of Brazilian rosewood.
His bar or steel of choice is made by Scheerhorn as well and, unlike the standard Stevens steel, has sharpened ends, perfect for the pull-offs and hammer-ons that are such a big part of modern lap-style playing. Ickes uses ProPik fingerpicks and Golden Gate thumbpicks. For live bluegrass gigs, he now carries an AKG C1000 condenser mic for consistent sound. He has, at times, also used a McIntyre flattop guitar transducer.
--Mike Brenner
sound engineer Ace finds Takamine guitars to be "by far the most common and consistent-sounding guitar" played by the show's guests. "They are the real workhorses of performing guitarists," he says. he also sees the usual run of Martins, Guilds, and Gibsons, all of which he likes to work with. "Older Gibsons can be a bit tricky, depending on what kind of electronics, if any, have been installed, but the onboard units on the newer models are great," he says.
Ace does most of his recording direct, so he prefers to see active pickups. "They provide the best sound and the most flexibility. Passive pickups and soundhole pickups just don't cut it for what we do." His favorite aftermarket unit is the Martin Thinline Gold Plus, which he has installed in both his own '70s Guild D-40 and Mo Humble's cedar-topped Washburn D-12BR. "They're inexpensive, unobtrusive, and sound great," he says. "What more could you want?"
--David Gold
swears by his jumbo flattops custom made by Vancouver luthier Michael Heiden (7285 Hinkley Rd., Chilliwack, BC, V2P 6H3 Canada; [604] 794-7261). "He's an eccentric, sweet guy," says Clark. "I've got two guitars made by him. The first one is shaped like a [Gibson] J-200, which has to be the prettiest guitar ever made. But it's thinner; the body is not so deep. It's about the depth of an auditorium-style guitar. I liked that guitar so much, I said, 'If I ever lose this one or break it, man, I can't play.' So I had him make me another one identical to it. And it was twice as good! Now I use the second one and keep the first as a backup."
Clark has had the Heidens for four or five years. The spruce tops on both came from the same log. The backs and sides are rosewood, the necks mahogany, and the fingerboards and bridges ebony. In keeping with Clark's plain tastes, there is no inlay except on the headstock--not even position markers on the fingerboard.
Both instruments have thin, clear pickguards. "Having built guitars, I know that a heavy plastic pickguard is not helping the sound," Clark says. "Of course, a heavy flatpicker needs a pickguard, but I don't really scratch up a guitar."
Clark worked for a while building Dobros at the OMI factory in southern California and built classical guitars, he says, "until I realized that's something you have to devote your life to." Still, the experience gives him insights into the dynamics of instruments, he says, and he's done a good deal of his own maintenance over the years. "It's something that's always given me pleasure," he says.
The Heidens' necks were custom-designed for Clark's fingerpicking style. "The width is 1-7/8 inches at the nut, which is an eighth wider than a normal steel-string," he says. "The neck follows the string line, instead of flaring as on most necks. Up the neck, it's real slinky. It plays like a Les Paul."
Clark gets his grumbling, shivery sound by fingerpicking on light-gauge (.012-.054) DR HandMade phosphor-bronze strings, which he changes for every performance. He customizes his thumbpicks by cutting the "business end" off a standard thumbpick and bradding a flatpick to it--a technique he taught to Nanci Griffith. The flatpick must be thin and flexible but tough, and he trims it as close to his thumb as possible so that virtually no plastic extends past the inside edge of his thumb and the pick is little more than a covering for the ball of his thumb. "I need something unbreakable, something as close to my thumb as I can get," he says. "I never could get the feel of a flatpick, but this way I get that flatpick sound with a thumbpick." He also uses plastic or nylon glue-on fingernails on the first two fingers of his right hand.
Clark amplifies his guitar with a Baggs combination rig that includes direct signal and EQ. "It's the best thing with the least hassle," Clark says. Also on board is a Sabine Stealth tuner mounted beside the fingerboard where it extends over the upper bout.
Clark also owns two Martins, a D-28 from the early '70s and his longtime workhorse, a 1952 D-18 he's performed and recorded with since 1963 or '64.
Travis Clark plays a custom Larrivée five-string fretless acoustic bass guitar with the bottom string tuned to low B. The top is spruce and the back and sides are rosewood. "It's not very loud, but that doesn't matter when it's plugged in or in the studio," he says. "It's got a beautiful tone." He uses a Fishman saddle pickup, a Sabine Stealth tuner, and DR strings that he, too, changes for every gig.
--John Herndon
is currently using two prototype guitars: a steel-string acoustic-electric by Taylor Guitars and an electric nylon-string by Kirk Sand (1027 North Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, CA 92651; [714] 497-2110). Both guitars will eventually be available as Doyle Dykes signature models.
"The Taylor is a performance guitar," Dykes said. "It's geared more for the stage. The electronics are different, and it's designed to get the biggest, fattest sound with a minimum of feedback. It looks different, too. The feel, the bracing, the sound, and the neck is still so Taylor. That's the beautiful part of it: it will almost be like playing a jazz guitar, with the feel of an acoustic." Dykes also plays a Taylor 614-C, and he has a 20th-anniversary model Taylor made from mahogany and cedar that he likes to play if he doesn't have to fly with it.
Dykes' other working guitar, a Kirk Sand electric nylon-string, is always with him on stage and is featured throughout Fingerstyle Guitar and H.E.A.T. "What Kirk has done is take the classical guitar and adapt it to players like me--country or electric guitarists who want the sound but also the electronics, like the hex pickup with individual volume controls for each string," Dykes said. The new Laguna Sand signature model will be deeper in the body and made from mahogany, with many intricate inlays. "It's real artsy," Dykes said.
Rivera amplifiers' Sedona model (Rivera, 13310 Ralston Ave., Sylmar, CA 91342; [818] 833-7066) was designed for Dykes as an electric-acoustic amplifier. "The idea was to be able to play any electric guitar, like my old G&L or a Strat, in channel one, where channel two kicks in an ElectroVoice tweeter," Dykes said. "It's got all the electronic EQ, with notch filters. It's an all-tube amplifier, so I get a great acoustic sound with the warmth of tubes. It also has two JBL 12s." Dykes said the Rivera provides punch and doesn't break up at peak dynamic levels. "I play pretty hard sometimes, so I need a little bit more than a solid-state amp gives me," he said. "If you don't feel good about what you're hearing from your amp, which is your monitor, you're not going to perform as well."
--Jim Ohlschmidt
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