Equipment picks from ROB EBERHARD YOUNG, LARRY JOHNSON, STEVE TILSTON, AND PATTY LARKIN
has two primary guitars, which he chooses according to the stage or studio application. "Anytime mics are used, it's on my Froggy Bottom Model K, which has koa back and sides," he says (Froggy Bottom Guitars, RR1, Box 1505, Timson Hill Rd., Newfane, VT 05345; [802] 348-6665). "On the road, or for anything I've created electronically [on the album Sticks and Stones], I use a Takamine EN10C."
He always uses a combination of three pickups. In the Froggy Bottom guitar it's a Fishman Acoustic Matrix, a Sunrise magnetic pickup, and a Fishman SBT. The Takamine is also armed with a Sunrise and an SBT, along with the stock Takamine pickup. All three pickups run to separate Trace Acoustic preamps. "On the Sunrise, I roll off everything but the low end," says Young. "It's there for that transparent, sternum-crushing thing. Then I use the under-the-saddle transducers for the midrange and the SBTs for the sparkle." Young uses an Alesis Quadraverb for live effects and a Lexicon JamMan for delay looping. He uses D'Addario EJ17 strings and plays with short-trimmed fingernails or flatpicks.
--Dylan Schorer
is very happy with his tight-waisted, 1990 Washburn acoustic-electric, though he is unsure of the actual model number. "It fits the style that I play," Johnson said. "I sometimes hold down two strings with one finger, and the spaces between the frets are just what I need. [Reverend Gary] Davis' Gibson J-200 was never comfortable for me." Johnson likes to plug directly into the PA, and he achieves a remarkably warm sound that way. "It gives me the good deep sound that I like, even when it's not plugged in," he said. Johnson uses plastic National fingerpicks and Martin light-gauge strings.
--Ken Korman
says that his best guitar is one made by an old school friend named Martin Coles (Jays, Wooley, Morwenstow, Bewd, Cornwall EX23 9PP England; 01288-331540). Tilston basically designed the instrument himself. It has a slotted headstock, and the body of the guitar is asymmetrical, so that 12 frets are clear of the body on the bass side and 14 are clear on the treble side, although Tilston is quick to point out that it's not a cutaway. "I just don't like the look of them," he says, "although I can see the sense in having those extra frets." Regarding the slotted headstock, he explains, "I wanted a guitar built as a cross between a nylon-string and a steel-string, for using steel strings. I've got a Takamine nylon-string, which I've used a little on the last few albums, and a Takamine steel-string EN30-C, which is the one I take on the road, particularly if airplane travel's involved. It's built like an old warhorse, and it sounds great when it's plugged in and not too bad acoustically either."
As for strings, Tilston says, "I've just discovered these amazing strings. They're called Gore Elixir. I put this set on in March, it's now September, and I've only just taken them off. That's nearly 100 gigs! It's absolutely incredible! They cover them with something that stops sweat getting into them. They're expensive, about $15 in the States and not available in Britain, but I'm getting them sent over. I see they are getting a lot of attention on the Internet."
Tilston also has a custom-made arpeggione, based on a design for a briefly popular early 1800s instrument that was essentially a cross between a guitar and a cello. It has only occasionally been featured in his live act, and it appears on some records. "I had it made by Kincade Brothers in Bristol," Tilston says. "The top two strings I use are guitar strings, and the rest are cello strings. It's always been good for writing melodies, which I've later transcribed to guitar, because with a bowed instrument the notes don't decay so quickly--it's closer to the human voice than a guitar. I've been playing it quite a lot recently, and I think I'm going to reintroduce it into my live act."
--Colin Harper
main guitars are a Martin D-18 and a 1993 Olson SJ cutaway. Larkin says, "The Martin D-18 is a jewel from 1946. After playing it for 20 years, I figure it has a lot of my personality in the wood. It's extremely resonant and has amazing harmonic overtones. It's a great big sound with a beautiful bass response, so I love sitting in my room and listening to it."
Larkin's Olson guitar (Olson Guitars, 11840 Sunset Ave. N.E., Circle Pines, MN 55014; [612] 780-5301) has an Engelmann spruce top and rosewood back and sides. The neck is a five-piece construction of rosewood, maple, and mahogany, and features an ebony fingerboard with a 25 11/32&endash; inch scale length. Larkin says, "I first learned of Jim Olson's guitars through David Wilcox. I was looking for a new guitar that had a faster neck, a cutaway, and enough bass. The Olson has these features, and the five-piece neck really helps when the guitar is put into different tunings. The neck holds up to low notes and doesn't move around. Because of my addiction to my D-18, Jim custom-designed the neck according to Martin specs in width and length, but the depth is thinner. Jim also built the guitar with a spruce top, rather than his usual cedar, to give me more of the punch I'm looking for. It's a beautiful instrument."
On tour, Larkin runs both acoustics through a Pendulum HZ-10SE preamp, using a combination of pickup and AKG 460 condenser mic. The Martin is wired with a Martin Thinline pickup. Larkin says, "In performance, I run the Martin Thinline through the Pendulum preamp in order to warm up the sound and get a fat bass sound that the microphone will not allow. The Pendulum is a very flexible piece of equipment that has power from here to eternity."
The Olson is rigged with a Baggs pickup that replaces the saddle. "The Baggs pickup on the Olson gives the instrument a very warm sound, and the Pendulum preamp can handle the lower frequencies of the detuned strings," Larkin says.
Larkin's blue Fender Strat is a 1957 reissue made in the late 1980s. She plays it through either a black-faced Fender Princeton Reverb or a black-faced Fender Vibrolux amp.
Larkin strings her acoustic guitars with John Pearse 80/20 bronze-wound medium-gauge strings, and she uses Kyser capos.
--Julie Bergman
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