WHAT THEY PLAY: Trout Fishing in America, Elliott Smith
Ezra Idlet plays a Gurian guitar, which is battle-scarred from his percussive playing. ("He doesn't pick," says bassist Keith Grimwood, "he whittles.") He has hardened the finish with superglue at various points of wear. "My wife gave this guitar to me when we got married," says Idlet. "It was pristine, there was not a mark on it. But, man, this guitar has taken a beating through the years and stood up to everything--it's been dropped from stages, and it just keeps going. It's not pretty, but it works. So many guitar players worship their instruments. It's a tool. It will serve you well. If you don't play it, it doesn't sound as good. And if it gets beat up, that's no big deal."
Idlet amplifies the Gurian with a magnetic Bartolini pickup, also worn down from years of plectrum attack, and a Crate CM-125-D amplifier. "I use a volume pedal, chorus, and delay, and if I really want to get stupid, an old Boss phase shifter, with digital reverb pretty much over everything," he says. At home, Grimwood plays a German bass from the 1870s, but he travels with a 1950s Kay with a Barcus-Berry bridge, a Fender Jazz Bass, and a Clevinger electric upright.
--Shelton Clark
When it comes to musical equipment, prolific songwriter Elliott Smith doesn't need a lot of bells and whistles; he prefers to keep things fairly simple. His main acoustic guitar is a Yamaha, the model number of which escapes him. "It's a real standard-looking guitar," he says. "It's big and loud and made out of light wood. I don't use a pick when I play most of the time, and I chew my fingernails, so it's a good guitar for me because it's really loud." He recently expanded his collection with a Norman 12-string (La Si Do, 4240 Sere St., St. Laurent, PQ H4T 1A6, Canada; [514] 343-5560; sales@lasido.com).
Smith uses John Pearse medium-gauge, phosphor-bronze strings. "They seem to last longer," he explains. "I get mediums because I tune all the strings down a step. That happened by accident a couple of years ago. I didn't have my own guitar for quite awhile, and I'd play my girlfriend's guitar. I don't have perfect pitch and I didn't realize that it was way lower, so the E string was actually a D, the A string was a G, and so on. So, nowadays I just tune that way, and when I play older songs that were written in normal tuning, I put a capo on."
As far as amplification is concerned, Smith sees no need for pricey, complex equipment. "I go direct," he says. "I have one of those pickups that fits in the soundhole, a Lawrence. It was real cheap, like 40 bucks. It's the only one of those I've seen that has a metal cover instead of wood or plastic. I like it a lot better than a bridge pickup. It doesn't sound glassy or slick." (Editor's note: the Lawrence acoustic pickup is no longer available.)
--Roger Len Smith
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