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Excerpted from Acoustic Guitar magazine, September 2000, No. 93. PAUL BRADY | ANI DIFRANCO | LAURENCE JUBER | RICHARD SHINDELL On stage, I play Lowden guitars, an O22, an O32, and an L38. The O22 and L38 are fitted with EMG pickups, and the O32 has a Fishman Matrix. These pickups work really well when playing at high volume with an electric band if I wind out about 4 db around 1k–1.5K, depending on the house system. For solo concerts, I am about to start experimenting with the Fishman blender system to get more of a miked sound. I always go via DI boxes straight through the PA because I’ve never found an acoustic guitar amp that can deliver the sound I want—and I’ve tried many. I go through one DI, which is split afterwards between three separate channels, one for each guitar. I use a footswitch to jump between the PA/monitors and the tuner on my mic stand. I don’t use any effects; I ride bareback. I just don’t like effects on an acoustic guitar. I don’t even like pickups, but I have to use them, at least in my electric band gigs. On solo gigs I use D’Addario phosphor-bronze light-gauge. On band gigs, I upgrade to medium-gauge. In the studio, in addition to my six-string acoustics, I use a Lowden F35 12-string acoustic, a 1919 Gibson A3 mandolin, and a handmade flat-backed bouzouki made for me by Dutch luthier Mik De Hoeg. I also play a Levinson "Blade" electric six-string guitar mostly through an old English 75-watt Sessionette amp, sometimes through a Boss GX700 guitar processor or a variety of ancient Roland distortion, chorus, or analog delay pedals. All very lo-fi and primitive. On the original recording of "Arthur McBride" on the Andy Irvine/Paul Brady record, I played a 1967 Yamaha FG180 I still have. On the rerecording I played the Lowden L38. I record acoustic instruments through AKG 414 mics and also use the pickups. No special tricks. I’m not really interested in the concept of acoustic guitar as a massive stereo experience. I basically like to hit things. I’m a melodic percussionist or something. —Paul Brady Ani DiFranco carries a lot of guitar firepower on tour—currently 11 instruments, roughly eight of which are in rotation during a show. The collection includes four Alvarez-Yairi WY1s, the Bob Weir signature models that DiFranco has made her own signature. Because she attacks her guitars with a right hand bolstered by heavy plastic nails wrapped in electrical tape, she protects the beleaguered tops with an ever-expanding Batman-shaped pickguard. For deeper tones, DiFranco turns to an Alvarez AV2SB acoustic baritone (a model no longer in production) and a Danelectro electric baritone, tuned down to C. A four-string Cromwell tenor guitar gets the call for "To the Teeth" and other songs. She also picks a Martin Backpacker and two regular electrics: a Hamer and a Danelectro. All these instruments are strung with D’Addarios: for the WY1s, she uses the EJ17 set (.013–.056), except one guitar is equipped with a .070 bass string for mega-detuning (to A, an octave below the fifth string) on the song "Dilate." The electrics get an EJ22 set (also .013–.056), while the tenor (tuned A D A D) has a surprisingly heavy .016, .024, .035, and .045 set. For capoing, she uses a Shubb. DiFranco’s main Alvarez-Yairis are amplified with Alvarez’ stock System 500 pickup and preamp. The Backpacker is wired with a Fishman Matrix under-saddle pickup, and the Cromwell has a Fishman archtop pickup, which replaces the bridge. She goes wireless for the most part, through the Samson UF5D system. One of the sends coming out of the monitor console goes to a Morley Steve Vai wah pedal, the other to a volume pedal, and both plug into a little Crate VC508 amp that she overdrives on some songs. "Then we mic that," says guitar tech Reg Dickinson, "so you get a blended sound between acoustic guitar and distorted acoustic guitar, and it’s a helluva sound." The electrics plug into a Rivera Sedona amp, which is miked and run direct from the effects loop. —Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers Laurence Juber’s favorite guitar is a 1993 Collings OM-1 cutaway with a mahogany body and a Sitka spruce top. It is equipped with a Highlander pickup and internal mic system for stage use. These signals are blended with a Raven Labs Master Blender preamp. Juber also relies on a Collings OM-2H cutaway with an Adirondack spruce top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides, a Kevin Ryan Grand Concert with a cedar top and Indian rosewood back and sides, and a prototype Tacoma. All of these instruments are strung with GHS True Medium phosphor-bronze strings. In the studio, Juber favors high-end, small-diaphragm condenser microphones. LJ Plays The Beatles was recorded with a pair of Schoeps CMC5 mics. —Laurence Juber Richard Shindell uses two Martin guitars in performance—a SP000-16 and an all-mahogany 00-15. He also owns a 1927 Martin 2-17 and a Larrivée L-09. He uses Elixir strings—lights on the top and mediums on the bottom. The SP000-16 is equipped with a Martin Thinline Gold Plus pickup and the 00-15 has a Baggs Ribbon Transducer pickup. He runs both guitars through a Demeter Tube Direct and also mics them with a Shure SM-81 to "take the edge off." —Karen Iris Tucker
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