American Fingerstyle Guitar

Guitars and outboard gear

Big news!  I’ve just signed an agreement with D-TAR pickups and preamps. I’ve been using the D-TAR Mama Bear and Solstice as my on-stage preamps and DI’s for over 3 years now and I can’t live without them.  D-TAR will be providing me the pickup on my new Alan Carruth Harp Guitar.  We’ve decided to use two NTX Twin Soundspots, top sensitive transducers wired in stereo. I’ll split the signals at the Solstice DI, EQ each pickup separately and blend it back together before it goes to the P.A. This set up should yield the most natural sound, is the least invasive installation, and I won’t need any batteries in my guitar. I loved this set-up so much that I’ve added Soundspots to the hex pickups on my Carruth Baritone and my Bamburg Baritone. I run a stereo signal to the Solstice and out to the PA. It’s the best sounding set up I’ve ever had!

I’ve spent almost 20 years putting together a ‘rig’ that allows me to get my custom guitars to sound as good on stage as they do in the studio.

I perform and record with 5 Alan Carruth guitars: a 1995 14 fret OM with cedar top and mahogany back and sides, a 1996 12 fret OM with Engelmann spruce top and mahogany back and sides, a 2007 Small Jumbo baritone with a 28″ scale tuned B-B, cedar top with mahogany back and sides, a 2009 OO 12 fret high string guitar with cedar top and mahogany back and sides and a 22.5″ scale (Note: for me a high-string guitar is a guitar that replaces the 3 lowest strings with strings tuned an octave higher), and a brand new Harp Guitar with 5 subs.  I also tour with a Jeff Bamburg 2010 Small Jumbo mulit-scale, fanned-fret baritone guitar with a top from the Lucky 12 Sitka spruce and quilted mahogany back and sides tuned down a whole step and kept in DADGAD intervals-CGCFGC. This guitar sounds AMAZING plugged-in.  Incredible.

As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here’s a view of my stage rig at a recent radio show.

On stage I plug my guitars into the D-TAR Solstice for any EQ, phase alignment, and blend the two pickups.  This allows me to totally control and shape the sound of my guitars on stage. The D-TAR gear is the difference maker in my sound. No matter what strangely tuned or strung guitar I’ve thrown at D-TAR within minutes they’ve sounded  just perfect.

Strings and things

I use Newtone strings on all my guitars. Strings are the guitar’s engine, it’s a critical piece of the ’sonic chain’. I highly suggest you experiment with different brands and different gauges to find the right string for your playing style, tunings, and guitars.  I use a custom gauge for each guitar based on the tunings I employ on each, but I typically go heavier than normal. On my Carruth baritone  I use a 64, 50, 38, 29, 19 and 16 set, but the tension feels like a medium-light. I use a 60, 45, 36, 26, 17, and 13 set on my Bamburg, again the tension feels about like a medium-light gauge. I use a 56, 45, 36, 26, 17, 13 on the 12 fret OM that I keep in DADGAD based tunings, and I use a 54, 44, 34, 24, 16, 12 on the 14-fret OM in standard and dropped-D tunings.

Even though I don’t sing I love to use Capos. I’ve owned almost all the factory made capos, from Kyser to Shubb, but none are better than the Planet Waves NS capo.  They’re light, accurate, you can control the tension so as not to go horribly out of tune, and in a ‘taste’ test of 10 capos came in second to a $150 custom made capo.  They’re also easy to customize so I carry 3 partial capos with me, one covers either strings 5-3 for DADGAD intervals, or 2-4 for open G intervals, one covers strings 1-5 for dropped-D intervals, and one covers strings 2-5 for double-dropped D intervals.

When I play slide I use a beautiful hand-made lead crystal slide from Diamond Bottle Neck slides called The Ultimate.