Gearbox
March 1996
EQUIPMENT PICKS FROM ANI DIFRANCO,
MELISSA ETHERIDGE, AND SHARON
ISBIN
Ani DiFranco
plays an Alvarez-Yairi Bob Weir model in her live shows. "It's a good little guitar. It takes a beating and keeps on bleeding," she says. "But I have a feeling that Bob's tits aren't as big as mine." DiFranco is alluding to preamp controls that are positioned on the top side of the guitar. "In the middle of a song on stage, the volume of the guitar just drops out because my right tit is moving the knob." Ouch.
DiFranco plays a larger Yairi model in the studio. Lately she records by placing two mikes in front of the guitar, one at the lower body and one near the neck. She hangs a blanket to separate the two. She also runs a direct line either to the board or to an amp, such as a small Silvertone or (believe it or not) a Marshall stack, which she used for some cuts on Not A Pretty Girl. She prefers older tube mikes and used a '60s Poltek tube equalizer on much of her last album to "fatten up" her guitar sound.
Another key tool in DiFranco's gearbox is a set of Nailene brand "action length" fashion nails, which she glues to her right-hand nails and reinforces with electrical tape. "They're indestructible! It's amazing," she says.
DiFranco uses D'Addario medium strings, which she changes for each show; a Shubb capo, which she uses on roughly half her songs ("They invariably end up on the floor and some fan steals them as a memento," she says); and large, triangular, heavy Fender picks. "I break the picks in half when I'm playing, I thrash so much," she says. "There must be a need for really obnoxious players like me to have even thicker-gauge picks that are really big. It has to be big and thick, or it doesn't feel right!" she says, with a laugh.
--Bryan Powell
has played Ovation guitars since long before she released her first album, and their sound is integral to her style. Her current acoustics are Adamas models that are custom-built by Don Johnson at Ovation. They are smaller in all dimensions (neck and body) than the standard models and include a cutaway, which doesn't usually come on the deep-bowl version. Most of the time she plays a 12-string Adamas, but she also has a six-string that she uses occasionally.
Recently, Etheridge has been playing more electric guitar, primarily a paisley Fender Telecaster. Trace Foster, her guitar tech, estimates that she's currently playing electric on about 40 percent of the tunes in her show, particularly since the electric figures prominently on her new album, Your Little Secret. Other electrics in her collection include an Anderson Strat and a Rickenbacker 12-string (soon to be replaced by a Jerry Jones 12-string, Foster says).
At present, Etheridge is traveling with nine guitars--five acoustics and four electrics. One acoustic is tuned down a half step, and another is tuned to E A D E A E for the song "I Could Have Been You" (the tuning came from Etheridge's guitarist John Shanks, who wrote the music). Foster changes the strings on each guitar every day; if he doesn't, he says, she inevitably breaks a string. The Adamas guitars are set up with Adamas strings (with gauges of .010 to .047), which she hits hard with D'Addario light-medium picks.
Etheridge's amplification system for the acoustics is remarkably simple. The Adamas guitars have the stock OP-24 pickup and preamp system, and the signal travels through a Neve 950 wireless system to a rack DI off stage. Her sound has virtually no effects--maybe a little bit of compression in the house sound (not in the monitors) and a tiny trace of reverb. The same type of setup is used in the studio: she records the guitar direct, with the addition of only a powered DI to boost the signal. Foster says that her Adamas guitars have very few problems with feedback on stage; only occasionally when the bass player hits the same note as Etheridge is there a little howl, which is easily handled.
--Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
performs on a 1988 Thomas Humphrey Millennium guitar (Thomas Humphrey, 37 W. 26th St., New York, NY 10010; [212] 696-1693). "This particular guitar has loud projection with long sustain in both the bass and the treble," says Isbin. "It has a clear treble, with versatility of tone and good balance throughout." She also appreciates the ease of access to notes above the 12th fret that the Millennium's unusually high fingerboard clearance affords. "It's hard to switch back when you've had this option," she observes.
Isbin plays through her dSA wireless amplification system (dSA Systems, 205 Heritage Dr. S.E., 4309 Calgary, Alberta T2H 2J8, Canada; [403] 259-5847) not only in concert performances, but often in solo and chamber appearances as well. "It depends on the size and nature of the hall," she says. Placement of the system's amplifier/speaker module (which houses a pair of front-firing, side-vented 8-inch Celestion drivers and a 15-band EQ and is fed by a Shure omnidirectional microphone clipped inside the guitar's soundhole) can require some ingenuity. "I sometimes put it in a stairwell in back of the stage," explains Isbin. "At the 92nd Street Y [in New York City] I put it behind a curtain to the side." Without a curtain or other structure to help disperse the sound, the unit is best placed directly behind the performer. Because of its unobtrusive natural wood finish, "the audience tends not to notice it," says Isbin.
For travel and practice under adverse circumstances, Isbin relies on her SoloEtte travel guitar (Wright Guitar Technology, 3724 Gilham Court, Eugene, OR 97408; [503] 343-0872). Isbin describes it as "basically a collapsible guitar the length of a neck, with three aluminum tubes that pop on to form the outline of the body." A stereo bridge transducer feeds a small on-board headphone amp (or a regular amp, if you wish). "It's great for keeping your chops up when you're on a trip and don't want to risk damage to a good guitar," says Isbin. "I took it on a vacation to the Galapagos Islands and the Amazon rain forest. I also use it when I'm watching TV with someone and don't want to disturb them." A SoloEtte was transferred from the space shuttle Atlantis to the Russian cosmonauts in the Mir space station last November.
Isbin has used the same footstool for the last 20 years--"I don't even know what the new ones look like," she says. But she has some cautionary words on the use of devices that elevate the guitar above the left thigh. Although your chiropractor will assure you you're better off with both feet flat on the floor, Isbin says, "In my experience, nothing is as stable as a footstool. [Those devices] tend to make the guitar feel wobbly in your left hand, which makes you tighten your right arm."
Like most classical guitarists (and many other fingerstyle players as well), Isbin has her established regimen of nail maintenance. "If I'm in a very dry climate and I find my nails are worn down, I put Nail Tique on top and it really strengthens them," she says. "If there's a tear, I use Crazy Glue with silk [available at pharmacies]. And if one breaks off completely, I use a Player's Nail" (available from Balcan Music, 67-11 Yellowstone Blvd. #1C, Forest Hills, NY 11375).
--John Lehmann-Haupt