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Rig Rundown - Vince Gill & Paul Franklin

The country duo discusses the gear used during the recording of Bakersfield.

Vince Gill and Paul Franklin discuss the gear they used when recording Bakersfield.

Guitars
Vince's main guitar is a 1953 blackguard Tele he bought in 1979 in Del City, Oklahoma. Although it's all original, it’s been refretted a few times. Well-known luthier Joe Glaser calls it "the best one he’s ever seen."

This thinline Tele is from the mid-to-late ’60s and is tuned down a whole step, to D. It was damaged in the Nashville flood in 2010, but Gill took it to Joe Glaser and he brought it back to life.

Paul Franklin used a Franklin double-neck pedal steel on Bakersfield. His father made the instrument out of formica, and built the two 10-string necks (one in E9 tuning and the other in C6 tuning) based on the setup of Buddy Emmons’ steel.

Amps
Both Paul Franklin and Vince Gill are big fans of Little Walter Tube Amps. Here’s Franklin's VG-50, which is a 50-watt head that uses 6550 tubes and features controls for volume, bass, and treble.

Effects
Although Franklin usually uses minimal effects, he sometimes plugs into this Benado Steel Dream effects unit. It contains reverb, delay, and overdrive along with an output for a dry signal if he wants the direct sound of the pedal steel.