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PG’s Chris Kies hangs with The Wild Feathers’ Ricky Young, Taylor Burns (above right), Daniel Donato, and Joel King before their sold-out Ryman gig to chat about beat-up Gibson acoustics, road-worn hollowbodies, dreamy Telecasters, and rugged pawnshop basses.
Lead singer/guitarist Ricky Young dabbles in the electric world, but for the sold-out show at the church of country music he went strictly acoustic. Seen above is his “A-Team”—a 2000s Gibson Custom Shop Southern Jumbo. He’s only had it about two years, but claims to have logged over 200 gigs with it so far.
When the Southern Jumbo needs a rest, Young grabs this Gibson Limited Edition Late 1960s J-45 reissue. Both these Gibson acoustics are strung up with D’Addario EJ17 Mediums (.013–.056).
When it’s jangle time for “Goodbye Song” he goes with a ’90s Martin D12-28 12-string.
Guitarist Taylor Burns believes playing onstage is like going into battle, so his most trusted ally is his stock 2007 Gibson Custom Nashville 1963 Historic Block ES-335 reissue. He does own a vintage ’60s 335, but he feels this one plays better and stays in tune longer.
While Burns keeps his vintage 335 at home, he enjoys touring with his all-original 1965 Ephipone Riviera 12-string that gets busted out for “Left My Woman” and “Hard Times.”
Since it was a hometown gig, Burns brought his uncle’s guitar, a 1974 Gibson 1954 Les Paul Custom Black Beauty reissue that’s set to open G and is played on “American.” It is unclear if his uncle officially given to Taylor or if it’s long-term loaner. All of his guitars use D’Addario .011s.
This battered axe is a 1958 Supro Dual Tone that requires Burns to kick on a few boosts to match the volume level of his other guitars because the original pickups are a bit anemic. To give the guitar an even meatier tone, he strings it up with D’Addario .013s.
Taylor goes with an always-on, two-amp setup that includes this quirky EL84 head that sits inside an old Bell & Howell projector case built by his buddy Austen Hooks. Burns says the circuity and amp tend to sound like a Vox AC15. He puts the custom head through a ’60s Fender Bassman cab that has a single 15” speaker.
He doesn’t have an A-B switch, so he runs the Hooks creation into the 2nd channel of this Fender Princeton Reverb. The cabinet was modded so he can now run a 75-watt Warehouse 12-inch speaker in it for more headroom and stage volume.
Lean-and-mean is the mission on Burns’ Salvage Custom Audio board that is home to a Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner, Manlay Sound Super-Bender MkII Fuzz, Electro-Harmonix Soul Food, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, Freakshow Effects 2010 Boost, Demeter Tremulator, JHS Panther Cub, Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, and a Boss FRV-1 ’63 Reverb.
Guitar-slinging assassin Daniel Donato joined the band this year as lead guitarist and only needed this Fender Custom Shop ’63 Telecaster to rock the Ryman. He’s swapped in a Glendale Guitars bridge plate because it allows him to emulate Don Rich by picking closer to the saddles for more dynamic playing and tones. Another upgrade he opted for was implementing Emerson saddles because they’re indestructible and help intonation issues. And he also dropped in a pair of Seymour Duncan pickups—a BG1400 neck pickup and an Antiquity I bridge model. Donato uses Ernie Ball Cobalt .010–.046 strings.
Daniel admits to chasing tone by way of trying countless guitars and pedals, but he struck gold with his 1966 Fender Pro Reverb that he scored from a guy on Craigslist who was using it as an amp stand for his Line 6 Spider IV combo. After getting the amp up and running, he had Carter Vintage’s Gary Bohannon mod the first channel to be like a Vox AC30 and it now works with the reverb, too. Gary also upped the reverb game by putting in a custom spring tank.
Donato brings a healthy dose of stomps with him including a Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST-200, Wampler Ego Compressor, JHS Twin Twelve V2, Lovepedal Hi Volt, Walrus Audio Bellwether, Boss DM-2 Delay, Lovepedal Rubber Chicken Envelope Filter, EarthQuaker Devices Organizer, Chase Bliss Audio Warped Vinyl, main. ace. fx. Shell Shock Fuzz/Tremolo, and a JHS Colour Box.
Bassist Joel King claims this 1965 Harmony H22 4-string is the lifeblood of the band because it’s the main bass the band has recorded with on both 2013’s The Wild Feathers and this year’s Lonely is a Lifetime.
Loving tube tone, Joel plugs into a handwired Ampeg SVT-AV and piggybacks that with an Orange Terror Bass.
The only pedal in King’s live arsenal is this Aguilar Tone Hammer that the band’s producer turned him onto because of the stomp’s tonal-sculpting abilities—especially when dealing with different rooms night to night.
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Chris Kies has degrees in Journalism and History from the University of Iowa and has been with PG dating back to his days as an intern in 2007. He's now the multimedia manager maintaining the website and social media accounts, coordinating Rig Rundown shoots (also hosting and/or filming them) and product demos, and occasionally writing an artist feature, all while still shooting/editing video for NAMM-show coverage. Other than that, he spends time with his pitbull and enjoys non-guitar-related hobbies.
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