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Premier Guitar’s Perry Bean yacks with Nada Surf founder Matthew Caws and Doug Gillard (above)—also of Guided by Voices—before their Nashville show at the Mercy Lounge.
Caws’ main axe is this Edwards “lawsuit” Les Paul that was made in Japan. The word is that Edwards, a subsidiary of ESP, made this incredibly light guitar so close in construction and aesthetics to a Gibson Les Paul that it can’t legally be sold in the U.S. The Edwards features replicas of Gibson Burstbucker pickups and Caws keeps it strung with a set of beefy D'Addario .012 gauge strings.
Caws runs a reissue Fender Deluxe Reverb with a Jensen 12² speaker. The Deluxe runs with a THD Hot Plate in line to tame its savage volume.
Along with the Deluxe, Caws runs a 50-watt Marshall JCM800 with a Marshall 2x12 cabinet. Not surprisingly, the Marshall also gets the Hot Plate treatment.
A rather modest pedalboard sits at Caws’ feet and contains a Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner, Fulltone OCD, and a DLS Effects RotoSIM. The homemade pedal is a Klon clone that was built by John Bednar of Clifton, New Jersey.
Gillard lets the song dictate which of his classic Gibsons he plays. Currently, Gillard tours with three Kalamazoo-era guitars and Gillard plays this 1967 Gibson ES -330 with stock P-90s. All of his guitars are strung with D’Addario .011 gauge strings.
This is his 1973 Les Paul Standard with 490R/490T humbuckers that he’s owned since he was 18.
A longtime Boogie man, Gillard now plugs into a 2012 Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Roadster which runs into a Mesa 4x12 cabinet.
Gillard starts his pedal chain by running straight into a TC Electronic PolyTune tuner. From there, in order of signal flow, the sound hits a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive Mod, an original Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive, a pair of Boss GE-7 Equalizers, TC Electronic Corona Mini Chorus, Boss PS-6 Harmonist, and an Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Neo. The whole board is powered with a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+.
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Perry cut his teeth touring and playing in punk rock and hardcore bands, before he got his start in film. He worked his way up from lowly production assistant to become a producer, art director, and most recently, a music video director nominated for ACM, CMT, and CMA awards. Premier Guitar was a perfect fit for him, combining his two favorite things, guitars and cameras. Perry doesn't have free time, but his massive dog Beef pays his rent by being Perry's intern.
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