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Premier Guitar invaded Rival Sons’ soundcheck for a Rundown of Scott Holiday’s offsets, Oranges, and three boards worth of tone treats.
Holiday wanted a guitar that fit the sound and image of Rival Sons. He went with “Bluebird,” a 1999 Gibson Custom Historic 1965 Firebird VII Reissue. It’s totally stock and strung with Dunlop (.011–.050) strings.
When Holiday wants to get low and rumbly, he goes with this 2015 Kauer Baritone Banshee Custom, strung with Gabriel Tenorio (.016–.071) strings.
For something hollow-ish, Holiday plays “Ol' Bess,” his 2014 Fano Alt de Facto Custom GF6.
“Tin Tin” is a French-built B-Bones model from Meloduende Guitars. It has a distinct ’60s-era, sci-fi flair and is also string up with .011-gauge Dunlop strings.
“Excalibur” is a 2014 custom-built Kauer Banshee strung with Dunlop strings—gauge .011-.050.
For vintage vibes, Holiday plays “Jazzy,” his 1962 Fender Jazzmaster.
Holiday goes with two Orange Custom CS50 Amps, one set to clean and one for dirty tones. (A third CS50 sits nearby as a spare.) These amps run into an Orange 4x12 cab loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.
Although Holiday records most of his parts with minimal effects, he needs to carry a lot of pedals live to cover the rainbow of tones used on the Rival Sons’ albums. Holiday separates his pedals into three boards that were built by Salvage Custom. Some highlights include a Zapp fuzz pedal, Deep Trip Hell Bender, Go Ahead Mr. Fuzz Lord by Karaluch Custom, and a Line 6 DL4 that was modded by Robert Keeley.
A special thanks to tech Mike Airey.
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John Bohlinger is a Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist best known for leading the band on NBC's Nashville Star, serving as music director for the CMT Awards and specials on PBS and GAC, and of course for his appearances in PG Rig Rundown, Review Demo, Axes & Artifacts, and What Bohlinger Plays videos.
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