Before their high-energy show at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works, guitarists Neil Westfall, Kevin Skaff (above left), and bassist Josh Woodard walk PG through their various instruments and talk about how Mark Hoppus and Bad Vibrations’ producers Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore convinced them to talk the plunge into the digital realm.
Westfall has been a loyal user and abuser of ESP singlecuts for years and now finally has a signature model based on the specs of famed Ozzy guitarist Randy Rhoads’ ’74 Gibson Les Paul. Neil is a minimalist metalhead so his dream ride is an ESP Eclipse model that is loaded with a single Bare Knuckle Aftermath and volume knob. Two other requests Neil had for his sig was that ESP used RS Guitar Works 500k pot for sharper dynamics when using the volume knob and then implementing a 25.5”-scale neck to help provide tension for low tunings. He uses Ernie Ball Not Even Slinky .012-.056 gauge strings and most of their songs are in a drop-C tuning.
Here is a prototype for Neil’s next signature model that has a baritone neck and has an EMG 81 in the bridge position. In the video, he mentions that he’s looking to either put a Bare Knuckle Aftermath or Juggernaut into it.
This is what happens when a prototype is deemed not up to snuff and rockers get bored on the road. Neil, the rest of ADTR, and even Landon Barker—son of Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker—took turns “relic-ing” this Eclipse.
Starting out his career with Fenders because of Geddy Lee and Mark Hoppus, bassist Josh Woodard is now in the Ernie Ball Music Man family and currently goes with a StingRay with a single humbucker. He plays in either drop C or drop A and uses Ernie Ball Power Slinky .055-.110 strings.
Woodard isn’t much for modding or customization, but he did give this StingRay a bit of a contour.
Lead guitarist Kevin Skaff, like 6-string counterpart Neil, is a big fan of Randy Rhoads and it’s evident with his polka dot PRS Custom 24 paying homage to Rhoads iconic V. This is his drop-C guitar and it takes Ernie Ball Beefy .011-.054 strings.
Another request from Skaff to PRS was to create this sparkle blue Custom 24 with a single f-hole. It’s loaded with their 58/15 pickup set.
For the band’s heaviest, rumbling songs, Kevin goes with this PRS SE 277 Baritone model.
After touring with Blink-182 and working with producers Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore on their 2016 album Bad Vibrations, the guys became digital believers and all made the switch to Kemper amps because they felt the technology matches the power and tones of traditional tube amps and it saves them at least $15,000 on shipping costs.
Skaff is the only guy in the band that uses traditional stompboxes with his Kemper. As you can see, he currently goes with a Strymon TimeLine, Velvet Pedals Minotaur, Catalinbread Echorec, Electro-Harmonix POG2, TC Electronic Hall of Fame, Boss BF-3 Flanger, Analogman Prince of Tone, and a DigiTech Drop.
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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 maintains the website and social media, occasionally writes an artist feature, regularly hosts Rig Rundowns, and shoots/edits video for NAMM show coverage. Other than that, he spends time with his pitbull and enjoys non-guitar-related hobbies.
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