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Before his show at the legendary Ryman Auditorium, Shakey Graves (born Alejandro Rose-Garcia) met up with PG’s John Bohlinger to detail his retro-flavored axes and triple-amp setup.
Shakey Graves spends a good deal of his show playing solo, armed only with this Gibson ES-175D straight into an amp. He picked up this archtop at Gibson’s Austin HQ a few years back and it’s been a big part of his sound ever since. This guitar stays strung up with beefy D'Addario EJ22 (.013–.056) strings. When he’s not using his fingers, Shakey uses Clayton Customs 0.72 mm picks.
For something a bit more modern, Shakey Graves goes with his new Fender American Professional Jazzmaster.
Shakey Graves’ Fender American Original ’60s Jazzmaster was updated with a Mastery bridge. It’s a new guitar, but this funky offset took a few bad hits on the road that aged it cosmetically and rendered the top switch unusable.
For acoustic tunes, Shakey Graves goes with this 2011 Washburn R321 SWRK Parlor Series acoustic. The guitar came with an unidentified pickup and the DIY soundhole cover comes courtesy of cardboard, gaff-tape, and necessity.
Shakey Graves uses a combination of three Fender amps. When he’s playing his Gibson 175, he plugs straight into his Fender Hot Rod DeVille 212, utilizing the onboard reverb, dirt channel, and boost.
When Shakey Graves plays his other guitars, the signal goes from his pedalboard to a Limited-Edition Fender Hot Rod DeVille 212.
And the final amp of Shakey Graves’ trifecta is a Limited-Edition Black and Blue Fender ’68 Custom Princeton Reverb.
Shakey Graves plugs his guitars into a Shure ULXD4Q J50 wireless that sends the signal to a pair of pedalboards. His main one houses a Lehle 3 at 1 switcher, Boss TU-3 tuner, a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver, and a trio of EarthQuaker Devices pedals: Hoof Reaper, Transmisser, and Rainbow Machine.
Shakey Graves’ secondary board features a Walrus Audio Janus, a Mooer Reecho Pro, a Walrus Audio Arp-87, and a Radial Big Shot ABY that splits the signal to the red DeVille and Princeton.
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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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