Gallery: Shaky Knees 2019

Maggie Rogers’ Elle Puckett

Guitarist Elle Puckett uses her 2019 Fender American Performer Telecaster Hum to create a musical playground for Maggie Rogers that balances between dreamy pop-rock dance parties and crunchy folk-rock.

Bad Books’ Robert McDowell

While touring in support of 2009’s Mean Everything to Nothing, Robert McDowell and the rest of his Manchester Orchestra cohorts collaborated with tourmate Kevin Devine to form Bad Books. They’ve released two albums (2010’s S/T and 2012’s II), but the main projects have kept Bad Books shelved until their hometown show in Atlanta for Shaky Knees where McDowell brought his MO rig including “Sheriff”—a Fender ’72 Telecaster Deluxe reissue. In our Rig Rundown with him, he says “It originally belonged to bandmate Andy Hull, but McDowell really gravitated towards it at the same time Hull was falling out of love with it.”

Eric Zapata

Gary Clark Jr.’s longtime guitar foil and brother in arms has been a loyal user and abuser of custom Moollon guitars including this custom S-style that’s based on vintage ’60s specs. He outfitted it with Don Mare pickups with the bridge pickup reversed. Zapata strings it up with D’Addario EXL115 Nickel Wound strings (.011–.049). (Don’t forget to check out our recent Rig Rundown with Zapata and Gary Clark Jr.)

Grouplove’s Christian Zucconi

The co-frontman/guitarist gets the party started during “Prime Time” with his bedazzled Fender Player Telecaster that appears to have all its guts removed due to the lack of master volume/tone controls.

Grouplove’s Andrew Wessen

The alt-rock band’s lead guitarist turns things up a notch for the solo in “I’m With You” thanks to his Fender Telecaster Custom ’72 Reissue.

Calpurnia’s Ayla Tesler-Mabe

Providing serious guitar backdrop to Calpurnia and Finn Wolfhard (aka Stranger Things’ Mike Wheeler), Ayla makes hay with her Fender Duo-Sonic HS during a cover of the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?”

Cage the Elephant’s Brad Shultz

One-half of the Shultz Brothers uses his Silvertone Model 1449 and a healthy amount of enthusiasm to jack up the crowd during fan-favorite “Spiderhead” off their 2013 album Melophobia.

Phosphorescent

An early-afternoon outdoor festival set following a late-night club gig is a tough swing, but Phosphorescent aka Matthew Houck lays it down with this worn-and-torn ’60s Fender Jazzmaster during the jam part of “Terror in the Canyons (The Wounded Master)”.

Tyler Childers Band’s Jesse Wells

You know it’s time to whoop and holler when Wells grab his Gretsch G5265 Jet Baritone for “Whitehouse Road.” As he explained in our Rig Rundown, it’s enhanced with an RS Guitarworks modern upgrade wiring kit that uses SoZo NextGen .022 capacitors and 500K RS Short-Shaft SuperPots. All of his instruments are equipped with various D’Addario strings.

Tyler Childers Band’s James Barker

The multi-instrumentalist is seen here setting up shop and making the lonesome whippoorwill cry thanks to his early ’80s Sho-Bud LDG. (Watch him work it out in our Rig Rundown.)

Tyler Childers

The Appalachia firecracker (and bandleader) has been long associated with Martin flattops, but 2018 saw him shift over to primarily using this Collings DS1 with a slotted headstock. (Hear him speak about his setup in the 2019 Rig Rundown episode.)

Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker

Tame Impala mastermind takes it all in during the beginning of “Let It Happen” that started the band’s buoyant set. Parker is seen here using bandmate Jay Watson’s Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster that’s been outfitted with a Roland GR-55 synth pickup. In a 2015 interview with PG, Parker had this to say about the guitar-pickup combo: “I used that a lot on the album, actually. It was a cheap shortcut to doing something I love: making a guitar sound not like a guitar. I’ve always been obsessed with tricking people into thinking that a guitar is actually a synth. I used to do it with octave pedals and different types of auto-filters and stuff, and then I’d play the instrument in a different way to make it sound like it’s not a guitar. So, when I started getting into guitar synths, it made it all too easy. It’s a Roland GR-55, and a lot of the presets are totally nasty. They’re almost stuck between a metal guitar and a saxophone. A lot of the presets Roland offers are terrible. But if you start from scratch building your own patches and then combine them with cool effects and outboard stuff, it starts to sound really cool.”

The Black Lips’ Cole Alexander

Cofounding member and rambunctious frontman Cole Alexander shows off in front of the hometown crowd with a little help from his Gretsch G6199 Billy-Bo that was originally designed by Bo Diddley in 1959 and most recently revitalized by Gretsch and Billy F. Gibbons.

Oh Sees’ John Dwyer

Many fan art and t-shirt depictions of Dwyer showcase him in this manner: possessed, frantic, and most importantly, powerful. Seen here in overdrive with his custom Electrical Guitar Company SG-style companion, carries out the frantic ending of “Nite Expo.” During a 2017 interview with PG, Dwyer explains two unique things about his guitar: “I do three tunings live. I do a drop-D standard thing, a couple of Elizabeth Cotten tunings—like open G—and then I do this tuning I used to do with this band, Pink and Brown, where the lowest gauge string is dropped down to the next string up, so it would be a double A and then the top two strings would be tuned to the same B. I use .060-gauge strings right now.

Yeah, they’re Dungeon & Dragons knobs. This kid makes them. They’re awesome. I loved D&D when I was a kid and it still has play in my writing now in a weird way. I think role playing is just a huge metaphor for life [laughs]. They’re 10-sided dice and have pointed edges. It makes it super-easy to turn up and down by rolling your finger across it—even more so than a normal knob. I really like them for that. I can do volume tricks with it.”

Yellow Days

George van den Broek aka Yellow Days is loyal to one guitar during live shows (and reportedly in the studio) and that would be the Vox Mark III reissue often referred to as the “teardrop” guitar.

Bad Books’ Kevin Devine

After years of doing their own thing (and doing it well), indie-folk rocker Kevin Devine joined back up with his buddies in Manchester Orchestra to revive Bad Books (with a new album due June 2019). While we can’t be certain (yet to see Devine play a Fender Coronado onstage), we’re quite sure this is Andy Hull’s Modern Player Coronado II spotlighted in our 2019 Rundown with Manchester Orchestra. (As described in the video, guitarist Robert McDowell explains that he and bandmate Andy Hull made traded instruments during rehearsals for A Black Mile to the Surface—in exchange, McDowell got Fender Troy Van Leeuwen Jazzmaster.)

Bad Books’ Andy Hull

If something appears missing, your eyes are not deceiving you because Bad Books guitarist/singer Andy Hull has stripped everything from this Fender Telecaster except the Seymour Duncan Little ’59 bridge humbucker. In our Rig Rundown with Hull’s day job (Manchester Orchestra), it’s detailed that “All the other wiring, switches, and pots have been removed so the signal is as pure as possible. And for what it’s worth, Hull has said that the surgery has resulted in making the Tele 25 percent louder.”

Chon’s Mario Camarena

One half of the lightning-quick guitar tandem holds things down with his signature Ibanez MAR10 model that has an American basswood body, roasted maple neck, 24 frets, and a Seymour Duncan Hyperion HSS set.

The Struts’ Adam Slack

During the opening number of “Primadona Like Me,” the Struts lone axeman went with his No. 1—a Gibson Custom Shop Mike McCready Collector’s Choice 1959 Les Paul Standard. During our recent Rig Rundown, he told us that he landed on it after a marathon guitar tasting session at Chicago Music Exchange.

The Struts’ Jed Elliott

Staring out in the jam-packed crowd in Atlanta’s Central Park, the Struts’ low-end rocker Jed Elliot holds a chord on his signature prototype KZ Guitar Jed “O” Bass, or “Jedo” that is strung up with DR Pure Blues (.050 –.110) strings and features Aguilar Hot pickups.

FIDLAR’s Brandon Schwartzel

No, FIDLAR (Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk) bassist Brandon Schwartzel is not an extra from the Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” video, but he did play the hell out of his Fender Mustang PJ. As he explained in our 2018 Rig Rundown, he used a Dremel tool to carve out the saying on the instrument’s Olympic white top.

FIDLAR’s Elvis Kuehn

The skate-punk lead guitarist surfs a bit with his 2018 Fender Jazzmaster during “No Waves.”

FIDLAR’s Zac Carper

Good-time ambassador Zac Carper got crafty when he used a mic stand as a slide against his no-name No.1 for “No Drone.” Zac Carper told us in our Rig Rundown that one day he was at Old Style Guitars a while back and was looking for a lightweight guitar to help with his ailing back. This black number was hiding in the corner and covered in dust with a $75 price tag.

Beck

For the ’90s throwback “Devils Haircut,” Beck busted out the 1957 Silvertone H-42.

The Black Lips’ Jeff Clarke

Using a guit-fiddle (’50s Kay Vanguard) nearly as old as the Parthenon, Jeff Clarke boogies down on “Look Here Satan.”

Chon’s Erick Hansel

For most of the afternoon set, Chon’s Erick Hansel rode his signature Ibanez EH10 that has a nyatoh body (with walnut top), jatoba fretboard, and a pickup configuration of a Seymour Duncan Hyperion in the bridge and an Alnico II Pro in the neck.

Gary Clark Jr.

The rain-shortened Saturday evening set didn’t stop Austin’s hottest son from taking flight with a prototype of his signature Gibson Flying V during “What About Us.” We learned in our recent 2019 Rig Rundown that Clark carries two of them on the road and both rock a trio of Gibson Custom Shop P-90s and D’Addario .011–.049 strings.

Calpurnia’s Finn Wolfhard

If you binge Netflix, you may better recognize Calpurnia’s frontman as Stranger Things’ Mike Wheeler. For most of the band’s Sunday performance, Wolfhard tangoed with his Fender ’60s Jaguar Lacquer.

Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba

The emo rocker proved not only his technical prowess while working hard on his Nash T52, but also his musical breadth by covering both The Cure and Justin Bieber in the same set.

Foals’ Yannis Philippakis

This photo captures the raw energy and fierceness that Foals’ chief Yannis Philippakis brings to the stage—especially armed with this Travis Bean T1000S and ending the set on “What Went Down.”

Face to Face’s Trever Keith

The punk rocker anchored the full acoustic set with his Gretsch G5022CBFE Rancher Falcon Jumbo.

Tears for Fears’ Roland Orzabal

The ’80s hit-machine guitarist/singer spent the most time paired with his ’80s Fender Strat Plus loaded with Lace sensors.

Bad Books’ Andy Prince

Not an original member during the band’s first two album cycles, Andy Prince is now in the low-end driver’s seat and relied heavily on his favorite bass from Manchester Orchestra for the Bad Book’s reset. As explained in the 2019 Rundown, it’s a custom-built P that centers around a lighter body from the ’80s and ’50s-style P neck. The vibrant red color and anodized-gold pickguard are a nod to his grandfather’s favorite instrument. The 4-string is loaded with a set of Seymour Duncan Basslines SPB-3 Quarter Pound P pickups.

Jim James

When not fronting My Morning Jacket, Jim James still produces far-out rock and jammed hard on his Gibson ES-335 for “Out of Time.”

Incubus’ Mike Einziger

The longtime 6-string magician leans into his faded T-style during “Megalomaniac”.

Interpol’s Paul Banks

There’s nothing indecent about Paul Banks’ Les Paul Custom that was used during “Public Pervert”.

Jade Bird

Don’t let Jade Bird’s diminutive five-foot-three-inch frame fool you as she proved that her mighty voice and Taylor 612e are a dynamic one-two punch.

Liz Phair

The ’90s indie-rock torchbearer continues to create invigorating music thanks to her poignant songwriting skills and trusty Fender Strat.

Soccer Mommy

Swiss-born Sophie Allison owned the Criminal Records stage much in thanks to her sparkly Fender Strat.

Tash Sultana

The one-woman band incorporates vocal beats, percussion, horns, bass, and of course, lots of guitar (here during “Big Smoke”) often handled by her Fender American Performer Stratocaster HSS. While not applicable to this photo, one of our favorite quotes from 2017 was in her interview with PG where she stated: “I have 39 different pedals. They’re all secrets. I never give away my stuff.”