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Rig Rundown: Tori Ruffin

Morris Day and the Time’s lead axeman gets funky with Prince-influenced Schecters, JCM900s, and stomps that range from simple to sophisticated.

Chris Kies
By Chris KiesJan 20, 2021
Chris Kies
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's now the multimedia manager maintaining the website and social media accounts, coordinating Rig Rundown shoots (also hosting and/or filming them) and occasionally writing an artist feature. Other than that, he enjoys non-guitar-related hobbies.
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Tori Ruffin RR Photo1
  

Facing a mandatory shelter-in-place ordinance to limit the spread of COVID-19, PG enacted a hybrid approach to filming and producing Rig Rundowns. This is the 37th video in that format.

Tori Ruffin—currently Morris Day and the Time’s right-hand man—has been laying down funky, danceable riffs for decades. He’s toured in Fishbone, worked alongside Prince, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Mick Jagger, Lenny Kravitz, Randy Jackson, and even was in the on-screen band Randy Watson & Sexual Chocolate from Coming to America. After recently releasing his own album—Freak Juice & Friends’ They Call Us Juice—Tori virtually welcome PG’s Chris Kies into Guitar House of Tulsa. In this Rig Rundown, he goes through his herd of Prince-influenced Schecter T-styles, details how he mixes American- and British-voiced heads, and shows off his Keeley-packed pedalboard that brings the heavy and the psychedelic. (All photos and video coverage of Tori Ruffin was filmed and produced by Phil Clarkin.)

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