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Summer NAMM '08 Nashville - N-Tune Tuning System
We got a sneak peek at a number of products at NAMM on Thursday night during Artist Relations' training program. This video demonstrates N-Tune's tuning system.
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N-Tune
We got a sneak peek at a number of products at NAMM on Thursday night during Artist Relations' training program. This video demonstrates N-Tune's tuning system.
The Wilco frontman’s ’90s pawn shop raids are paying off decades later.
Back in September, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy released his fifth solo album, Twilight Override. The triple album, recorded at the band’s Chicago studio, the Loft, features 30 tracks total. Tweedy set out across the U.S. this fall to celebrate the monumental release.
On October 29, he performed at the Caverns in Grundy County, Tennessee, and welcomed PG’s Nashville correspondent John Bohlinger to the bat cave to check out a ripping collection of pawn-shop specials.
Tweedy has had this heavily modded Jaguar for a very long time—he bought it at a pawn shop when they were still cheap. He guesses it’s a 1964, and it’s been modded to run only on its Seymour Duncan Antiquity bridge humbucker.
Root of All Evil
Tweedy got this Fender Jazzmaster at a pawn shop in Chicago for around $500. With its Mastery bridge, he tunes it with bass strings for some of Wilco’s heavier, lower-tuned material like “Dawned On Me.”
Half Moon Fun
Ric Ocasek is one of the few other well-known guitarists to play one of these Kawai MoonSaults, a Japan-made guitar from the 1980s with a scorching-hot preamp wired into it. Tweedy has a soft spot for them, and has collected six or seven of the oddities. He strings this one with flatwounds.
Everyman’s SG
Tweedy didn’t like the feeling of being handed his $20,000 Gibson SG onstage. He wanted to model some more reasonably priced instruments to his fans, so he started bringing out this early-’80s-built Greco SG copy. It features PAF-style Maxon Dry Z pickups.
Tele: Fully Loaded
Fender didn’t make many of these Telecasters with top-loaded strings, and Tweedy loves the sound of this one’s snarl into his Fender Deluxe. It was purchased at New York’s RetroFret Vintage Guitars and lives in open-G tuning.
Tweedy’s Tweed
Tweedy bought this 1954 Fender Deluxe in 1994 for just a couple hundred bucks. This wide-panel, 10-watt 5D3 model still has its original speaker and transformer.
Jeff Tweedy’s Pedalboards
One of Tweedy’s boards is dedicated almost entirely to pedals by Fairfield Circuitry, based in Hull, Quebec. In addition to a TC Electronic Polytune 3 Noir, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail, and Black Mountain volume pedal, there are seven Fairfield units: the Accountant compressor, Barbershop overdrive, ~900 fuzz, Randy’s Revenge ring modulator, Shallow Water k-field modulator, and two Meet Maude analog delays.
On a second board for his acoustics, Tweedy runs another Holy Grail, Polytune 3 Noir, and three more Black Mountain volume pedals, plus a Radial Shotgun splitter and buffer and three Rupert Neve RNDI-M direct interface boxes.
Season 2 of Axe Lords kicks off with a legend: Lita Ford joins Dave, Cindy, and Tom for one of the heaviest, wildest, most guitar-nerd–satisfying episodes we’ve ever done. Lita talks about reinventing herself after The Runaways, why she insisted on a three-piece band to prove her guitar chops, and how she developed a voice on the instrument that producers once criticized—until legends like Billy Gibbons co-signed her sound.
And yes: Lita plugs in, cranks a Boss Katana, and rips a live performance that might be the most rock-and-roll ending to an Axe Lords episode yet.
Axe Lords is hosted by Dave Hill, Cindy Hulej, and Tom Beaujour. Produced by Studio Kairos. Presented in partnership with Premier Guitar. Artwork by Mark Dowd. Theme Music by Valley Lodge. Follow and subscribe to Axe Lords @axelordspod.
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The Australian shredder keeps things simple with signature PRS, Orange, and Gibson gear.
Australian guitarist Orianthi, known for her blistering solo work in addition to her collaborations with superstars like Carlos Santana, Alice Cooper, and Carrie Underwood, stopped through Nashville on her current tour. PG’s John Bohlinger joined Orianthi to get a look at her rig, and it turns out she doesn’t need too many tools to get the job done.
Orianthi’s signature PRS, based on the Custom 24 and made of Brazilian rosewood, honors the color of her very first Hendrix t-shirt, finished in blooming lotus glow. It’s got custom pickups created by Paul Reed Smith himself, and it’s strung with Ernie Ball .009-gauge strings.
Cherry Bomb
This is Orianthi’s signature, cherry-finish Gibson SJ-200, which she helped create in Montana with her friends Rae Vinton and Robi Johns. They built it with a thinner, ES-345-style neck, and modded the pickup with L.R. Baggs over Zoom.
Orange-ianthi
Orianthi’s signature 50-watt Orange Oriverb was put together with the late designer Pat Foley, a close friend. The main trick is that it’s loaded with plenty of reverb, a taste Orianthi developed early on thanks to her father’s Fender Twins and Music Man amps.
Orianthi’s Pedalboard
Orianthi’s playing does most of the heavy lifting, but this humble board contributes some muscle. There’s a Dunlop Cry Baby EVH wah, Dunlop Authentic Hendrix ’68 Shrine Series Octavio, Dunlop Authentic Hendrix ’68 Shrine Series Uni-Vibe, MXR Analog Chorus, Boss BF-2, Boss DD-3, and a Boss TU-3.
PG contributor @TomButwin dives into the latest evolution of the green-box legacy: the TWA Source Code SC‑01 Overdrive. Designed by the legendary Susumu Tamura (yes—the original mind behind the TS808), this pedal combines vintage tone and handmade USA craftsmanship with serious modern enhancements: internal 18v voltage-boosting circuitry for extra headroom, a multi-transistor input buffer to preserve your guitar’s core tone, and a unique “Bite” control for dialing in even-order harmonics and amp-style saturation.
At just 26, the guitar-playing phenom has already netted a Grammy, earned a signature Telecaster, started his own label, and we think this is just the beginning. John Bohlinger checks in with the lovable Mississippi kid who always has a guitar nearby and continues finding inspiration in his church roots and new gear.