
Rejuvenated by the return of original singer Jesse Leach, Killswitch Engage’s Adam Dutkiewicz, Joel Stroetzel, and Mike D’Antonio deliver pummeling riffs and walls of wailing guitar solos on "Disarm the Descent."
As ominous as the name “Killswitch Engage” may sound, as gutturally as the metalcore vets’ verses might assault the ears of the faint, as chest-thumpingly ferocious as their blastbeats and breakdowns are, and as infamously irreverent and, well, goofy as their most visible member, guitarist/producer Adam Dutkiewicz, may be onstage, the Boston-based quintet has always been about warm-’n’-fuzzy messages of hope, redemption, and forgiveness.
Yeah, it can be a little weird taking such ponderous themes seriously when you’re either shaking your head or laughing your ass off at a 6' 4" dude with huge Amish chops and a fauxhawk storming the stage with a tuxedo-print muscle shirt, Daisy Duke cutoffs with boxers hanging out the bottom, a cape and/or inflatable sex toy strung about his neck, and perhaps an outline of his, er, “member” Sharpie’d onto his thigh. But beyond the catchy paeans to optimism wedged between the brutal verses of Killswitch tunes like “Unbroken,” “Breathe Life,” and “A Light in a Darkened World,” there does seem to be something to the conciliatory, life-affirming lyrics.
The biggest test of all that talk goes way back to 2002, and it came full circle last year. After seeing their sophomore album, Alive or Just Breathing, reach No. 37 on Billboard’s Top Heatseekers chart, Dutkiewicz, fellow guitarist Joel Stroetzel, and bassist Mike D’Antonio had the breath knocked clean out of them when original vocalist Jesse Leach—who’d been suffering from vocal-cord issues and depression—gave notice he was leaving. Via email … just days before a gig.
No one could blame the four remaining members of KSE if they’d left Leach on their blacklist when they found themselves singer-less again after the 2012 departure of Howard Jones—the guy whose uncommonly versatile and melodic vocals paved the way for tunes like “The End of Heartache,” “My Curse,” and “The Arms of Sorrow” to find favor with movie studios, video-game producers, and the Grammy-nominating committee.
And yet, here they are, fresh off the release of their sixth full-length album, Disarm the Descent—which sees the return of Leach and more fleet-fingered guitar solos than Dutkiewicz and Stroetzel have ever put to disk strewn amidst the relentlessly throttling riffs.
You guys seem revitalized on this album. How did having Jesse back in the fold change your outlook—other than apparently paving the way for more guitar solos?
Mike D’Antonio: [Laughs.] There were actually more solos, but we took them out. Joel didn’t want it to seem like all of a sudden there were too many running rampant all over the record. But, if you can play ’em, why not have ’em, right? That’s what I said, anyway.
As far as the music goes, everything was complete before Jesse joined. We’d had two years off, trying to figure out what was going on with Howard, and I was just stewing—I really wanted to get out and play. So I was writing really pissed-off music—old-school stuff with breakdowns and flip-flopping beats like I used to write when I was a kid listening to New York hardcore like the Cro-Mags, Leeway, Bad Brains, Agnostic Front, and Madball.
When I went to the demo session for the new album, I played the first song, which was “All That We Have,” and it was so in-your-face that Adam turned to me and said, “This is exactly what I want to do.” I was, like, “Score one for the little guy!” [Laughs.]
Adam Dutkiewicz: I was a little unhappy with the last record and how it felt a little ballad-y, a little singer-songwriter-y at times. I wanted to make more of a return to metal and put some more aggression into the music. I think we all tried to write faster, spunkier songs.
Joel Stroetzel: It’s fun to have Jesse back. Everybody’s happy and having a good time. We’re more fired up.
Mike, you mentioned the demo session. What’s that process like?
D’Antonio: We go our separate ways and write demos, and then bring them to practice and sit in a circle and listen to what’s there and decide what we’d like to pursue. Next, we set up Pro Tools and some automated drums, have everyone play the guitar parts they’re liking, and add and subtract riffs. It’s a really streamlined way to develop songs, but it’s totally different—I’m used to jamming out with buddies in a room.
What were the vocalist auditions like?
D’Antonio: We did it in New York—we wanted to make sure we left no stone unturned. We spent all day ushering people in and out, playing the same three songs over and over. Six o’clock rolls around, and we’re all dead tired—we’d just eaten a lot of pizza and drunk a lot of alcohol—and Jesse walks into the room. The mood immediately brightened, and we proceeded to play 14 songs. No one saw that coming. There were smiles, happiness, a sense of synergy—we just had a really good time. We didn’t think, “Oh, we’re tired,” we just thought, “Wow, this is really cool and these songs sound great.” Three-quarters of them were Howard tunes, and I think Jesse did that to show us not only that he really wanted the job, but also that he was going to take it seriously. He definitely sounds different—he’s not a carbon copy. We could’ve easily found a carbon copy of Jones, but we wanted somebody real, and we wanted somebody who believed in what they were doing.
Stroetzel: I think one of the things we liked the most about Jesse coming back is almost the same thing we liked about Howard: Howard was the one guy, years ago, that wasn’t trying to sound like Jesse. He came and did his own thing. It’s the same thing now. A lot of the people we tried were really good but they tried to mimic Howard a bit, whereas Jesse just came in and did his own thing. We were, like, “Y’know, that’s cool—it doesn’t sound fake at all.”
Did the fact that Jesse has a different vocal style and a narrower range than Howard affect how you wrote the new songs?
Stroetzel: Not really. Howard was still with us when we were writing a lot of this record. I don’t think we changed the writing process at all, instrumentally.
Dutkiewicz: We look at it really simple when we’re putting a song together: Just try to make it feel good, try to do what feels right … y’know, it’s all vibe, man.
But that was something we were concerned about when we hired Jesse—we wanted to make sure he was going to do justice to the Howard songs, which are pretty much 10 years of our career. During the tryouts, he sold us on it. He did Howard’s songs great. He put passion in it, and he put his own little spin on all the songs.
D’Antonio: Jesse’s scope is a bit narrower than Howard’s. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because I think his emotions are more apparent—he really feels what he’s saying, and you can tell that pretty easily. One of the main concerns, obviously, would be playing the Howard tunes live. They’re a really important part of the development of the band, and the Howard records are our biggest-selling by far.
Adam Dutkiewicz — Photo by LDOphoto.net
What about all the solos—there are a lot more than on the past few albums?
Dutkiewicz: I don’t know why the hell I did that. Now I’ve got to pay more attention live! [Laughs.]
Stroetzel: I think it’s just gotta happen naturally. We wanted to have a high-energy record and express how excited we were to be playing again, and there were a few moments where we were, like, “Y’know what, a solo makes sense there. Let’s try it out.”
So there wasn’t a conscious decision to bring solos back?
Dutkiewicz: Not at all. Everything I did on the songs I wrote was completely by feel—like, “This feels right here, let’s try this.” It was just for the hell of it, I guess.
Adam, you’re a pretty big Eddie Van Halen fan—is the two-handed-tapping part of the solo in “In Due Time” a little tip of the hat to him?
Dutkiewicz: Yeah, that’s one of the, like, five [EVH-style] licks I can play [laughs].
Did you play the harmonized parts later in that solo, or was that Joel?
Dutkiewicz: Yeah, in the studio, whenever Joel or I write a specific song, we usually just have that person track all the guitars on it. It ends up being tighter because that person is more familiar with the riffs.
Mike, what’s the most difficult part of laying down the low end for Killswitch?
D’Antonio: Stepping up to the level that Justin [Foley, drums], Adam, and Joel are at, in general, is a pretty difficult situation for a self-taught guy like me. Those guys went to music college and all that stuff. It’s very intimidating—I’m surprised I’ve held up so well [laughs].
Is it because sometimes they use more academic terms to communicate ideas or …
D’Antonio: It’s just the riffs—have you seen Adam’s hands? They’re humongous! He can do some pretty amazing stuff, but I’ve got some of the smallest fingers going. Sometimes I have to dumb-down a riff by playing it at half speed, or use open strings to fill it out. Even Joel has difficulty with some of Adam’s stretches.
Dutkiewicz: Yeah, I have big digits [laughs]—which is a curse for things up higher on the neck …
Because it’s more cramped for space—does that make you tend to avoid playing up there?
Dutkiewicz: Not necessarily, I’m just a little sloppier than most up there, I guess … that’s what she said [laughs].
Mike D’Antonio’s 2013 Tour Gear
Basses
Ibanez MDB3 Mike D'Antonio signature models
Amps
Ampeg SVT-VR heads driving Ampeg SVT Classic 8x10 cabs
Effects
Tronographic Rusty Box preamp, EBS MultiComp, EBS UniChorus, Tech 21 SansAmp RBI, Korg DTR2000 tuner
Strings, Picks, and Accessories
DR Hi-Beam strings (.055, .075, .095, .120), custom Dunlop Gator Grip 1.14 mm picks, Planet Waves American Stage cables, Planet Waves solderless cables, Rebel Clip-Lock straps, Audio-Technica 5000 Series wireless
[Laughs] So what are the advantages of those massive mitts?
Dutkiewicz: [Suggestively] I don’t know….
Guitar-wise….
Dutkiewicz: You can just do different chord voicings. Someone with small hands probably couldn’t make a two-full-step reach as easily.
Does that ever lead to situations where you really like the sound of a chord that’s stretched out and Joel is, like, “Dude, I can’t play that!”?
Dutkiewicz: Yeah, Joel will get mad at me at times for certain voicings, but either I’ll play one part and he’ll play another, or he’ll just buck up and figure it out. He can pretty much play anything.
Stroetzel: [Laughs.] Indeed, Adam has some large digits! A lot of the chord voicings in his songs are challenging for me—he can stretch further on the fretboard with his 1st and 3rd fingers than I can with my 1st and 4th fingers. I’ve got Polish kielbasa fingers!
Mike D'Antonio digs into his signature Ibanez MDB3. Photo by Alex Solca
Let’s talk gear. Mike, which basses did you use for this album?
D’Antonio: I’ve played Ibanez basses for a long time, and I’m pretty happy about my latest MDB3 signature bass. It’s shaped like an Ibanez Destroyer and has a Duncan SPB-3 pickup and a single volume knob. It feels a lot like my old Gibson Thunderbird, which is one of the things I loved about it right off the bat—it took me back to when I was a kid, rocking out with my Thunderbird. Unfortunately, those Thunderbird necks are so fragile—I broke mine twice on tour. Both times I thought I was going to cry for days, so I just had to retire it—I couldn’t bear to see my baby get broken anymore.
Which features of the MDB3 are you most excited about?
D’Antonio: I’m sloppy onstage—I jump around like a nut and it’s basically gym class for me—so if I have a lot of knobs, I’m going to knock into ’em and turn them off or change my tone. I’ve been asking Ibanez for a long time how I can rectify the situation—if I can get some sort of pop-up knob or if I could put something in the back. They came up with the idea of putting a tone trimpot in the back, under the plate for the electronics. There’s a little hole so you can stick a screwdriver in and adjust your tone.
Joel, you’ve been pretty faithful to Caparison guitars for a while now, and you updated your signature model over the last year or so. What did you change?
Stroetzel: The guitar I’ve been playing has a cool neck profile: Toward the headstock, it’s kind of flat, and toward the body it gets rounder. You can do fast rhythm stuff down low and it’s nice and flat, almost Ibanez-style, and then you go up and it’s rounder, like a Les Paul. I’ve had a couple of versions with coil-tapping stuff, I’ve had a couple with a Gibson-style stop tailpiece, but we got rid of that and had the strings go through the body. You get better string tension for the low [drop-C] tuning with the greater angle of the string behind the bridge. So that, and the smaller fret size—from jumbo down to medium-jumbo—is the main difference. I love the feel of big frets, but it’s tough in the studio to intonate chords with bigger frets. I really like Caparison’s craftsmanship. They’ve got great fretwork and nice woods, and they’re well balanced as far weight and tone.
Adam, you’ve gone from Caparison to Parker to PRS guitars over the last few years, right?
Dutkiewicz: We used Caparisons to track this record, too, actually—one of my old ones and two of Joel’s. My Caparison with EMGs was just one of the only ones set up and ready to go at the time.
But you’ve changed guitar brands for various reasons over the years—you had back problems from 2006 to 2007, and then apparently there were consistency issues with the lighter Parker signature models you started using after that. Have any of the changes since then had anything to do with an evolution of what you consider great tone and playability?
Dutkiewicz: Not necessarily. I just like nice guitars—they have to feel good in your hands. When you have a guitar you really love, it’s just inspiring to play more. When it’s comfortable, you want to play.
What will you be playing on the road?
Dutkiewicz: I just started checking out some EVH gear, which is cool because it’s yet another nod to my hero. It has a bird’s-eye-maple, bolt-on neck. I’ve got one that’s a solid finish and one that’s a flame top.
What do you like most about them?
Dutkiewicz: They sound great, but I think the biggest selling point is the neck—it’s one of the most comfortable I’ve ever played.
You’ve used EMGs for quite a while, Adam. Are you sticking with the EVH’s stock passive pickups?
Dutkiewicz: Yeah, the electronics they developed for that guitar sound fantastic—very musical. That was one of the things I loved about PRS, too. The EVHs are pretty road-ready, and they’re locked on both ends, so it’s going to be hard to get them to go out of tune.
Mike, which amps are you using?
D’Antonio: I have an Ampeg SVT-VR tube head and a couple of 8x10 Ampeg Classic cabs. You don’t even really have to dial them in, they just sound good no matter what. I don’t like too many dials—just give me a couple of knobs.
Adam Dutkiewicz’s 2013 Tour Gear
Guitars
Two EVH Wolfgang USA HTs
Amps
Laney Ironheart 100-watt heads driving Ironheart 4x12 cabs with Celestion Vintage 30s, Laney Ironheart 2x12 combo (for clean tones)
Effects
Maxon OD808 Overdrive, Maxon AD-9 Pro analog delay, Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor, Boss ABY switcher, Jet City JetDirect DI box, Korg DTR2000 tuner, Audio-Technica 5000 Series wireless
Strings, Picks, and Accessories
D'Addario EXL115 (.011–.049) strings, custom InTune 1.14mm picks, Planet Waves America Stage cables, Planet Waves solderless cables, Planet Waves straps, Schaller Strap Locks
Do you use channel one or channel two?
D’Antonio: One. I adjust the bass and treble pretty high but leave the midrange low.
Joel and Adam, which amps did you guys use for this album?
Stroetzel: For the record, it was mainly a mix of a Laney Ironheart and a Fuchs Viper, which I think is called the Mantis now. The Fuchs sounds big and round and bubbly—like a warmer-sounding Rectifier—while the Laney has more of that Marshall-style cutting quality, where the palm-muting has some crack to it. The Ironhearts have a good, tight, focused sound, and all the notes jump out nice and clear. For the delayed-out sounds, we used a Matchless Clubman 30, and for some of the delayed stuff and textural sounds we used a Custom Tones Ethos overdrive pedal, which has a speaker out. Live, we’re both using Ironheart heads, and Adam uses an Ironheart combo for cleans. I use a Fuchs Clean Machine.
What about pedals?
D’Antonio: I’m using a SansAmp RBI, and I’m really stoked about the Rusty Box bass preamp, which is from a small boutique company called Tronographic. It sounds great and doesn’t lose the low-end. The bass is way more in the forefront on the new record, and that’s because we just freakin’ loved the tone of the Rusty Box.
Joel Stroetzel riffs on his Caparison signature guitar, flanked by his Fuchs and Laney heads. Photo by LDOphoto.net
Adam and Joel, you guys swear by the Maxon OD808 Overdrive. What’s so special about it?
Stroetzel: It adds a little bit of solid-state tightness in front of a tube amp, but it also adds a little bit of compression and sustain and just kind of smoothes things out. It’s weird—I haven’t not used it in, like, 10 years. Before that, I was using an old-school Ibanez Tube Screamer from the early ’80s.
Dutkiewicz: We have the gain all the way down—it’s just for a little bit of compression and a little bit of focus and clarity in the picking. It doesn’t add any real distortion.
Is it pretty transparent, or does it add a bit of a mid hump like an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer?
Dutkiewicz: Oh yeah—it’s pretty much like a TS9.
What other pedals are you using these days?
Dutkiewicz: It’s real simple, it’s guitar into a wireless unit, into the OD808, into a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor, and then into the head. I also use a Maxon AD-9 Pro analog delay for specific parts of the set.
Stroetzel: The main things are the 808 and the Maxon AD-999—the bigger analog delay pedal. The biggest difference between that and the AD-9 Pro is that the AD-999 is a little bit warmer sounding and you have better control over the delay times—you can dial in slow speeds more easily. [Ed. note: Killswitch tech Josh Mihlek says Stroetzel uses the AD-999 in the studio and the AD-9 Pro live.] For clean stuff, I also use the Maxon CP-9 Pro+, and I have a Boss NS-2 in front of the dirty amp.
Joel Stroetzel’s 2013 Tour Gear
Guitars
Caparison JSM Joel Stroetzel signature models with EMG 85 (neck) and 81 (bridge) pickups
Amps
Laney Ironheart 100-watt heads driving Ironheart 4x12 cabs with Celestion Vintage 30s, Fuchs Clean Machine with Jet City Jettenuator (for clean tones)
Effects
Maxon OD808 Overdrive, Maxon AD-9 Pro analog delay, Maxon CP-9 Pro+ compressor, Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor, Boss ABY switcher, Jet City JetDirect DI box, Korg DTR2000 tuner
Strings, Picks, and Accessories
D'Addario EXL115 (.011–.049) strings, Planet Waves Black Ice 1.10 mm picks, Planet Waves American Stage cables, Planet Waves solderless cables, Planet Waves straps, Schaller Strap Locks, Audio-Technica 5000 Series wireless
Adam, how is your back doing these days—is guitar weight no longer much of an issue?
Dutkiewicz: I’ve been very healthy, so hopefully it remains that way. Thankfully, the EVHs aren’t that heavy. I was really concerned about my back shortly after the emergency surgery I had [in 2006]. I was looking for the lightest possible guitar and, of course, Parker was it. But I’ve been feeling pretty good—knock on wood!—for a little while.
Back pain is one of the most debilitating types of pain. How did you stay so upbeat—and so prolific?
Dutkiewicz: You kind of have to—you don’t really have much of a choice. You can sit there and lament, or just accept the situation and deal with it and move on, y’know?
But when it drags on as long as it did for you, it can sometimes completely transform your outlook and personality.
Dutkiewicz: Oh yeah, my ex found me in our living room, like, just swallowing pills … I drank two bottles of wine and I’m just punching the floor, and I’m, like, “Ahhh! Get me to the hospital now!” It was bad news! [Laughs.]
And yet you were still doing a lot of playing and producing during that time. Do you have any tips for other guitarists facing similar problems?
Dutkiewicz: Well, I heard something cool the other day on ESPN—“The only handicap is a bad attitude.” Y’know, you’ve got to freakin’ take things for what they are and push through. It’s pretty much the only choice you have.
Photo by LDOphoto.net
Adam D’s Tips for Tracking Raging Guitars
Although he’s pretty outspoken and crazy onstage, Adam Dutkiewicz is pretty skittish when asked to name the most unique aspects of the Killswitch guitar sound. “Oh, geesh—I don’t know,” he says. “I don’t think we do anything special. There are other guys out there who can run circles around us. We’re more of the songwriter kind of dudes than the guys who are, like, ‘Hey, check out how good I am at guitar.’ We’ve always been concerned about making a great song.”
Dutkiewicz’s entirely too self-deprecating point seems to be that he thinks he can’t shred on the level of, say, All That Remains’ Oli Herbert. And yet, when it comes to studio savvy, Herbert and company are the ones dialing up Dutkiewicz—and not just to capture raging guitar tracks, but bass, drums, and vocals, too. In fact, the “Big Dude” is the go-to producer for many of the heaviest hitters in modern metal, including Shadows Fall, Every Time I Die, As I Lay Dying, and the Devil Wears Prada. We asked Dutkiewicz to detail his top tips for tracking great guitar parts.
“First off, know what you’re going to play—be able to execute it,” he says. “Then get a good amplifier, get a good speaker cabinet, get a nice microphone, and get a guitar that intonates properly and has decent electronics. It’s pretty much like a good meal—it’s only going to taste as good as the ingredients.”
As for what makes a “good” metal amp, he says he’s used many makes and models over the years, including an early Peavey 5150 and a circa-2002 Framus Cobra. “Really, it’s just about finding a head that you really like the sound of and dialing it in so it sounds balanced—without too much low end. That’s the curse of a lot of guitarists these days. They think their guitar has to be this massive, chunky thing. But the bass guitar should be in charge of all the low end.”
Sealed, straight-front 4x12 cabs loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s have long been Dutkiewicz’s staple, as has the industry-standard Shure SM57 microphone. “I’ll spend an hour or two in the studio just moving the mic around to different speakers and listening to how it reacts to the cone,” he explains. “I usually back it up about six inches from the grille—because you get a lot of proximity effect the closer you get to the cabinet—I point it toward the most focused-sounding part of the cone. Just listening to the speakers really makes a difference.”
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This story’s author played this Belltone B-Classic 3 and found its neck instantly appealing, the tremolo capable of taking abuse and staying in tune, and the Filter’Tron pickups possessed of hi-fi clarity. Also, the sky burst metallic finish is pure eye candy.
Custom designing an instrument and its appointments from a menu of options makes ordering a new axe easy. Four manufacturers share their process.
It’s never been easier for any player to get a guitar made to their liking, and without being an expert, or even an educated amateur in wood, wiring, and other aspects of lutherie. Sure, you can find a builder who will spec out a guitar for you from tree to neck radius to electronics, but for most of us, we’re looking for something easier, less costly, and, often, more familiar.
That’s where guitar-by-menu comes in. Think of it as Build–A-Bear for guitar players, but louder and with cooler options, like a coral pink sparkle finish or a trapeze tailpiece. A coterie of manufacturers offers such services, some with online pull-down menus that cover everything from pickups to, well, all that goes into a guitar. And the advantage here is that no particular expertise other than knowing what you love to play and why you love to play it is required. You dig a Tele or a Jazzmaster or an SG or a Firebird from a certain era, but want a specific bridge or pickup combination, a ’50s or late-’60s neck, a finish not available in production models? No problem. Or maybe you crave something a tad more distinctive, with a non-traditional body shape, no headstock, and a finish that draws from the color palette of Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. All you gotta do is ask … or, rather, pick, click, order, or email, perhaps with a phone call to confirm the details.
We spoke to a clutch of large and smaller guitar companies—Belltone, Kiesel, Fender, and Gibson—to see how they do it.
The Belltone Way
“I was always the guy who had to tweak the guitar no matter what it was,” says Belltone founder Steve Harriman. “I changed out the pickups, I changed the pickguards, tuners, whatever.”
Like former Gibson CEO James Curleigh, Belltone Guitars founder Stephen King Harriman was an apparel executive with Perry Ellis before starting the Florida-based company in 2016. But the gig he’s had since junior high school is guitarist.
“I was always the guy who had to tweak the guitar no matter what it was,” Harriman says. “I changed out the pickups, I changed the pickguards, tuners, whatever. I always had to make what I was playing, whether it was a Les Paul or a Tele, unique, so it would be personally mine.”
Initially, Belltone offered modded versions of Les Paul- and Telecaster-style guitars, but in 2019 he reframed his business, designing an ergonomically contoured pear-shaped body and distinctive 6-on-a-side headstock as a foundation, and establishing a group of craftspeople to bring his solidbody B-Classic One, B-Classic Two, and B-Classic Three variations to life.
Today, Belltone guitars are made for players looking for a similar mix of the fresh and the familiar, at $2,680 to $3,129, depending on appointments. And the range of appointments is impressive. Let’s start with the templates. The Classic One has a flat top with edge binding, an alder body, a rounded tapered neck pocket, the company’s signature Devil’s Tail bridge and angled switch-control plate, reverse-dome tall-boy knobs, and a 12" compound-radius neck (held on by four bolts), with 22 medium-jumbo frets. In contrast, the Classic Two has all of the above, except there are arm and body contours with no binding, and the Classic Three offers the same plus Belltone’s patented Back-Lip Tremolo System and top hat controls.
“I’m inspired by a lot of ’50s and ’60 car designs for the elements of my guitars.”—Belltone’s Steve Harriman
Then, there’s a rabbit hole of options. There are 36 finish choices, with 10 ’bursts—including gorgeous black cherry burst, sky burst metallic, and lemon burst shades—requiring an upcharge of $40. There are varied pickguards to choose from within Belltone’s distinctive “Deco” version, which comes in black, white, and brown tortoise. There are four neck combinations (standard C and ’59 roundback profiles, with maple or rosewood fretboards), four tuner options (locking tuners from Belltone, Sperzel, and Kluson, plus ratio tuners), and a set of any-gauge Stringjoys. And the selection of pickups is truly impressive—36 in all, from TV Jones, Benson, Rio Grande, Mojo, Lindy Fralin, Porter, McNelly, Righteous Sound, Gabojo, and the newly added Brickhouse Tone Works. And within those selections are standard and hum-cancelling P-90s, stacked humbuckers, PAF humbuckers, regular and noiseless single-coils, multiple Filter’Tron variations, and more. Further, via Belltone’s Tone-Sure program, if a customer feels they’ve made the wrong call on pickups after playing their guitar a while, Belltone will swap them out at no charge save for covering shipping and the additional cost of pricier units.
“I’m inspired by a lot of ’50s and ’60 car designs for the elements of my guitars,” Harriman attests. “If you look at my bridge, for example, it’s got kind of a tailfin look to it. For me, guitars need to not only play well and sound great, but look cool. Also, everything is designed by me and is machine-tooled. My bridge is machine-tooled aluminum with rounded contours, as your palm can get roughed up on the old-style stamped ashtray bridges. I take all the things that make players happy into consideration.” Including sturdy and handsome faux-alligator-skin cases.
A deliberative buyer could spend weeks contemplating all of Belltone’s options before pushing the “submit” button, and then, instead of being invoiced, they are contacted directly by Harriman to review it all again before his luthiers get to work.
Gibson’s Made to Measure
One of Gibson’s Made to Measure fantasies: an SG with three humbuckers in a crimson sparkle finish.
The 131-year-old Gibson company’s Made to Measure (MTM) program is a bit more conservative … but only if you’d call a hot-crimson-sparkle SG with three humbuckers, a burgundy Les Paul Standard with a full-fretboard vine inlay, a champagne-pink-sparkle Les Paul, or a 3-pickup Firebird with a P-90 in the middle conservative.
There are two ways to initiate an order for an MTM guitar. You can fill out the online questionnaire on the Gibson Custom Shop’s Made to Measure page or stop by the Nashville or London locations of the Gibson Garage in person. I visited the Nashville Garage for this story, where I spoke with Dustin Wainscott, director of the Made to Measure program, and Matt Boyer, the sales associate you’d likely encounter if you walked into the Music City shop. They brought a clutch of recent MTM examples. And a wall of the MTM room was covered in slabs of wood, available for the choosing, and various bridges, tuners, pickups, and other parts for inspection and selection. Of course, some of the on-location fun is speaking with MTM program leaders like Boyer and Wainscott, who love guitars as much as you do and are happy to swap stories.
Whether by email, which will likely be followed up by a call from Boyer, or in person, the conversation that starts a MTM order begins with questions about body style, neck preference, electronics configuration, and the finish type and treatment.
“On the cosmetic side, we can go as far as you want to, with any color or finish you want.”—Gibson’s Dustin Wainscott
At the Gibson Garage Nashville, Dustin Wainscott, director of the Made to Measure program, and Matt Boyer, the sales associate in charge of MTM at that location, brandish a pair of custom-ordered instruments.
Photo by Ted Drozdowski
Essentially, any Gibson body currently in production and most historic appointments from that model’s history—and some from other compatible Gibson models—can be used for an MTM order. After selecting the white wood, as slabs are called in lutherie, “figuring out the pickup layout, the neck profile, and the tailpiece you want is the next step,” says Wainscott. “Then you get into the electronics and the look of the guitar: pickup selection, coil-splitting, what color or finish hardware, a glossy or flat finish, any Murphy Lab aging.
“Non-proprietary parts can sometimes be a roadblock. Typically, we’d use our pickups, for example, so if somebody makes a request for a pickup outside of Gibson’s, I try to steer them toward something we have that’s similar. You’ve got to play in the Gibson sandbox.” Stepping outside of historic model-design parameters, which would require re-engineering, is also a no-fly. That means don’t ask for a Les Paul with a Firebird neck, or an Explorer with a 3-on-a-side headstock. That said, there is a lot of wiggle room within the company’s catalog, and “on the cosmetic side, we can go as far as you want to, with any color or finish you want,” adds Wainscott. Personalized headstocks are also a popular option.
A Made to Measure order’s price starts with a $500 charge on top of a model’s current tag, and can increase depending on the complexity of wiring, finish, inlays, etc. Wainscott notes that about 30 percent of the Custom Shop’s business is Made to Measure.
“We also do a lot of recreating of models you’ve seen in the past that aren’t available now,” adds Boyer. “So, we can’t make a Jimmy Page Les Paul with his name on it, per se, but if you want a Les Paul Custom with three pickups, a Bigsby, a 6-position switch, and all that, we can do it for you.”
Kiesel’s Family Style
Kiesel can get as rad as you wanna be, including characterful flourishes like this naturally figured wood with pools of radiant blue finish and an organically striking neck.
Kiesel Guitars has essentially always been a custom-order builder, even if its name and line of business has evolved. The L.C. Kiesel Company was founded in 1946 by Lowell Kiesel as a manufacturer of pickups he sold from the back pages of magazines. As it grew, he renamed it after two of his sons, Carson and Gavin, as the well-known brand Carvin, which became famous as a maker of quality guitars, amps, and instrument parts. In 2015, the company split, Lowell’s son Mark and his son Jeff established the guitar-building operation under the Kiesel name. Today, thanks to their high-caliber construction and endorsees like Allan Holdsworth, Devin Townsend, Craig Chaquico, Jason Becker, and Johnny Hiland, the company makes more than 4,000 custom-order guitars a year.
“We have four types of construction: bolt-on, set-neck, set-through, and neck-through,” explains VP Jeff Kiesel. The company also offers the unusual choice of nine different headstocks, which most manufacturers limit to one style as part of branding, and sans-headstock models, which Kiesel began making in 2012 with the debut of its Allan Holdsworth model. All Kiesel headstocks have an 8 1/2-degree tilt, to create a steeper string angle over the nut, which can potentially improve tone and sustain.
At work on a body in the Kiesel factory, which produces about 4,000 custom-order guitars annually.
“We’re appealing to everybody because we do so many different things.”—Jeff Kiesel
“We never build the headstock separate from the neck and then scarf joint them in—it’s all one piece,” Kiesel adds. Necks are also quarter-sawn, with a two-way truss rod, dual carbon-fiber reinforcement rods, stainless steel frets, and Luminlay side dots.
After that, ordering a Kiesel is all about options. There are 56 models, including signatures, to choose from. Once you select a model on the company’s website, you’re taken to a page that includes a builder menu. Kiesel’s lowest-priced models, including the Delos, start at $1,649, while the top-priced, flagship K-Series model starts at $4,399.
The Aries, one of Kiesel’s most popular guitars, starts at a base of $1,699 with a bolt-on neck and has a menu that includes, under general options, right- or left-hand orientation; the choice of 6, 7, 8, or 9 strings; multiscale necks; and 25 1/2", 26 1/2", or 27" scale lengths. Under body options, you can select beveled or unbeveled edges, and eight different body and 16 different top woods. There are more than 80 finishes to choose from, and 14 variations on the Kiesel logo. The neck options are equally rich, with five fretboard radius selections plus choices for neck wood, three neck profiles, inlays, truss rod covers, and more. The electronic options boast four pickup configurations, five different Kiesel neck and bridge pickup models, and additional alternatives. It’s easy to get lost in the woods, but when you emerge, an image of your guitar with all its appointments, generated as you make your choices, is waiting for you.
“Our lead time is seven to 12 weeks,” Kiesel says, “and we offer a 10-day trial period unless somebody gets too wild on their options.” Anyone ordering a guitar is welcome to phone the company to talk over their order, and Kiesel highly recommends that first-time buyers call.
While Kiesel Guitars once had a reputation as a shredder-axe factory, Jeff Kiesel explains that’s changed over the past decade. “Our demographic is not set anymore,” he shares. “We’re appealing to everybody because we do so many different things. We can build a very classy jazz-style neck pickup on a semi-hollow guitar that you can play some amazing Frank Gambale licks on. And then we can turn around and build a guitar that will do some really technical modern metal, like Marc Okubo. We can build really wild or really classy, and that’s created so much growth within our company.”
Fender’s Mod Shop
Ted created this “dream Strat” with a silverburst finish, noiseless single-coils, and a 2-Point Deluxe Synchronized Tremolo Bridge using Fender’s Mod Shop online tool.
Like Gibson, Fender’s Mod Shop is about personalizing classic templates—in this case, the Strat, Tele, Jaguar, Jazzmaster, P and J basses, and Acoustasonic Telecasters and Jazzmasters. And while the program was birthed in 2014 as the American Design Experience, it evolved into the Mod Shop and has continued to improve, most recently with an update this April that made the online menu easier to use and added more options.
“We know that 80 percent of customers will be loyal to brands where they can personalize and customize,” says Shannon Stokes, Fender’s VP of eCommerce. “So the whole online user experience has been finessed. It’s much easier to navigate on both desktop and mobile. You move through it choosing the orientation of the guitar, the finish … everything through the pickguard, the hardware.”
Justin Norvell, Fender’s VP of product, observes, “This is a playground, and you’re able to just mess around and see what appeals to you. We allow people to save their configurations to PDFs, and they can share them and send them out,” akin to trading cards. “There’s an exponential number of people that might sit on their favorite design for a year before they actually place an order.” Some hardcore fans buy multiple variations of a favorite-style guitar over time, “because you can engrave the neck plate, collect multiple finishes, and other cool stuff. This is an area where selection runs wild for lefties, too,” he adds.
Fender’s Justin Norvell with his own dream machine: an American Professional Jazzmaster in mystic seafoam.
“This is an area where selection runs wild for lefties, too.”—Fender’s Justin Norvell
“What’s amazing to me,” says Shannon Stokes, Fender’s VP of eCommerce, “is the number of people ordering black, white, and sunburst. I would think the rarer colors would be the thing.”
The cost of a Mod Shop guitar is an upcharge of several hundred dollars, with certain customizations increasing the tab. I decided to jump in and outfit a Strat, with a base price of $2,085, to my taste. After selecting the right-hand player’s orientation, I chose an alder body with a silverburst finish from a palette of nearly 50 colors and wood offerings that also included chambered ash, mahogany, and roasted pine. For the neck, I went with solid rosewood with Fender’s deep-C profile. Eight maple variations were also available. That neck option automatically led me to a rosewood fretboard, and then I hunted through 16 pickup configurations before stopping at the Generation 4 Noiseless Stratocaster set. I opted for a 4-ply black pearl pickguard, and aged white plastic controls and pickup frames. Next, from three bridge choices I tapped a 2-Point Deluxe Synchronized Tremolo Bridge. Chrome Fender strap lock buttons would do the job, since I’ve had un-strap-locked guitars fall to the stage at gigs in years past. For strings, a set for .010s, and the only case option is deluxe molded plastic with a fuzzy interior. Total cost: $2,175, which is not bad for those modest-but-swell appointments. I also downloaded a PDF, so you can see what I designed. Unhappy with the purchase? It can be returned within 30 days for a refund or exchange, plus shipping.
There’s about a half-dozen builders in the Mod Shop, but workers from the normal production line can be called in when there is an uptick in commissions, Norvell explains.
“What’s amazing to me,” says Stokes, “is the number of people ordering black, white, and sunburst. I love the satin orange because it’s vibrant, different. I would think the rarer colors would be the thing.” But players often look for instruments that are evocative of classic guitars they’ve seen. And 6-string dreams do come in all shades.
Well-designed pickups. Extremely comfortable contours. Smooth, playable neck.
Middle position could use a bit more mids. Price could scare off some.
$2,999
Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay II
A surprise 6-string collaboration with Cory Wong moves effortlessly between ’70s George Benson and Blink-182 tones.
Announced at the 2025 NAMM show, Cory Wong’s new collaboration with Ernie Ball Music Man scratched an itch—namely, the itch for a humbucker-loaded guitar that could appease Wong’s rock-and-R&B alter ego and serve as complement to his signature Fender Strat. Inspiration came from no further than a bandmate’s namesake instrument. Vulfpeck bassist Joe Dart has a line of signature model EBMM basses, one of which uses the classic StingRay bass body profile. So, when Wong went looking for something distinctive, he wondered if EBMM could create a 6-string guitar using the classic StingRay bass body and headstock profile.
Double the Fun
Wong is, by his own admission, a single-coil devotee. That’s where the core of his sound lives and it feels like home to him. However, Wong is as inspired by classic Earth, Wind & Fire tones and the pop-punk of the early ’90s as he is by Prince and the Minneapolis funk that he grew up with. The StingRay II is a guitar that can cover all those bases.
Ernie Ball has a history of designing fast-feeling, comfortable necks. And I can’t remember ever struggling to move around an EBMM fretboard. The roasted maple C-shaped neck here is slightly thicker in profile than I expected, but still very comfortable. (I must also mention that the back of the neck has a dazzling, almost holographic look to the grain that morphs in the light). By any measure, the StingRay II’s curves seemed designed for comfort and speed. Now, let’s talk about those pickups.Hot or Not?
A few years ago EBMM introduced a line of HT (heat-treated) pickups. The pickups are built with technology the company used to develop their Cobalt and M-Series strings. A fair amount of the process is shrouded in secrecy and must be taken on faith, but EBMM says treating elements of the pickup with heat increases clarity and dynamic response.
To find out for myself, I plugged the StingRay II into a Fender Vibroverb, Mesa/Boogie Mark VII, and a Neural DSP Quad Cortex (Wong’s preferred live rig). Right away, it was easy to hear the tight low end and warm highs. Often, I feel like the low end from neck humbuckers can feel too loose or lack definition. Neither was the case here. The HT pickup is beautifully balanced with a bounce that’s rich with ES-335 vibes. Clean tones are punchy and bright—especially with the Vibroverb—and dirty tones have more room for air. Individual notes were clear and articulate, too.
Any guitar associated with Wong needs a strong middle-position or combined pickup tone, and the StingRay II delivers. I never felt any significant signal loss in the blended signal from the two humbuckers, even if I could use a bit more midrange presence in the voicing. The midrange gap is nothing an EQ or Tube Screamer couldn’t fix, though. And not surprisingly, very Strat-like sounds were easy to achieve for having less midrange bump.
Knowing Wong’s love for ’90s alt-rock, I expected the bridge pickup to have real bite, and it does, demonstrating exceptional dynamic range and exceptional high-end response that never approached shrill. Nearly every type of distortion and overdrive I threw at it sounded great, but especially anything with a scooped-mid flavor and plenty of low end.
The Verdict
By any measure, the StingRay II is a top-notch, professional instrument. The fit and finish are immaculate and the feel of the neck makes me wonder if EBMM stashes some kind of secret sandpaper, because I don’t think I’ve ever felt a smoother, more playable neck. Kudos are also due to EBMM and Wong for finding an instrument that can move between ’70s George Benson tones and the hammering power chords of ’90s Blink-182. Admittedly, the nearly $3K price could give some players pause, but considering the overall quality of the instrument, it’s not out of line. Wong’s involvement and search for distinct sounds makes the StingRay II more than a tired redux of a classic model—an admirable accomplishment considering EBMM’s long and storied history.
Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay II Cory Wong Signature Electric Guitar - Charcoal Blue with Rosewood Fingerboard
StingRay II Cory Wong - Charcoal BlueThe Melvins' Buzz Osborne joins the party to talk about how he helped Kurt Cobain find the right sounds.
Growing up in the small town of Montesano, Washington, Kurt Cobain turned to his older pal Buzz Osborne for musical direction. So on this episode, we’re talking with the Melvins leader about their friendship, from taking Cobain to see Black Flag in ’84 to their shared guitar journey and how they both thought about gear. And in case you’ve heard otherwise, Kurt was never a Melvins roadie!
Osborne’s latest project is Thunderball from Melvins 1983, something of a side trajectory for the band, which harkens back to this time in Osborne’s life. We dig into that and how it all relates and much more.