Robot Killers: Screaming Females’ Marissa Paternoster and “King” Mike Abbate

The Jersey punks demonstrate the destructive capabilities of a well-placed fuzz, a spasmodic riff, and vocal lines perennially set to “stun.”
“People always want to talk about the red knobs,” says Screaming Females’ frontwoman Marissa Paternoster of her favorite 1970s Sunn Concert Lead head. “It has a really cool cabinet with recessed speakers, and it makes every sound person who looks at it freak out because they don’t know what to do—but all you really have to do is put a microphone in front of it. It’s rad. It’s super loud, and it sounds great.”
Despite preferring to broadcast her cranium-rattling riffs, frazzle-fuzzed licks, and incisively clean chord work via the notoriously loud Sunn and a couple of go-to G&L S-500 solidbodies, Paternoster is no picky gear junkie. Likewise, though she boasts formidable chops born of countless hours of gigging (and jamming to Nirvana, Pixies, and Bikini Kill records as a teen), Paternoster’s also no fan of shredding—at least not in the context most guitarists view the term in. “I kind of hate that stuff,” she says of run-of-the-mill guitar gymnastics. “It sounds like a robot is playing the guitar.”
What does do it for Paternoster and Screaming Females bassist “King” Mike Abbate is anything that dovetails with the New Jersey natives’ punk roots, DIY work ethic, and Paternoster’s distinctive vocals—which can be sweetly demure but are usually delivered with a frenetic, full-throated sneer.
The Females came together in 2005 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, when Paternoster, Abbate, and drummer Jarrett Dougherty were students at Rutgers University—although Abbate admits, “I only went to Rutgers because Marissa and Jarrett were already going there and I wanted to keep playing in the band.” After honing their sound playing together in basements and punk houses, the trio self-produced their first album, Baby Teeth, in 2006.
the guitar.” —Marissa Paternoster
Since then they’ve released five more LPs and an EP, and toured extensively, opening for iconic bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Garbage. Along the way they’ve collaborated with such studio legends as Steve Albini (Shellac, the Pixies, PJ Harvey), Butch Vig (Nirvana, Sonic Youth), and Matt Bayles (Mastodon). Their 2015 release, Rose Mountain, was included on many year-end best-of lists.
We recently spoke with Paternoster about her musical heroes, her one experience with formal music training—a university course she describes as being more like math—and the transformative powers of punk.
When did you start playing guitar?
I started playing when I was 14-ish. I’m 29 now, so I’ve been playing for a while. My dad had a guitar. I started listening to rock ’n’ roll and he suggested that he might be able to teach me some of the Nirvana songs that I’d been listening to—“They’re really easy.” He did, and I just took it from there.
Who else were you listening to?
When I first started listening to rock music, it was Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I really liked the Pixies all throughout high school. Once I got into the Pixies, I started listening to pretty much everything Kill Rock Stars [indie label that first signed Bikini Kill] had ever put out. That led me to K Records [Beck, Modest Mouse], 5RC [5 Rue Christine, a dormant subsidiary of Kill Rock Stars], a lot of riot grrrl music, early contemporary feminist music like queercore, and all kinds of twee stuff. I got into weirder music as I grew older, but at first I was listening to mainstream radio rock, like Smashing Pumpkins and stuff.
“Mike and I are loud as fuck,” says Screaming Females frontwoman Marissa Paternoster. “We are a very loud band.” She credits part of the noise to her favored 1970s Sunn Concert Lead head shown behind her to the left. Photo by Lindsey Best
You have formidable chops. Did you take lessons?
No, I’ve never taken a lesson. I took Intro to Music Theory at Rutgers. They had two different classes: One was Intro to Music Theory for people who are practicing musicians, and one was more like a math class for people who aren’t practicing musicians. I took the one that was like a math class. I was also a totally lazy, piece-of-crap student, because all I cared about was playing rock music. So I don’t remember any of it. That’s the only [theory] class I’ve ever taken.
Did you spend time learning solos or songs off records?
Before I had people to play with, I would usually just put on CDs that I liked and play around with them while I listened to the song. I went to a Catholic school that didn’t have any kind of arts or music program, but there was a math teacher who had an extracurricular music club. We would meet in the afternoons once a week and jam. He was really into music that I absolutely hated, like Phish and Medeski Martin & Wood, but he was a really good person and cared a lot about the kids who came to music club. That’s how I learned to play my instrument with other people, especially people who had disparate influences, weren’t judgmental, and just wanted to play music with other people because it’s fun. He taught me a lot in that regard.
Did you listen to shredders at all?
No. I kind of hate that stuff—it sounds like a robot is playing the guitar. What really got me into solos was probably the Smashing Pumpkins’ early stuff. Most of the music I grew up on was really just punk music and didn’t have very many solos at all. My favorite band was Bikini Kill, and I can’t even think of a song of theirs that has a guitar solo in it. I really love Neil Young and Crazy Horse. I suppose the first Pearl Jam record has a lot of lengthy solos in it. I wanted to play like that, but it seemed unattainable. Once I started listening to punk, I began to understand that I could be in a band. Up until I started listening to riot grrrl I was like, “This music is for grown men. I can’t do this stuff. Not for me.”
So punk made it accessible?
Yeah. It made it seem like it was something that belonged to me … or could belong to me—or I could be a part of that community. That’s the music that made me really want to play guitar, which is weird, I guess, from a shredding standpoint.
The Screaming Females power trio formed in 2005 at Rutgers University. Its members are, from left to right, bassist “King” Mike Abbate on bass, guitarist/frontwoman Marissa Paternoster, and drummer Jarrett Dougherty. Photo by Lance Bangs
What are the pros and cons of being in a trio and being the only guitarist?
I’ve never known anything else. I’ve only been in one other band—we had a keyboard player, and I was a kid. I hated having to play with a keyboard player. I felt I had no control and I guess, especially back then, I wanted to have a lot of control. Now I’m so used to the setup that we have: Not to sound cheesy, but Mike and I have an unspoken chemistry. I am so comfortable playing along with him. I really can’t imagine what it would be like to have somebody else playing a keyboard or another guitar. I’d probably freak out.
How do you keep the bottom from falling out when you switch from rhythm to lead?
Mike and I are loud as fuck. We are a very loud band. He also sometimes will play bass chords live instead of just playing root notes. If you listen back on albums there’ll be root notes and a rhythm guitar, but live he’ll play some octaves or some chords so that it doesn’t sound like the world fell out from under us when I solo.
composition united.” —Marissa Paternoster
Do you record with the same gear you use live?
We recorded our first album ourselves, so there weren’t many options. I just had my amp and my stuff. Later, I was interning at a studio in New Jersey—it was a barn on the side of the highway—and they had a lot of weird old amps and pedals from the ’80s that flew under the radar. I tried a lot of different fuzz pedals, delay pedals, and amps on that record [Castle Talk].
For our latest record, Rose Mountain, we flew to Seattle to record, so I didn’t have my amplifier. But Matt got me a smaller Sunn combo and a Fender Twin that I could use. There weren’t a ton of options. I think it’s better to know what you like, find a really good-sounding version of it, and have it available to you. That way, you’re not endlessly scrolling through this vast sea of options. You have what you know, you depend on it, and you can pick and choose from that little pool.
Meaning you have a handful of go-to sounds you choose from, depending on the song?
Yeah. I like trying new things and experimenting with sounds, but I’m very trepidatious about adding too much or indulging too much. I try to do what the song might demand instead of doing what I want all the time. I would love to put a million guitars on every song, but it just doesn’t make sense. It’s a little too self-indulgent, I think.
Marissa Paternoster’s Gear
GuitarsG&L S-500 w/ Seymour Duncan Hot Rails bridge pickup
G&L S-500 (stock)
Fender Telecaster
Amps
’70s Sunn Concert Lead head
Sunn 212LH cab
Effects
TSVG Hard Stuff Boost
Earthbound Audio Supercollider
Boss DD-6 Digital Delay
MXR Phase 90
Strings and Picks
GHS Boomers strings (.009–.042)
Dunlop Tortex picks (.88 mm)
Do you like to vary your tones from track to track?
We think of albums as paintings: You want them to have exciting moments or embellishments that really catch your eye, but you also want to be able to step away from it and see the whole composition united. We try to have this sense of continuity so that everything holds together well—like, “We made this album, these songs belong together, and you should listen to it in this order.” But all the while there are going to be little embellishments, much as a painter might add a splash of color in a certain part of a painting. I wouldn’t want to fatigue our listeners by having the same thing happen over and over again, but there has to be sonic continuity or else they’re going to be like, “What the fuck’s going on with this album? Every song is totally different.” There is a place for that, too, but I’m not sure if that’s something I’m interested in doing—right now, at least.
Do you ever experiment with guitars other than your G&Ls?
I have a Fender Telecaster I like using for heavier stuff. The neck pickup sounds super cool in dropped D. But for the most part I just use my G&L S-500s—I don’t think I’ve ever used anything else except for a Tele and the G&Ls.
We’ve been on tour consistently for quite a while now, and playing every night certainly is a great way to push yourself—I definitely feel like I’m getting better at playing guitar. I’m going to spend most of this month working on demos and trying out new pedals to see if I want to keep them in my rig. Other than that, I try to play every day and either record something or write a song. My concern lies a lot more with songwriting than shredding. Even though I do play guitar a lot, it’s not my goal to play fast or do something technically impressive. I like to write songs or write sonic passages that resonate with people emotionally.
YouTube It
Marissa Paternoster’s impeccable vocals and ferocious riffing are the crowning glory in the Screaming Females’ 2013 Record Store Day collaboration with Garbage on the Patti Smith song “Because the Night.”
Females bassist Mike Abbate says Rickenbackers were hard for him to play at first without a thumb rest, but he loved the sound enough to start using a pick. He’s shown here with his 4003 bass. Photo by Farrah Skeiky
Rumbling Male—Screaming Females' "King" Mike Abbate
Screaming Females low-ender “King” Mike Abbate discusses the challenges of keeping up with frontwoman Marissa Paternoster’s riffing, as well as the 28-year-old bassist’s unlikely hero from the 1980s new wave scene.“King” Mike Abbate has known Marissa Paternoster since high school. At the time, he was actually a guitarist, but she inspired him to switch to bass. “I watched Marissa play and thought, ‘If I want to play with this person—who’s just incredible at the guitar—I might as well not play the guitar.’ So I got a cheap bass and started plunking along, trying to learn something different.” Since then Abbate has forged a style that’s powerful, yet melodic and tasteful—and a great fit for a power trio.
Who are some of your bass influences?
Starting out, it was definitely Paul Simonon from the Clash. His stuff was always really fun to play—there was a lot of movement, but at the same time it was also pretty simple. A lot of the patterns he uses are regular ol’ rock ’n’ roll patterns. But Graham Maby, who played bass with Joe Jackson for a bunch of years, is probably my all-time favorite bass player. His playing is absolutely incredible—I can’t imagine ever being as good as he is.
What do you like about his playing?
It is super melodic and super intricate while still staying tasteful. He’s never doing too much but at the same time he totally shreds. I see a lot of bass players who are totally amazing and could play circles around anybody else, but you put them in a band setting and it feels like too much. I feel like Graham could outplay anybody, but he always finds a way to suit the song really nicely. Every once in a while he’ll go nuts—especially if you listen to the live stuff. It’s not often that anyone really likes to hear a bass solo, but he can do it tastefully.
Do you play with a pick, your fingers, or both?
Every once in a while I'll play with my fingers if I want a little bit less attack, but I mostly play with a pick. I started out playing with my fingers, but when we started the band we had this five-hour practice and by the end of it I had a massive blister. I switched to a pick and never stopped using it. My playing and my sound has evolved since then to the point where using a pick just makes the most sense. Plus, when I got a Rickenbacker I found that it was harder for me to play with my fingers, because there was nowhere to rest my thumb. But I liked the sound enough that I didn’t really care—I was down to just use a pick. Plus, a pick looks cooler, man! [Laughs.]
In the studio do you mike your amps or go direct?
We’ve done a little of both. On [2012’s] Ugly, I went through my amp and stuck a mic on it. For Rose Mountain, I didn’t have my setup but I had something close. But I also switched it up—I played through an Ampeg SVT. I also played through a Verellen Meatsmoke, a vintage Acoustic similar to mine, and a Fender Bassman. I also went direct on a couple of things. We tried out a lot of different sounds for the bass, and that’s the first time we ever did anything like that.
What is your sonic role in the band, especially when Marissa takes a solo?
Going back to Graham Maby, I’ve always really liked melodic bass playing. A lot of times I’m still doing my melodic thing and it ends up chaotic with so much stuff going on at once, but I think at certain points it’s what makes our band special. I try not to stray too far away from that. Other times, when I feel it’s getting too cacophonous, I’ll lay back and plunk along on the roots.
“King” Mike Abbate’s Gear
BassesRickenbacker 4003
Peavey T-40 w/ Rickenbacker electronics
Amps
’70s Acoustic 220 head
Acoustic 2x15 cab w/ Peavey Black Widow speakers
Effects
TSVG Hard Stuff Bass Boost
Strings and Picks
GHS Bass Boomers (.045–.105)
Dunlop Tortex picks (.73 mm)
I started playing chords a bunch of years ago, but I’ve recently started trying to get away from that because it tends to sound really muddy. Also, right around when I discovered that I could play chords to fatten up the sound and fill it out, the Dinosaur Jr. comparisons came in. I was like, “I guess I should check out Dinosaur Jr.” But it depends on the song: Sometimes I’ll play a melodic bass line over a guitar solo if it seems like it fits. Other times I’ll play the chords. I recently got an overdrive pedal, and it’s the first time I’ve had a pedal in my setup. On songs where I would normally play chords, lately I’ve been kicking on that pedal and playing the root instead of playing three strings at a time and making it sound muddy.
When you play chords, what chord voicings do you play?
Sometimes power chords, sometimes octaves, and other times the root, third, and seventh. I don’t know much about theory, but sometimes I play other things.
Speaking of Dinosaur Jr., you toured with them a few years ago, right?
Yeah, we’ve done a couple of shows with them. Once we were compared to that band, they became one of my favorite bands for quite a while. I was listening to their stuff all the time, so it was really cool getting to play with them. At the same time, it made me hyperaware that these comparisons were being made, so I tried to stray away from that sound a little bit.
Did you try out Lou [Barlow’s] rig? He uses a ton of amps, just like J [Mascis].
No—I have no desire to play through a rig like that! [Laughs.] That’s just gratuitous. I’m fine with what I play through.
- Marissa Paternoster’s Punk-Forged Folk - Premier Guitar ›
- Marissa Paternoster’s Punk-Forged Folk - Premier Guitar ›
- Marissa Paternoster’s Punk-Forged Folk - Premier Guitar ›
- Sleater-Kinney Summons a New Resilience: Riot Grrrl Legends ›
- Hooked: Melissa Dougherty on Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" - Premier Guitar ›
- Marissa Paternoster: “My Secret Weapon Is My Unrelenting Anxiety!” - Premier Guitar ›
By refining an already amazing homage to low-wattage 1960s Fenders, Carr flirts with perfection—and adds a Hiwatt-flavored twist.
Killer low end for a low-wattage amp. Mid and presence controls extend range beyond Princeton or tweed tone templates. Hiwatt-styled voice expands vocabulary. Built like heirloom furniture.
Two-hundred-eighty-two bucks per watt.
$3,390
Carr Skylark Special
carramps.com
Steve Carr could probably build fantastic Fender amp clones while cooking up a crème brulee. But the beauty of Carr Amps is that they are never simply a copy of something else. Carr has a knack for taking Fender tone and circuit design elements—and, to a lesser extent, highlights from the Vox and Marshall playbook—and reimagining them as something new.
Those that playedCarr’s dazzling original Skylark know it didn’t go begging for much in the way of improvement. But Carr tends to tinker to very constructive ends. In the case of the Skylark Special, the headline news is the addition of the Hiwatt-inspired tone section from theCarr Bel-Ray, a switch from a solid-state rectifier to an EZ81 tube rectifier that enhances the amp’s sense of touch and dynamics, and an even deeper reverb.
Spanning Space Ages
With high-profile siblings like the Deluxe, Bassman, Tremolux, and Twin, Fender’s original Harvard is, comparatively, a footnote in Fender’s wide-panel tweed era (the inclusion of Steve Cropper’s Harvard in the Smithsonian notwithstanding). But the Harvard is somewhat distinctive among tweed Fenders for using fixed bias, which, given its power, makes it a bridge that links in both circuit and sound to the Princeton Reverb. The Skylark Special’s similar capacity for straddling tweed and black-panel touch and tone is fundamental to its magic.
Like the Harvard and the Princeton, the Skylark Special’s engine runs on two 6V6 power tubes and a single 12AX7 in the preamp section. A 12AX7 and 12AT7 drive the reverb and the reverb recovery section, respectively, and a second 12AT7 is assigned to the phase inverter. (The little EZ81 between the two 6V6 power tubes is dedicated to the rectifier). Apart from the power tubes and the 12AX7 in the preamp, however, the Skylark Special deviates from Harvard and Princeton reverb templates in many important ways. Instead of a 10" Jensen or Oxford, it uses a 50-watt 12" Celestion A-Type ceramic speaker, and it includes midrange and presence controls that a Harvard or Princeton do not. It also features a boost switch that manages to lend body and brawn without obliterating the core tone. There is also, as is Carr’s style, a very useful attenuator that spans zero to 1.2 watts. Alas, there is no tremolo.
“I’d wager the Skylark Special will be around every bit as long as a tweed Harvard when most of your printed-circuit amps have shoved off for the recycler.”
It goes without saying, perhaps, that the North Carolina-built Skylark Special is made to standards of craft that befit its $3K-plus price. Even still, Carr upgraded nine of the coupling capacitors to U.S.-made Jupiters. They also managed to shave six pounds from the Baltic birch cabinet weight—reducing total weight to 35 pounds and, in Steve Carr’s estimation, improving resonance. Say what you will about the high price, but I’d wager the Skylark Special will be around every bit as long as a tweed Harvard when most of your printed-circuit amps have shoved off for the recycler.
Sweet Soulful Bird
Fundamentally, the Skylark Special launches from a Fender space. But this is a very refined Fender space. The bass is rich, deep, and massive in ways you won’t encounter in many 12-watt combos, and the warm contours at the tone’s edges lend ballast and attitude to both clean tones and the ultra-smooth distorted ones at the volume’s higher reaches. All of these sounds dovetail with the clear top end you imagine when you close your eyes and picture quintessential black-panel Fender-ness. The presence and midrange controls, along with the 50-watt speaker, lend a lot in terms of scalpel-sharp tone shaping—providing a dimension beyond classical Fender-ness—especially when you bump the midrange and turn up your guitar volume.
The tube rectifier, meanwhile, shifts the Skylark Special’s touch dynamics from the super-immediate reactivity of a solid-state rectifier to a softer, more-compressed, more sunset-hued kind of tactile sensitivity. But don’t let that lead you to worry about the amp’s more explosive capabilities. There is more than enough high-midrange and treble to make the Skylark Special go bang.
Anglo and Attenuated Alter Egos
The Hiwatt-inspired setting is still dynamic, but it’s a little tighter than the Fullerton-voiced setting. There’s air and mass enough for power jangling or weighty leads. The differences in the Bel-Ray’s tube selection (EL84 power tubes as well as an EF86 in the preamp) means the Skylark Special’s version of the Hiwatt-style voice is—like the amp in general—warm and round in the low-mid zone and softer around the edges, where the Bel-Ray version has more high-end ceiling and less mellow glow in the bass. It definitely gives the Skylark Special a transatlantic reach that enhances its vocabulary and utility.
Attenuated settings are not just practical for suiting the amps to circumstances and size of space you’re in; they also offer an extra range of colors. The maximum 1.2 watt attenuated setting still churns up thick, filthy overdrive that rings with harmonics.
The Skylark Special’s richness and variation means you’ll spend a lot of time with guitar and amp alone. Anything more often feels like an intrusion. But the Skylark Special is a friend to effects. Strength in the low-end and speaker means it humors the gnarliest fuzzes with grace. And with as many shades of clean-to-just-dirty tones as there are here, the personalities of gain devices and other effects shine.
The Verdict
Skylark Special. It’s fun to say—in a hep-cat kind of way. The name is très cool, but the amp itself sounds fabulous, creating a sort of dream union of the Princeton’s and Harvard’s low-volume character, a black-panel Deluxe’s more stage-suited loudness and mass, and a zingier, more focused English cousin. It can be sweet, subdued, surfy, rowdy, and massive. And it works happily with pedals—most notably with fuzzes that can make lesser low-mid-wattage amps cough up hairballs. The price tag smarts. But this is a 12-watt combo that goes, sonically speaking, where few such amps will, and represents a first-class specimen of design and craft.
A pair of Fender amps and a custom-built Baranik helped the Boston band’s guitarist come back from a broken arm.
When Brandon Hagen broke his arm a few years ago, his life changed in an instant. He’d been fronting Boston indie rock outfit Vundabar since 2013, and suddenly, he was unable to do the things he’d built his life around. Recovery came, in part, in the form of a custom guitar prototype built by Mike Baranik of Baranik Guitars. Hagen deconstructed and rehabilitated his relationship to the 6-string on that instrument, an experience that led to Vundabar’s sixth LP, Surgery and Pleasure, released on March 7.
On tour supporting the record, the band appeared at Grimey’s in Nashville for a performance on March 11, and PG’s Chris Kies caught up with Hagen to hear about his journey and learn what tools the guitarist has brought on the road. As Hagen tells it, his setup is less about expertise and received wisdom, and more about “intuitive baby mode”—going with what feels and sounds good in the moment.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
An A1 B4
Hagen’s No. 1 is this Baranik B4, a custom job that he received two days before leaving for tour. Hagen’s arm was broken when Vundabar was playing a festival in California a couple years ago, and Baranik, a fan of the band, stopped in to see them. He offered to send a custom prototype to Hagen—who was new to the field of boutique guitars—and the B4 was born, borrowing from the Baranik B3 design used for Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson and the Hofner 176 played by Jamie Hince of the Kills. The guitar helped Hagen fall back in love with guitar as his arm healed.
Hagen was searching for Strat-style clarity and jangle but with a hotter sound, so Baranik put in Lindy Fralin P-90s in the neck and bridge positions, plus a sliding, unpotted gold-foil pickup in the middle, wound by Baranik himself. A wheel control on the lower bout beside the traditional pickup selector switch lets Hagen blend the pickup signals without outright switching them on or off. Along with traditional master volume and tone controls, the red button beside the bridge activates a Klon clone pedal built into the back of the guitar. Hagen used a Klon on every track on the new Vundabar record, so it made sense to have one at his fingertips, letting him step away from the pedalboard and still create dramatic dynamic differences.
Hagen uses Ernie Ball Slinky strings (.011s), a step up from the .10s he used to use; he was chasing some more low end and low mids in his sound. His guitars stay in standard tuning.
Jazz From Japan
Hagen also loves this 2009 Japan-made Fender Jazzmaster ’62 Reissue JM66, which splits the difference between classic Fender chime and a darker, heavier tone.
Blending Fenders
Hagen’s signal gets sent to both a Fender Hot Rod Deville and a Blues Junior. He likes to crank the Junior’s single 12" speaker for a nastier midrange.
Brandon Hagen's Board
Hagen runs from his guitar into a JHS Colour Box, which adds a bit of dirt and can be used to attenuate high or low frequencies depending on which room Vundabar is playing. From there, the signal hits a Keeley Compressor, EHX 2020 Tuner, EHX Pitch Fork, EHX Micro POG (which is always on with subtle octaves up and down to beef things up), Boss Blues Driver, Way Huge Swollen Pickle, MXR Carbon Copy (which is also always on), and a Boss DD-7—Hagen loves the sound of stacked delays.
Price unveiled her new band and her new signature model at a recent performance at the Gibson Garage in Nashville.
The Grammy-nominated alt-country and Americana singer, songwriter, and bandleader tells the story behind the creation of her new guitar and talks about the role acoustic Gibson workhorses have played in her musical history—and why she loves red-tailed hawks.
The Gibson J-45 is a classic 6-string workhorse and a favorite accomplice of singer-songwriters from Bob Dylan to Jorma Kaukonen to James Taylor to Gillian Welch to Lucinda Williams to Bruce Springsteen to Noel Gallagher. Last week, alt-country and Americana artist Margo Price permanently emblazoned her name on that roster with the unveiling of her signature-model J-45. With an alluring heritage cherry sunburst finish and a red-tail-hawk-motif double pickguard, the instrument might look more like a show pony, but under the hard-touring and hard-playing Price’s hands, it is 100-percent working animal.
The 6-string was inspired by the J-45 she bought at Nashville’s Carter Vintage Guitars after she was signed to Third Man Records, where she made her 2016 ice-breaker album, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter. But her affection for Gibson acoustics predates that, going back to when she found a 1956 LG-3 in her grandmother’s home. The guitar had been abandoned there by her songwriter great uncle, Bobby Fischer.
“I played it for years before I found my J-45,” Price recounts. “At Carter Vintage, I tried a lot of guitars, but when I picked up that J-45, I loved that it was a smaller guitar but really cut through, and I was just really drawn to the sound of it. And so I went home with that guitar and I’ve been playing it ever since.”
“Having a signature model was something I had dreamed about.”
Of course, Price was also aware of the model’s history, but her demands for a guitar were rooted in the present—the requirements of the studio and road. The 1965 J-45 she acquired at Carter Vintage, which is also a cherry ’burst, was especially appealing “compared to a Martin D-21 or some of the other things that I was picking up. I have pretty small hands, and it just was so playable all up the neck. It was something that I could easily play barre chords on. I could immediately get everything that I needed out of it.”
If you’ve seen Price on TV, including stops at Saturday Night Live, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, you’ve seen her ’65. And you’ve also seen, over the years, that part of the soundhole’s top has been scraped away by her aggressive strumming. It’s experienced worse wear from an airline, though. After one unfortunate flight, Price found her guitar practically in splinters inside a badly crushed case. “It was like somebody would have had to drive over this case with a truck,” she relates. Luckily, Dave Johnson from Nashville’s Scale Model Guitars was able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
After that, an alternative guitar for the road seemed like a requirement. “Having a signature model was something I had dreamed about,” Price says. Friends in her songwriting circle, including Lukas Nelson and Nathaniel Rateliff, already had them. Four years ago, a tweet asking which women they thought should have signature models appeared, and one of her fans wrote “Margo Price.” Smartly, Price tagged Gibson and retweeted. Codey Allen in Gibson entertainment relations spotted the tweet and agreed.
The double pickguard was chosen for Price’s J-45 because of its symmetry, as a nod to the Hummingbird, and due to her heavy strumming hand.
Photo courtesy of Gibson
“The neck is not quite as small as my J-45, but it is just a bit smaller than many J-45s fives, and very playable no matter what size hands you have.”
“And so we began our journey of building this guitar,” Price says. “I debated whether it should be the LG-3, which I still have hanging on my wall, or the J-45. I went to Montana and visited their [acoustic] factory and sat down with Robi Johns [senior product development manager at Gibson acoustic], and we ultimately decided that the J-45 was my guitar. Then we started talking about the specs. We did pull from the LG-3 in that the body of this signature guitar is a bit smaller. It still has a really loud, clear sound that rings through. The neck is not quite as small as my 1965 J-45, but it is just a bit smaller than many J-45s, and very playable no matter what size hands that you have.”
The pickup that Price selected is a L.R. Baggs VTC Element with a preamp, and she took a prototype of the guitar on the road opening for the Tedeschi Trucks Band. “I am used to playing with a really loud band, with drums and sometimes a couple electric guitars, and I wanted to make sure that this guitar just cut through,” she says. “It was really important to me that it be loud, and it cut beautifully. It’s got a mahogany body and scalloped bracing, which makes it very sturdy. This guitar is a workhorse, just like me.”
The Margo Price J-45’s most arresting characteristic, in addition to its warm sunburst finish, is its double-sided pickguard with an etching of a quartet of red-tailed hawks in flight. It’s practical for her strumming style, but it’s also got a deeper significance.
“We talked about all sorts of things that we could put on the pickguard, and I’ve always been a big fan of the Hummingbird, so what we did is a bit of a nod to that,” Price continues. “I’ve always been drawn to red-tailed hawks. They are supposed to be divine messengers, and they have such strength. They symbolize vision and protection. I would always count them along the highway as I’d be driving home to see my family in Illinois.”
Birds of a feather: “I’ve always been drawn to red-tailed hawks,” says Price. “They are supposed to be divine messengers, and they have such strength. They symbolize vision and protection.”
Photo courtesy of Gibson
With its comfortable neck, slightly thinner body, and serious projection, Price notes, “I wanted my guitar to be something that young girls can pick up and feel comfortable in their hands and inspire songs, but I didn’t want it to be so small that it felt like a toy, and that it didn’t have the volume. This guitar has all of those things.” To get her heavy sound, Price uses D’Addario Phosphor Bronze (.012–.053) strings.
Price says she and her signature J-45, which is street priced at $3,999, have been in the studio a lot lately, “and I have a whole bunch of things I’m excited about.” In mid March, she debuted her new band—which includes Logan Ledger and Sean Thompson on guitars, bassist Alec Newman, Libby Weitnauer on fiddle, and Chris Gelb on drums—in a coming out party for the Margo Price Signature Gibson J-45 at the Gibson Garage in Nashville. “I’ve been with my previous band, the Price Tags, for more than 10 years, and it’s definitely emotional when a band reaches the end of its life cycle,” she says. “But it’s also really exciting, because now, having a fiddle in the band and incredible harmony singers … it’s a completely different vibe. I’ve got a whole bunch of festivals coming up this year. We’re playing Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and I’m so excited for everyone to hear this new iteration of what we’re doing.”
With its heritage cherry sunburst finish and other appointments, the Margo Price Signature Gibson J-45 balances classic and modern guitar design.
Photo courtesy of Gibson
Get premium spring reverb tones in a compact and practical format with the Carl Martin HeadRoom Mini. Featuring two independent reverb channels, mono and stereo I/O, and durable metal construction, this pedal is perfect for musicians on the go.
The Carl Martin HeadRoom Mini is a digital emulation of the beloved HeadRoom spring reverb pedal, offering the same warm, natural tone—plus a little extra—in a more compact and practical format. It delivers everything from subtle room ambiance to deep, cathedral-like reverberation, making it a versatile addition to any setup.
With two independent reverb channels, each featuring dedicated tone and level controls, you can easily switch between two different reverb settings - for example, rhythm and lead. The two footswitches allow seamless toggling between channels or full bypass.
Unlike the original HeadRoom, the Mini also includes both mono and stereo inputs and outputs, providing greater flexibility for stereo rigs. Built to withstand the rigors of live performance, it features a durable metal enclosure, buffered bypass for signal integrity, and a remote jack for external channel switching.
Key features
- Two independent reverb channels with individual tone and level controls
- Mono and stereo I/O for versatile routing options
- Buffered bypass ensures a strong, clear signal
- Rugged metal construction for durability
- Remote jack for external channel switching
- Compact and pedalboard-friendly design
HeadRoom Mini brings premium spring reverb tones in a flexible and space-savingformat—perfect for any musician looking for high-quality, studio-grade reverb on the go.
You can purchase HeadRoom Mini for $279 directly from carlmartin.com and, of course, also from leading music retailers worldwide.
For more information, please visit carlmartin.com.