A composer’s 11-axe orchestra sets Nels Cline, Liberty Ellman, and other top improvisers free to conjure a prismatic universe of sound on a unique new album, Turning Towards the Light.
Some guitarists are loners. They prefer to play solo or to be their band’s only guitarist—and that’s cool. But not all guitarists think that way. Some need a partner in crime and prefer playing in a two-guitar band. Some guitarists want even more, and their bands boast three guitars. Think Lynyrd Skynyrd. And sometimes—like at celebrity jams and tributes—even more guitarists crowd the stage.
But how about 11?
Noted composer, percussionist, and world music pioneer Adam Rudolph thinks that’s okay. His Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra, an all-guitar offshoot of his innovative Go: Organic Orchestra is an ensemble comprising only guitars—11, actually. And it’s not just any guitarists. Rudolph’s ensemble features the cream of New York’s avant-garde and includes Rez Abbasi, Nels Cline, Liberty Ellman, David Gilmore, Miles Okazaki, Marvin Sewell, Damon Banks, Marco Cappelli, Jerome Harris, Joel Harrison, and Kenny Wessel.
Rudolph, a Chicago native, made his name playing percussion with musicians like trumpeter Don Cherry and saxophonist Fred Anderson. A student of world music, he traveled the globe and immersed himself in local styles and cultures. “It was more than studying,” Rudolph says about his year in Ghana in West Africa. “It was going around to a lot of different ceremonies and being around the whole life that gave root to the music. That was really what was so interesting for me.” In 1988, he began a long association with multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef, which lasted until Lateef’s death in 2013. Rudolph has worked with myriad other artists as well. His projects and collaborations include duets, small groups, and large ensembles with an impressive roster of A-list musicians, and span everything from free improvisation to through-composed works.
Rudolph started the first incarnation of his orchestra in 2001. “I started the Go: Organic Orchestra because of my great good fortune to be mentored by and to learn from the great masters. I learned about creative attitude and this idea of process. If you can think of your own creative process—how to go about things—you can come up with your own music. That’s what I learned from my mentors, and that is what I try to share now. Since 2000, I felt it was my turn to be sharing with as many musicians as possible.”
The Go: Organic concept employs Rudolph’s ideas about polyrhythm, rhythmic cycles, harmony, and sonic language in a large improvisatory ensemble. The orchestra exists in various line-ups and includes regular East and West Coast working groups, a string ensemble, and, starting in 2014, the all-guitar orchestra. “These 11 guitarists are really different players from each other,” he says. “They all have their own voice, their own sound, their own approach. I want their inner voices to shine through and to challenge them in some way to reach beyond themselves.” The Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra recently released Turning Towards the Light, which was recorded on the winter solstice in 2014. The ensemble toured the East Coast last fall and was featured in New York City at the Stone in late May as part of Rudolph’s weeklong residency there.
What does the Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra sound like? Probably not how you’d expect. Although the music is rhythmically complex, the lack of percussion takes off some of the edge. Imagine a more sophisticated version of Discipline-era King Crimson—simple ostinato figures, contrapuntal responses, and a mellow, bubbling vibe percolating within the polyrhythmic mush. The tonal tapestry is rich as well and often very un-guitar-like. For example, a few of the guitarists use heavy, saturated tones tempered with volume swells, which resemble violin. That unique timbre contributes to an overall ensemble sound that gives off a simultaneously traditional yet futuristic vibe.
We spoke with Rudolph about the magic of working with guitarists, his unique insights into the universal nature of music, and the raw power of overseeing a project that features over 100 effects pedals. We also talked with Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra participants Nels Cline and Damon Banks to get an insider’s look at playing in such a unique setting. (See sidebars.)
Describe the genesis of the Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra.
Well, just to give a little background about the Go: Organic Orchestra in general, I’ve always been very interested in process. I developed a process of putting the music together with the Go: Organic Orchestra that is it’s own prototype. The way the process works—the relationship between the performers, the score elements, and my own conducting technique—can be adapted to any kind of ensemble. I have two guitarists who are in my New York-based Go: Organic Orchestra, but a lot of other guitarists in the area expressed interest. I thought it would be so interesting to have an all-guitar orchestra because, first of all, guitarists can handle a lot of the rhythms I use in my music. I use a concept of rhythm I call “Ostinatos of Circularity,” and I felt they could adapt to that well because of the nature of guitar. I also felt that—with the kinds of foot pedals and processing that so many guitar players now are adept at—we could really have a huge, fascinating, and prototypical sounding orchestral palette. And thirdly, a lot of the interval material that I use in the orchestra would be interesting for guitar players to interpret both melodically and harmonically.
Once the idea came to mind it seemed inevitable. When I put the call out to the guitarists that I knew, I was really impressed that everybody responded positively and with a lot of excitement about it. As you can tell, they are all outstanding, amazing guitarists in their own right, and most of them are composers and bandleaders themselves. When we did the first concert, I wasn’t sure how it was going to work out, but I think it exceeded everybody’s expectations. So we thought, “Let’s move to the next stage,” which is to do more concerts and to make a recording.”
—Adam Rudolph
What are some specifics you kept in mind when composing exclusively for guitar?
Actually, I didn’t do anything in terms of composing for the guitars. We used the exact same score materials that I use for my Go: Organic Orchestra. I have nine or 10 of what I call “Interval Matrices” and “Cosmograms.” These allow the musicians to interpret these interval matrices looking at them forwards, backwards, down, up—and find different kinds of material inside of them. The second part of the score is a page of 10 Ostinatos of Circularity, which are rhythmic and harmonic patterns that can be combined in different ways. And then there is a series of 10—I guess I can call them bass lines—that are further ostinatos. All of these elements are modular and can be combined in different ways. I cue some aspects of the material, and when I hear something coming back at me that causes me to respond, I conduct further. There is this spontaneous dialogue going on.
What is an Ostinato of Circularity? Is it like a loop—something with repeat signs on each end?
That’s right. It’s a kind of loop, and it is based upon my concept of rhythm that I call “Cyclic Verticalism.” I create what I call “Signal Rhythms.” If you are thinking horizontally, like a tala in Indian music or 2+3 in Middle Eastern music … tin tin na, din na, din na—that’s seven. 3+2+2. But I also combine what I learned in my studies of polyrhythms, combining units of 2 against units of 3. Odd and even. So, for example, some of these ostinatos of circularity are in a 21-beat cycle, which is three sevens against seven triplets.
Here’s the thing: It sounds complex, perhaps, but it is actually not complex. We over complexify how we think about music all the time. Think about it this way: The most complex chord changes that a lot of guitar players are used to playing are really only six intervals. That’s simple. Six intervals. With rhythm, you can create all kinds of complex rhythms and there is an infinite variety of rhythms based upon language and dance and mathematics that are played in all kinds of cultures around the world, but when you look at it in simple mathematical terms, everything is either a unit of even or odd: 2 or 3.
You can take that a step further in the sense that the fundamental polyrhythm in the universe is 3 against 2. If I played 3 against 2 with my hands fast enough, you would hear the overtone—the third overtone, the second harmonic, which is the fifth. And the fifth is that element that opens up the circle of fifths.
YouTube It
During their 2015 East Coast tour, Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra formed a semi-circle around their conductor, much as they did in the studio when they recorded his compositions. The tour included this appearance at Philadelphia’s Fringe Arts on November 22. Unlike Glenn Branca’s all-guitar compositions, Rudolph’s works pivot on a softer and more diverse tonal palette.
Live, the Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra sets up as they do in the studio: seated in a semicircle, amps behind them, eyes on the score and Rudolph. Photo by Scott Friedlander
You hear the harmonic in the polyrhythm?
Yeah. If something beating in 3 is beating against something beating in 2 fast enough, you would hear a fifth. That’s what you are hearing when you hear a fifth, vibration wise.
Right. In the harmonic series, the frequency ratio of the fifth is usually written as 3:2.
The ratio of the fifth is 3 against 2. Listen—the most simple way of thinking about things is just vibration. My voice coming to you, the chair you are sitting on, ourselves, our bodies—it’s all things vibrating at various rates, all the way out into the cosmos. We know that. That is part of what makes music an amazing invisible alchemy: We are actually creating something in the realm of that which we are. It’s vibration. This is not just an abstract thought. This is the universal. And the universal of vibration manifests itself for us as musicians in two ways: what we call sound or color—timbre/harmony, the overtones—and how we perceive music, which is rhythm.
The Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra is mostly electric guitars, but also includes an acoustic guitar, bass, and a few other guitar-like instruments. Did you have specific aesthetic considerations?
One of the great things about the Go: Organic Orchestra is that it doesn’t matter what the instrumentation is. It is about the individuals. Every individual is unique and has a voice and something to share. My idea is to create a context for that. When I put the call out, I was looking for guitarists who would be interested, challenged, and delighted to be involved in this. Jerome Harris and Damon Banks both play electric bass. Jerome doubles on guitar and they’ve both played in my Go: Organic Orchestra and in my Moving Pictures group at different times, so they are familiar with my concept. Marco Cappelli is playing acoustic guitar, though I have to say he is playing a processed acoustic guitar that he runs through all kinds of loops and processing. He’s been working in my Go: Organic Orchestra since 2005 in New York, and he and I have made a duet record. But with everybody, what kind of guitars they brought was whatever they wanted. Nels Cline has his guitar going through this Korg Kaoss Pad. I think Kenny Wessel counted up the number of pedals at one of our recent concerts in Philadelphia and said there were over 121 on stage. One of the things I told them when we started was, “You don’t necessarily have to sound like a guitar or think like a guitarist. Think like a string section or like an electronic musician or like a synthesizer. All the things that maybe nobody else wants you to do, I want you to do that here. Think orchestrally.”
Rudolph encouraged his guitarists to bring their pedals to help create an orchestral palette that reaches beyond the traditional sounds of the instrument. Photo by Scott Friedlander
So you gave them free rein to use whatever pedals they wanted.
Oh yeah. Like I said, the philosophy of the music is about the individual. Respecting the individuals and their uniqueness in what they bring. I just asked them to become familiar with the materials and to come prepared. It’s like if I called off “I Got Rhythm” changes or a blues and you’ve never played them before, it’s going to be tough. But if you are familiar with it, then it becomes part of your language. All I asked them was, “Come prepared, but feel free, think orchestrally, and think beyond guitar.” And that’s it.
I have to say, we did a tour of the East Coast last fall, and it seems like they were so delighted and thrilled. There was a lot of tech talk between them. Maybe they don’t get to be in the same band and hang out together a lot, because they are all doing different things, but it was big fun for all of them. And for us to make a sound, an orchestra—this is like a 21st-century future-sounding orchestra. That’s what we are looking for.
How did you keep everybody’s levels balanced?
I was concerned about that, and at the first gig we joked about it. I said, “What if I want you guys to be all the way down? How can I get you down to no amplifier sound at all?” And they said, “You’ve got to get all the way down on your knees.” While I was conducting, I was bending my knees down so much that my legs were hurting. [Laughs.] But that’s a joke. These musicians are so sensitive and so musical that it’s never been a problem with the dynamics. They follow the dynamics. Like I said, “You have to think orchestrally.” Dynamics are a very important part of music. The expressiveness of what music is is dynamics. They understood like everybody that there is loud, there is soft. There is piano and forte.
The album was recorded live in the studio?
Yes. Everyone was in a semicircle. It is amazing how clean sounding it is with these 100-plus pedals. There was no buzzing, nothing. James Dellatacoma, the engineer—he is one of Bill Laswell’s regular engineers—has to get special credit. He’s a guitar player and he got everything so clean sounding. It is a live record. I did some editing afterwards—picked out the best takes, cut things up a little bit, picked out the best sections, that kind of thing—but it was all live. There was no overdubbing.
Were you shaping tones or fixing sounds in post-production?
No. Everybody’s sound was so processed and complete. I didn’t have to do a lot of processing. James is a phenomenal engineer. We didn’t have baffles. We were set up in a semicircle with each person’s amp right behind him and a mic on the amp. We had a couple of room mics that I don’t think we ended up using a lot. And everybody’s sound was clean and unique.
Will there be another all-guitar album?
We did a tour in the fall and I have an outstanding live recording that we did in New York. I am waiting to stop touring and to be at home and see what might be contained in there. It was a year later and we had played a lot of concerts. The music really evolved and the spirit of how we played live … I am going to start looking at those recordings very soon.
The Usual Unusual: Nels Cline on Performing with 10 Other Guitarists
Cline used a replica Jazzmaster with Seymour Duncan PAFs to keep his instrument’s hum zeroed while recording with 10 other guitarists. Photo by Adam Rudolph
Cutting-edge guitarist Nels Cline (Wilco, Geraldine Fibbers, the Nels Cline Singers, Julius Hemphill, Scott Amendola, and countless others) talked to PG about his experiences with the Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra.
What was it like being in a group with 10 other guitar players?
Well, I can’t say it was the first time I’ve done it. I have done various multiple guitar things in the past, in Los Angeles, in various experimental guises. So I am very down with the idea. I like the idea of multiple guitars. I probably haven’t done something with multiple guitars where the guitarists were all of such insanely high caliber. Beyond that, I definitely hadn’t done the multiple guitar thing with Adam and his Go: Organic methodology, with his matrices and different scales and his cute hand cues and his conducting, which is a completely unique experience and extremely enjoyable to participate in.
Did you think hard about what gear you wanted to bring or did you just show up with the rig you normally use?
Adam said ahead of time that he wanted sounds that were un-guitar-like to be part of this. He was very encouraging that we make sounds that were electronically altered. That fits right into my wheelhouse on certain levels, so I brought my usual stuff. I brought one guitar and my usual pile of pedals—my 16-second digital delay, my Kaoss Pad, some reverb if I wanted it, a Whammy pedal. He was very encouraging that we push beyond the normal sonic pallet of a straight guitar. That said, Miles Okazaki was in the group and he uses not a single pedal. Everybody is different and I think that is also part of what Adam had in mind.
Did everybody use a smaller amp?
Oh yeah. There is not much room and it is not like a Glenn Branca situation. Adam doesn’t want it to be really loud; he just wants it to be full. It definitely helps to have a volume pedal playing this kind of music. Also, it is so quiet at times that not only was it difficult to play with cheap-shit on/off switches—which drive me crazy because they are like, clicking—but Adam is really not into 60-cycle hum. I brought this sort of fake Jazzmaster I play a lot that has Seymour Duncan PAFs, which look like Jazzmaster pickups. It doesn’t have any hum and that worked.
How did you keep things isolated in the studio?
The whole thing was done the way we set up live. How much mixing are you really going to do anyway? It’s just going to be levels. There’s no way we were going to do fixes. It’s all about capturing the performance. There was some editing involved.
Right. Adam said he did some editing in post-production.
If you’re making a record, you’re not necessarily just putting a document out there saying, “Here’s what we did.” You want people to listen to it over and over. I think he ended up focusing on certain areas and wanting them to be more concise, so they could have more impact or give a sense of the different kinds of form.
What made you want to participate in this project?
Well, everything. [Laughs.] Number one: It’s Adam’s thing. He’s got cool ideas and I respect him as an artist. Number two: There are tons of people in the band that I really admire and others that I didn’t know about that I got to admire. I never thought I would play with them because even though I love to play with other guitarists and I have done many recordings with other guitarists—I mean, I can’t fit them all in. So I got to play with some of these guys. And the other thing is that I am always down to try improvised or semi-improvised projects with people. It is one of the beautiful things about where I live here in New York. It’s my life.
Bassist Damon Banks: Anchoring the Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra
“The onus was on me to hold everything together, be the rhythm section, play these bass ostinatos, and keep these bass lines going, which was a great challenge,” says Damon Banks. Photo by Adam Rudolph
Bronx-born bassist and educator Damon Banks, whose credits range from Peter Gabriel to George Benson to DJ Spooky, talks about his unique role in the Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra.
Is this your first experience with Adam or have you played with him in other ensembles?
My history with Adam may go back further than most of the guys in this particular band. I worked with Hassan Hakmoun when he first came out on Real World Records. His first record in America was with Adam Rudolph and Don Cherry, so I’ve known Adam since ’93. We’ve been friends for so long, but we’ve only played together a little bit with other people. My wife, Gwen Laster, she’s a violinist, has been in his Go: Organic Orchestra for about six years. He had other people playing in Go: Organic Orchestra, but didn’t think that electric bass would be the right sound for the instrumentation that he was looking for. And then one day he asked me, “Do you want to play with the Orchestra?” And I was like, “Of course.”
From the beginning, he told everyone, “I am inviting you to be a part of this because I want you to be you. Bring whatever sounds you’re comfortable with. Bring as many pedals as you want. You can bring no pedals. You can bring an acoustic guitar. You can bring a jazz box—whatever you want to do, just be yourself and I will conduct it.” From that first gig at the ShapeShifter Lab, we were like, “Wow. This is really powerful.”
It was interesting because there are no drums. As a bass player the onus was on me to hold everything together, be the rhythm section, play these bass ostinatos, and keep these bass lines going, which was a great challenge. It’s helped my playing immensely and it’s definitely opened me up. It’s built a lot of confidence in being able to be the primary rhythm instrument in any ensemble. I’ve done it before, but not with these guys.
Did you bring pedals as well?
Yeah, I brought a little spice rack—adobo, garlic, pepper, and paprika—a little stuff here and there. But I also felt that it was important to not be too processed so that the bass lines could be there and stand on their own—to not be too washed out or too effected so that it would give the other guys something to lean on and give them something a little more stable. I don’t usually have a whole lot of pedals, but the pedals that I use I love a little bit too much. I have to figure out how to have a little restraint so I can play a role that is more functional and works better for what we are trying to do. Sometimes that is just trying to have a solid, fat sound.
Did you record with an amp or go direct?
We were at Bill Laswell’s studio and Bill is a bass player. I used the amp he uses, which is that old B-15 Ampeg. We treated it just like playing a regular gig. We set up in the room and had a bunch of directional mics and were very close together. Even though there was a certain amount of bleeding, it was only slight.
How did playing with so many guitar players differ from a more conventional ensemble with an assortment of instruments?
Typically you would be skeptical of something like that. Even if you thought that these guys are talented, maybe they would be competitive, have ego issues, or try to one-up each other. But that is the beauty of Adam and his energy. He attracts a lot of generosity around him. He chose some of the most creative and baddest guitarists I’ve ever known, who also happen to be very generous and leaders themselves. They know the importance of being a part of something—the sum of the parts being greater than the individual. There was a lot of sharing, generosity, and deferring for the good of what we were trying to do—and they got that right away. If it was immature guys—guys who had to prove something—it wouldn’t have been as musical as it was.
Vox’s Valvenergy Tone Sculptor
Two new pedals from the Valvenergy series use a Nutube valve to generate unique dynamics and tone ranges that can be used to radical ends.
When tracking in a studio or DAW, you’re likely to use compression and EQ on most things. Many enduringly amazing and powerful records were made using little else. And though many musicians regard both effects as a bit unglamorous and utilitarian, EQs and comps are as capable of radical sounds as more overtly “weird” effects—particularly when they are used in tandem.
I spent a day workshopping ideas in my studio using just the Vox Valvenergy Smooth Impact compressor and Tone Sculptor EQ, and a dash of amp tremolo and reverb to taste. In the process, I produced more arresting sounds than I had heard from my guitars in many days. There were radical direct-to-desk-style Jimmy Page/Beatles distortion tones, sun-sized, cosmic electric 12-string, Bakersfield twang that could burn through crude, and many other sweet and nasty colors. Most decent EQ and compressor combinations can achieve variations on all those themes. But the Smooth Impact and Tone Sculptor also reveal interesting personalities in unexpected places.
The individuality and energy in the Vox Valvenergy pedals is attributable, in part, to the Nutube vacuum tube used in the circuit. Though it looks little like a vacuum tube as most guitarists know them, the thin, wafer-like Nutube is, in fact, a real vacuum tube like those used in fluorescent displays. Fluorescent display tubes have limitations. A maximum operating voltage of around 40 volts means they aren’t useful for bigger power tube applications like a 6L6, which has an operating voltage of about 400 volts. But it can work quite well as a preamp tube in concert with an op amp power section, which is how the Nutube is used in the new Valvenergy pedals, as well as older Vox products like the Vox MV50 and Superbeetle amps.
Valvenergy Tone Sculptor
When you think about “cinematic” effects, you likely imagine big reverb or modulation sounds that create a vivid picture and feeling of space or motion. But narrow, hyper-focused EQ profiles can evoke very different and equally powerful images. Radical EQ settings can add aggression, claustrophobic intimacy, and stark, explosive dark-and-light contrasts more evocative of Hitchcock’s Psycho than Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner.
Any of these moods can be summoned from the Valvenergy Tone Sculptor. Six sliders cut or boost 10 dB frequency bands spanning 100 Hz to 5.6 kHz. A seventh slider cuts or boosts the master output by 12 dB. This platter of options might not sound like much. But you can use these seven controls together to very specific ends.
“Radical EQ settings can add aggression, near-claustrophobic intimacy, and stark, explosive dark-and-light contrasts.”
For example, bumping the high-midrange and the master output produces narrow cocked-wah-like filter sounds with enough push to produce extra amp overdrive—effectively turning the Tone Sculptor into a buzzy, almost fuzz-like filter effect. But unlike a wah, you can carefully scoop high end or add a spoonful of bass to blunt harsh frequencies or give the tone a bit more weight. You can also broaden the palette of an amp/guitar pairing. I matched a particularly trebly Jazzmaster bridge pickup with a very hot and toppy Vox AC15-flavored amp for this test—a recipe that can be spiky on the best days. But with the Tone Sculptor in the line, I could utilize the same sharp, fuzzy, and filtered Mick Ronson wah tones while shaving some of the most piercing frequencies.
EQ pedals exist on many points along the cost spectrum. And at $219, the Tone Sculptor lives on the high side of the affordable range. Does it offer something less expensive models can’t deliver? Well, for one thing, I found it relatively quiet, which is nice whether you’re shaping toppy high-contrast effects or performing more surgical adjustments. And the sliders feel nuanced and nicely tapered rather than like a dull axe with a few basic frequency notches. But in many situations I also liked the color imparted by the circuit—generated, presumably, by the Nutube. “Color,” in audio terms, is a broad and subjective thing, and one should not necessarily expect the warm, tube-y glow of a vintage tube Pultec. Still, the Tone Sculptor has many forgiving, flattering qualities—typical of studio EQs—that enable fine tuning and experimentation with more radical and creative applications of the effect.
Valvenergy Smooth Impact
As with the Tone Sculptor, the Smooth Impact’s use of Nutube engenders certain expectations. It’s easy to surmise that because Smooth Impact has a vacuum tube in the circuit that it will behave like a little Teletronix LA-2A leveling amplifier. That’s a big ask for a $219 stompbox. On the other hand, the Smooth Impact exhibits some appealing characteristics of studio tube compression. At lower compression levels, it works well as a thickening agent—adding mass without much additional noise. And at higher compression levels it can sound snappy, crisp, and tight without feeling like you’ve bled every trace of overtone from your signal.
The Smooth Impact’s controls aren’t totally atypical. But because it lacks some familiar features like variable attack and release, yet is more complicated than a 1-knob DynaComp, you have to trust your ear to navigate interactions among the controls. The most unfamiliar of these is the 3-way vintage/natural/sag toggle. The first two are defined by preset attack and release settings: Vintage is slow attack and long release, and natural is the opposite. The sag mode’s compression is more like what you get from tube saturation, and it’s useful for adding thickness and complexity to a thin amp tone at modest compression levels.
Though the vintage and natural modes certainly have a different feel, they don’t always sound worlds apart. And like the sag mode, the thing they have in common is the way they enrich lifeless amp output at low to medium compression, with a bit of grind from the tube gain and a little extra makeup gain from the output. At the most aggressive settings, the tube gain can get a little crispy. And really crushing the compression can flatline your tone without adding much in the way of extra sustain. These are limitations common to many compressors with similar features. But unless I was chasing very ultra-snappy Prince and Nile Rodgers fast-funk caricatures, I enjoyed the Smooth Impact most in its in-between ranges, where mass, mild, harmonious drive, and low noise showcase the pedal’s sometimes studio-like personality.
Alongside Nicolas Jaar’s electronics, Harrington creates epic sagas of sound with a team of fine-tuned pedalboards.
Guitarist Dave Harrington concedes that while there are a few mile markers in the music that he and musician Nicolas Jaar create as Darkside, improvisation has been the rule from day one. The experimental electronic trio’s latest record, Nothing, which released in February on Matador, was the first to feature new percussionist Tlacael Esparza.
Taking the record on tour this year, Darkside stopped in at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl, where Harrington broke down his complex signal chains for PG’s Chris Kies.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Express Yourself
Harrington bought this mid-2000s Gibson SG at 30th Street Guitars in New York, a shop he used to visit as a kid. The headstock had already been broken and repaired, and Harrington switched the neck pickup to a Seymour Duncan model used by Derek Trucks. Harrington runs it with D’Addario NYXL .010s, which he prefers for their stretch and stability.
The standout feature is a round knob installed by his tech behind the bridge, which operates like an expression pedal for the Line 6 DL4. Harrington has extras on hand in case one breaks.
Triple Threat
Harrington’s backline setup in Nashville included two Fender Twin Reverbs and one Fender Hot Rod DeVille. He likes the reissue Fender amps for their reliability and clean headroom. Each amp handles an individual signal, including loops that Harrington creates and plays over; with each amp handling just one signal rather than one handling all loops and live playing, there’s less loss of definition and competition for frequency space.
Dave Harrington’s Pedalboards
Harrington says he never gives up on a pedal, which could explain why he’s got so many. You’re going to have to tune in to the full Rundown to get the proper scoop on how Harrington conducts his three-section orchestra of stomps, but at his feet, he runs a board with a Chase Bliss Habit, Mu-Tron Micro-Tron IV, Eventide PitchFactor, Eventide H90, Hologram Microcosm, Hologram Chroma Console, Walrus Monument, Chase Bliss Thermae, Chase Bliss Brothers AM, JHS NOTAKLÖN, two HexeFX reVOLVERs, and an Amped Innovations JJJ Special Harmonics Extender. A Strymon Ojai provides power.
At hip-level sits a board with a ZVEX Mastotron, Electro-Harmonix Cathedral, EHX Pitch Fork, Xotic EP Booster, two EHX 45000 multi-track looping recorders, Walrus Slöer, Expedition Electronics 60 Second Deluxe, and another Hologram Microcosm. A Live Wire Solutions ABY Box and MXR DC Brick are among the utility tools on deck.
Under that board rest Harrington’s beloved Line 6 DL4—his desert-island, must-have pedal—along with a controller for the EHX 45000, Boss FV-50H volume pedal, Dunlop expression pedal, Boss RT-20, a Radial ProD2, and another MXR DC Brick.
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.