Maybe because they can significantly improve your sound on the cheap, pedals have become perhaps the single hottest commodity among gearheads. And here at Premier Guitar, the last couple of months have illustrated that more conclusively than ever before: We gave away a pedal every day during our Stompboxtober contest. Our November 2010 "Pedal Issue" included reviews of 30 pedals in five of the most common categories, profiles of five boutique stompbox builders, and a feature on Electro-Harmonix. Still, we were inundated with requests for more pedal action. So we decided to set up online galleries of pedalboards from both readers and pros. The latter gallery quickly went on to become our most popular ever.
In a nutshell, it's clear we're all pedal junkies. But though trying out and collecting stompboxes is the fun part of this addiction, there's one area in which many of us could probably use a primer/refresher course: what exactly is the best way to patch them all together?
Although a few cynics might question the need for a pedalboard—after all, you could just carry all your pedals in a knapsack or your gig bag pouch—most of us agree they're good for a lot more than just transporting pedals. First and foremost, they keep your pedals wired up and plugged in so you can plug in and play instead of having to connect and power each pedal one at a time. This makes a huge difference when you're sandwiched between other acts on a gig and you have to set up and unpack as quickly as possible, or when you're at a recording studio and are continually fighting the clock.
Essentials
If you're not sure which pedals to start with when you're planning out a board that'll meet your needs, guitar tech Scott Appleton (who has worked with guitar gods like Alex Lifeson, Neal Schon, and Slash) has a few suggestions regarding gear that facilitates a versatile tonal palette. "Typically, I'll see a wah-wah, a distortion or overdrive (or two), a chorus, a delay, and sometimes a volume pedal." As for gear that's roadworthy and tone-worthy enough to satisfy a lot of big names, Appleton says, "I see a lot of Tube Screamer-type variations, Dunlop wahs, and delays like the Line 6 DL4, Boss DD-20, and the Eventide TimeFactor. Also the TC Electronic chorus is very common."
That said, there are innumerable worthy options on the market. Appleton says one of the most important things to keep in mind when you're choosing new pedals is that some pedals may sound great on one amp, and poor on the next—it can be a matter of trial and error to find which ones work best.
Order of Effects
Once you've got a bunch of pedals, the next step is to decide what goes where. A typical order of effects is shown above. But there are no hard-and-fast rules: If you like the way a particular "unusual" configuration sounds, then—by all means—go for it.
Analogman Mike Piera (aka AnalogMike), who is considered by many to be a leading authority on effects pedals, offers the following example. "The order of a clean boost and a distortion pedal determines what the clean boost will do. A clean boost into a distortion pedal will add more distortion, because the distortion pedal is already clipping and will clip more when you hit it harder. That's also why a small amp cranked up does not get louder when you hit it with a louder signal—it's already out of headroom, so it can only distort more. A clean boost after a dirt pedal will increase the volume, without adding more distortion."
Planning and Layout
Physically positioning your pedals requires some logistical planning that can be pretty aggravating, depending on the shape of your pedals and the amount of real estate on your pedalboard. But, naturally, where you place things depends on a lot more than where you're able to fit everything on your board. There are practical considerations to be made, too. For instance, if you have two distortions or overdrives (say, for lead and rhythm), you're probably going to have to turn one on and the other off simultaneously with one big stomp across both pedals—unless you have them both plugged into an A/B box. For this reason, it's practical to place the two pedals right next to each other.
John Chandler from pedalboard manufacturer Pedaltrain suggests, "Before even considering a pedalboard size or layout, line all the pedals out in a straight-line signal path and use whatever power source you plan to use on the board. Experiment by trying the various pedals out and seeing how they interact with each other. The goal is to try to get the cleanest signal path with every pedal off, and then on, in the order that sounds good to you." Chandler says to be sure to write down the ideal signal path so it's not lost once you inadvertently move something in the arrangement.
"Next, lay the pedals out in an imaginary pedalboard on the floor or on a tabletop," Chandler continues. "Keep in mind the pedals you will be switching on and off more than others—you'll want to keep tap-tempo pedals close to your feet and spacey weird things you may not use as much further from your toes."
The Pedalboard Landscape
Once you've laid the stompboxes out in an optimal arrangement, you can search for a board that will accommodate that configuration. A good resource for getting a visual sense of how things will fit on a board is pedalboardplanner.com. This useful site features virtual pedals that you can layout on virtual boards—and all for free. Chandler has a useful analog method, too. "Cut a piece of cardboard that will fit everything, and then research which boards have dimensions that may work for your pedal setup."
Boss BCB-30
The Boss BCB-30 is a molded-resin case with a built-in handle and slots for three Boss Compact pedals or similar-sized stompboxes.
If you're not a total pedal junkie but still crave a pedalboard's conveniences, the Boss BCB-30 (Street $39, bossus.com) offers three pre-sized slots for Boss compact pedals (or those with an equally diminutive footprint) and comes in a self-contained, molded-resin case.
Road Runner Pedalboard All-in-1 Gig Bag
The Road Runner Pedalboard All-in-1 Gig Bag measures 21 3/4" x 12" and features zippered utility pockets and a top cover that folds under to act as a nonslip pedalboard bottom.
However, the most common pedalboards consist of a flat surface covered with the "loop" material used in Velcro-style hook-and-loop fastening systems. The most basic examples of this type of pedalboard include the Road Runner Pedalboard All-in-1 Gig Bag (above—Street $39.99, roadrunnercases.com) and Gator GPT Pedal Tote Pedalboard with Carry Bag (below—Street $59.99, gatorcases.com).
Gator GPT Pedal Tote Pedalboard with Carry Bag
The Gator GPT Pedal Tote Pedalboard with Carry Bag measures 16.5" x 12" and features a built-in handle.
SKB PS-45
The SKB PS-45 measures 27" x 15" and features 11 power jacks (eight 9-volt DC and three 120-volt AC) and a hardshell case.
As you move up in price, you get features such as a power supply and effects-loop patch bays. The SKB PS-45 (Street $249, skbcases.com) features eight 9-volt DC jacks, three 120-volt AC plugs for "wall-wart" adapters, and a hardshell case.
Furman SPB-8C
The Furman SPB-8C measures 28.5" x 20.125" and features a hardshell case with wheels and an extendable handle, as well as 12 power outlets (eight 9-volt DC and four 120-volt AC).
While the Furman SPB-8C (Street $349, furmansound.com) includes eight 9-volt DC jacks, four 120-volt AC plugs, a stereo effects loop with amp outputs, and a wheeled hardshell case with an extendable handle.
StageTrix Pedal Riser
The StageTrix Pedal Riser units let you raise stompboxes in the second row of your pedalboard for easier activation, and they also feature a center channel for neater cable routing.
The tricky thing with these types of pedalboards is that, because everything must fit onto one flat surface, it can be hard to keep things tidy and ergonomically practical. This is because the more pedals you use, the more real estate you can lose to unwieldy wires or alternate power supplies. In addition, footswitches on the devices in that row of pedals furthest from your feet can be difficult to activate without hitting the knobs of pedals in the first row. Recently StageTrix addressed this issue with its Pedal Riser (Street $11.99, stagetrixproducts.com), which creates an elevated surface for pedals to create room underneath for wires.
Pedaltrain PT-JR
The Pedaltrain PT-JR measures 17" x 12.5" and features a lightweight metal frame that facilitates neat cable routing and is angled for easier activation of second-row pedals. It's also available with an ATA flight case.
Pedalboard manufacturers aren't unaware of these issues, and many take cable-routing considerations into their designs. Pedaltrain offer pedalboards in various sizes—including the PT-JR (Street $99, prostagegear.com)—and all feature an open-framed, angled construction that facilitates both easier activation of second-row pedals and unobtrusive routing of cables and power supplies.
MKS Professional Stage Products Pedal Pad MPS II Tour Series Boards
The Pedal Pad Pro Series MPS II Tour Series Pedalboard's two-tiered design lets you attach your pedals (with Velcro) to individual metal plates that can be set flat or angled. Its hardshell, carpet-covered case also includes the Power Pad II power supply, which has eight 9-volt DC jacks and one 110-volt AC plug.
MKS Professional Stage Products takes a slightly different tack with its Pedal Pad MPS II Tour Series boards (Street $299.95–$349.95, pedalpad.com), which have a modular, stair-steplike design that uses interchangeable metal panels to let you arrange and fasten pedals in just about any configuration—including flat or angled.
Many pedalboards, including most of those discussed here, come with an option for a gigbag or hardshell case. A hardshell case virtually guarantees pedal safety, and it's the only real option if you're, flying to a gig and need to check your pedalboard as baggage. However, keep in mind that a large board loaded with pedals can rival an amp's weight once you factor in the case itself. If you rely on public transportation to transport your whole rig, then a gigbag is the more practical option.
Attaching the Pedals
Once you choose the right pedalboard you need to make sure your stompboxes stay in place. Otherwise, you risk damaging your precious investments. And for guys who obsess over tone, it's not just pedals that cost a chunk 'o change— it's also the specialized power supplies, patch cords, and cables.
Although Velcro and generic hook-and-loop fasteners have been ubiquitous on pedalboards for a long time now, other solutions are coming on the scene, too. Some players have moved on to 3M's Dual Lock, while products like Godlyke's Power-Grip pedalboard tape (Street $19.95 for one meter, godlyke.com) are made specifically for keeping pedals in place. Each method has its pros and cons, but when you consider them all, which is the best way to keep pedals on a board?
Godlyke's Power-Grip
Godlyke's Power-Grip features multiple rows of mushroom-shaped posts that interlock to create a bond the company says is stronger than other hook-and-loop attachment materials.
"That's a question that I get and wrestle with almost daily," says Pedaltrain's John Chandler. "For years, I have searched for the new holy grail of pedal attachment. I've tried lots of materials and different grades of almost every type of Velcro and Dual Lock adhesive-based methods out there—and some other space-aged things that ultimately led me full circle back to the original hook and loop."
"While Dual Lock and other materials like it tend to hold pedals in place stronger, the ease of use, ease of removal and wide availability of Velcro has made it the preferred method. The adhesives used on most Velcro products are usually not as permanent and, therefore, are easier to remove with minimal residue or damage to a pedal. A lot of folks I've seen over the years have chosen to use Dual Lock and later regretted the decision when it came time to reconfigure their board or sell a pedal. I recommend Dual Lock only when someone knows exactly what pedals they want and the order they want them in—and they don't plan on changing them for a long time. There are very few people I've ever met who are so satisfied with their pedal setup that they will leave it alone for more than six months."
Once you've settled on an attachment mechanism, Chandler has a few basic steps he follows. "As a rule, try to get the bottom as flat as possible—remove rubber feet, pads, etc.—then apply the Velcro to the bare metal or painted surface. Many folks refuse to take the stock rubber pads off the bottom of pedals. For example, Boss pedals all come with that thick rubber pad that folks are reluctant to remove. This will make a huge difference in how well the adhesive works—especially when it's exposed to heat, say, in the hot trunk of a car or trailer. The Velcro's adhesive applied to a rubber pad will have the reverse effect when it gets hot and actually reject its bond."
Once you've applied the adhesive, Chandler says to lay the pedal on the board to see where you can get the most surface-area contact while still having the footswitch accessible.
Pedal Power
With all due respect to Eric Johnson and his views on the tonal differences among battery types, running all your pedals on any kind of battery will cost a fortune over time. Plus, changing batteries in a pedal that's attached to a pedalboard can be a real pain—especially if the compartment is on the bottom of the unit. Some pedalboards come with built-in power supplies that can adequately power most conventional pedals.
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power ISO-5
The Voodoo Lab ISO-5 (reviewed November 2010) features isolated DC outputs for 9-, 12-, and 18-volt devices.
However, not all pedals use DC power, and not all pedalboards come equipped with a power supply. In these cases, an isolated power supply is the solution. Worthy units include the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power ISO-5 (Street $109, voodoolab.com)— which includes four 9-volt, one 12-volt, and one 18-volt outputs—and the Visual Sound 1 SPOT (Street $19.95, visualsound.net), which can power up to twenty 9-volt pedals using an optional daisy-chain cable.
The Visual Sound 1 SPOT (top) can power up to eight pedals from one outlet, and it includes an eight-plug cable (left), two battery-clip converters (middle), an L6 converter for Line 6 modeling pedals (third from right), and two 1/8" converter plugs (far right).
"It's okay to share a few analog pedals with one of the outputs from a good power supply," says AnalogMike, "so you don't really need one output for each pedal. But a digital pedal—such as a tuner or digital delay—should not share power with any other pedals."
Noise and Signal Degradation
Most guitarists would probably not be surprised to hear that, the more pedals you add to your pedalboard, the greater the chances of problems. Even if you have relatively noise-free pedals, the extraneous noise from a bunch of them is going to add up. Sometimes it only takes one very cool—but very unruly—pedal to throw your signal chain into turmoil. And tone-robbing pedals can wreak havoc on your sound even when they're turned off.
One solution you hear bandied about a lot is to use true-bypass pedals. When turned off, a true-bypass pedal sends the signal straight from the input jack to the output jack without any connection to the pedal's circuitry, thus bypassing any tone-damaging properties of the pedal. Pedals that don't use true-bypass circuitry send your signal through a buffered section of the circuit even when the pedal is off—it just doesn't go through the effect section of the circuit.
Radial Engineering BigShot EFX True-Bypass Effects Loop Switcher
The Radial Engineering BigShot EFX True-Bypass Effects Loop Switcher features two footswitchable effects loops, allowing you to remove signal-degrading stompboxes from the path and create a true-bypass signal chain.
But Radial Engineering's Peter Janis says it's not as simple as always selecting true-bypass pedals. "There are pluses and minuses to truebypass, just as there are with buffered signals. The problem with true-bypass setups is that they tend to pop' hen the pedal is activated, and if many pedals are being used, noise can often creep into the system. Buffers are often used as a means to circumvent the problem altogether, but this too has a cost. A Stratocaster connected directly to a Marshall will sound different when the signal is buffered."
Radial Engineering Loopbone
The Radial Engineering Loopbone features class-A circuitry, two footswitchable effects loops, a footswitchable VariBoost function, a pickup-load-correction circuit, Slingshot amp-switching capabilities, and a tuner out.
AnalogMike says, "I prefer true-bypass pedals whenever possible, but if you go through several true-bypass pedals and they're all off, you may lose some high end due to all the cabling. However, if you keep one pedal on, like a delay, that should provide enough buffering. A buffered-bypass pedal that is off will often be a good enough buffer. If you often run all your pedals off, a buffer on your pedalboard would be a good idea."
Cusack Pedal Board Tamer
The Cusack Pedal Board Tamer (reviewed November 2010) offers nine effects loops—three of which may be operated in stereo—and has two guitar inputs that can be switched between truebypass and buffered, a mutable tuner output, three tap-tempo outputs, a Mech Mode mechanical looping mode, a Preset Mode with nine programmable presets, and an All Off switch.
If the sounds you seek aren't always available in true-bypass designs, there are still steps you can take to combat noise and improve sound quality. "First, test with batteries to see if the noise is from the power supply," says AnalogMike, "and also disconnect all other pedals when testing one pedal for noise. To test for noise, you have to set the pedal so that it's at the same volume when it's on as it is when it's off—that is, at unity gain. When you turn it up higher, it will amplify any noise that is already there, making it more apparent. If you turn the guitar all the way down, you can hear what's coming from the pedal. A little bit of white noise is normal when it's set at unity gain. There are a million things that can cause noise, so plug in, open up the pedal, and probe around with a chopstick or something and see if you can locate the cause—like a bad solder joint, a failing switch contact, a jack, a pot, etc."
If you have any pedals that just can't be tamed, another solution is to incorporate a loop controller like the Radial BigShot EFX True- Bypass Effects Loop Switcher (Street $79.95, radialeng.com) or the buffered Radial Loopbone Dual Effects Loop (Street $259.99), or the Cusack Pedal Board Tamer (Street $500, cusackeffects.com) to keep them out of the circuit until needed.
Cables
1: George L's Effects Pedal Cable Kit includes 10' of cable and 10 right-angle plugs for creating patch cables at any length you wish—without any tools. 2: The Planet Waves Cable Station Pedalboard Cable Kit includes 10' of cable, 10 gold-plated right-angle plugs, and a cable cutter. 3: The Lava Mini Pedalboard Cable Kit includes 10' of cable, 10 straight solderless plugs, and a wire stripper. 4: The Core X2 Pedalboard Cable Connector Kit includes 20' of cable, gold-plated plugs (two straight and eight right-angle), a cable cutter, and a hex wrench.
Quality cables are also important. "You'd be shocked at the difference in sound quality if you sat down and A/B'd different cables," says guitar-tech Scott Appleton. "If you use great cables, noise really shouldn't be an issue—provided you have everything wired correctly." Many companies offer low-capacitance pedalboard cable kits that seek to minimize signal loss. George L's Effects Pedal Cable Kit (Street $73.47, georgels.com) includes 10' of cable and 10 solderless, right-angle plugs for tool-free creation of patch cables in custom lengths. Planet Waves Cable Station Pedalboard Cable Kit (Street $47.46, planetwaves.com) includes 10' of cable and 10 gold-plated right-angle plugs, and a cable cutter. The Core X2 Pedalboard Cable Connector Kit (Street $49.95, coreoneproduct.com) includes 20' of shielded cable, two straight and eight right-angle gold-plated plugs, a cable cutter, and a hex wrench for assembly. Another option is the Lava Mini Pedalboard Cable Kit (Street $79.95, lavacable.com), which includes 10' of cable, 10 straight solderless plugs that have a 360-degree ground connection, and a wire stripper.
Fingers Trump Feet
At the end of the day, no matter how deckedout your pedalboard is, the most important part of your tonal equation is your fingers and how they interact with what's in your rig. "A common thing I see is that a lot of players are always trying to chase someone else's sound," says hired-gun Joe Augello (Jennifer Hudson, Robin Thicke, Backstreet Boys). "Getting a Univibe and a Fuzz Face because Jimi Hendrix used them isn't going to make you sound like him. Guys like Jimi and Eddie Van Halen were innovators and always experimented with their gear. They weren't using what everyone else was using at that time. It's important to develop your own voice and set yourself apart from everyone else."
[Updated 7/22/21]
Stevie Van Zandt with “Number One,” the ’80s reissue Stratocaster—with custom paisley pickguard from luthier Dave Petillo—that he’s been playing for the last quarter century or so.
There’s a life-size cameo of a go-go dancer in banana yellow; she’s frozen in mid hip shimmy. One wall displays rock posters and B-movie key art, anchored by a 3D rendering of Cream’s Disraeli Gearsalbum cover that swishes and undulates as you walk past it. Van Zandt’s shelves are stuffed with countless DVDs, from Louis Prima to the J. Geils Band performing on the German TV concert seriesRockpalast. There are three copies ofIggy and the Stooges: Live in Detroit. Videos of the great ’60s-music TV showcases, from Hullabaloo to Dean Martin’s The Hollywood Palace, sit here. Hundreds of books about rock ’n’ roll, from Greil Marcus’s entire output to Nicholas Schaffner’s seminal tome, The Beatles Forever, form a library in the next room.
But I haven’t seen this yet because the elevator is dead, and I am in it. Our trap is tiny, about 5' by 5'. A dolly filled with television production equipment is beside me. There’s a production assistant whom I’ve never met until this morning and another person who’s brand new to me, too, Geoff Sanoff. It turns out that he’s Van Zandt’s engineer—the guy who runs this studio. And as I’ll discover shortly, he’s also one of the several sentinels who watch over Stevie Van Zandt’s guitars.
There’s nothing to do now but wait for the NYFD, so Sanoff and I get acquainted. We discover we’re both from D.C. and know some of the same people in Washington’s music scene. We talk about gear. We talk about this television project. I’m here today assisting an old pal, director Erik Nelson, best known for producing Werner Herzog’s most popular documentaries, like Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Van Zandt has agreed to participate in a television pilot about the British Invasion. After about half an hour, the elevator doors suddenly slide open, and we’re rescued, standing face-to-face with three New York City firefighters.
As our camera team sets up the gear, Sanoff beckons me to a closet off the studio’s control room. I get the sense I am about to get a consolation prize for standing trapped in an elevator for the last 30 minutes. He pulls a guitar case off the shelf—it’s stenciled in paint with the words “Little Steven” on its top—snaps open the latches, and instantly I am face to face with Van Zandt’s well-worn 1957 Stratocaster. Sanoff hands it to me, and I’m suddenly holding what may as well be the thunderbolt of Zeus for an E Street Band fan. My jaw drops when he lets me plug it in so he can get some levels on his board, and the clean, snappy quack of the nearly 70-year-old pickups fills the studio. For decades, Springsteen nuts have enjoyed a legendary 1978 filmed performance of “Rosalita” from Phoenix, Arizona, that now lives on YouTube. This is the Stratocaster Van Zandt had slung over his shoulder that night. It’s the same guitar he wields in the famous No Nukes concert film shot at Madison Square Garden a year later, in 1979. My mind races. The British Invasion is all well and essential. But now I’m thinking about Van Zandt’s relationship with his guitars.
Stevie Van Zandt's Gear
Van Zandt’s guitar concierge Andy Babiuk helped him plunge deeper down the Rickenbacker rabbit hole. Currently, Van Zandt has six Rickenbackers backstage: two 6-strings and four 12-strings.
Guitars
- 1957 Fender Stratocaster (studio only)
- ’80s Fender ’57 Stratocaster reissue “Number One”
- Gretsch Tennessean
- 1955 Gibson Les Paul Custom “Black Beauty” (studio only)
- Rickenbacker Fab Gear 2024 Limited Edition ’60s Style 360 Model (candy apple green)
- Rickenbacker Fab Gear 2023 Limited Edition ’60s Style 360 Model (snowglo)
- Rickenbacker 2018 Limited Edition ’60s Style 360 Fab Gear (jetglo)
- Two Rickenbacker 1993Plus 12-strings (candy apple purple and SVZ blue)
- Rickenbacker 360/12C63 12-string (fireglo)
- Vox Teardrop (owned by Andy Babiuk)
Amps
- Two Vox AC30s
- Two Vox 2x12 cabinets
Effects
- Boss Space Echo
- Boss Tremolo
- Boss Rotary Ensemble
- Durham Electronics Sex Drive
- Durham Electronics Mucho Busto
- Durham Electronics Zia Drive
- Electro-Harmonix Satisfaction
- Ibanez Tube Screamer
- Voodoo Labs Ground Control Pro switcher
Strings and Picks
- D’Addario (.095–.44)
- D’Andrea Heavy
Van Zandt has reached a stage of reflection in his career. Besides the Grammy-nominated HBO film, Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, which came out in 2024, he recently wrote and published his autobiography, Unrequited Infatuations (2021), a rollicking read in which he pulls no punches and makes clear he still strives to do meaningful things in music and life.
His laurels would weigh him down if they were actually wrapped around his neck. In the E Street Band, Van Zandt has participated in arguably the most incredible live group in rock ’n’ roll history. And don’t forget Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes or Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. He created both the Underground Garage and Outlaw Country radio channels on Sirius/XM. He started a music curriculum program called TeachRock that provides no-cost resources and other programs to schools across the country. Then there’s the politics. Via his 1985 record, Sun City, Van Zandt is credited with blasting many of the load-bearing bricks that brought the walls of South African apartheid tumbling into dust. He also acted in arguably the greatest television drama in American history, with his turn as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos.
Puzzlingly, Van Zandt’s autobiography lacks any detail on his relationship with the electric guitar. And Sanoff warns me that Van Zandt is “not a gearhead.” Instead he has an organization in place to keep his guitar life spinning like plates on the end of pointed sticks. Besides Sanoff, there are three others: Ben Newberry has been Van Zandt’s guitar tech since the beginning of 1982. Andy Babiuk, owner of Rochester, New York, guitar shop Fab Gear and author of essential collector reference books Beatles Gear and Rolling Stones Gear (the latter co-authored by Greg Prevost) functions as Van Zandt’s guitar concierge. Lastly, luthier Dave Petillo, based in Asbury Park, New Jersey, oversees all the maintenance and customization on Van Zandt’s axes.
“I took one lesson, and they start to teach you the notes. I don’t care about the notes.” —Stevie Van Zandt
I crawl onto Zoom with Van Zandt for a marathon session and come away from our 90 minutes with the sense that he is a man of dichotomies. Sure, he’s a guitar slinger, but he considers his biggest strengths to be as an arranger, producer, and songwriter. “I don’t feel that being a guitar player is my identity,” he tells me. “For 40 years, ever since I made my first solo record, I just have not felt that I express myself as a guitar player. I still enjoy it when I do it; I’m not ambivalent. When I play a solo, I am in all the way, and I play a solo like I would like to hear if I were in the audience. But the guitar part is really part of the song’s arrangement. And a great solo is a composed solo. Great solos are ones you can sing, like Jimi Hendrix’s solo in ‘All Along the Watchtower.’”
In his autobiography, Van Zandt mentions that his first guitar was an acoustic belonging to his grandfather. “I took one lesson, and they start to teach you the notes. I don’t care about the notes,” Van Zandt tells me. “The teacher said I had natural ability. I’m thinking, if I got natural ability, then what the fuck do I need you for? So I never went back. After that, I got my first electric, an Epiphone. It was about slowing down the records to figure out with my ear what they were doing. It was seeing live bands and standing in front of that guitar player and watching what they were doing. It was praying when a band went on TV that the cameraman would occasionally go to the right place and show what the guitar player was doing instead of putting the camera on the lead singer all the time. And I’m sure it was the same for everybody. There was no concept of rock ’n’ roll lessons. School of Rock wouldn’t exist for another 30 years. So, you had to go to school yourself.”
By the end of the 1960s, Van Zandt tells me he had made a conscious decision about what kind of player he wanted to be. “I realized that I really wasn’t that interested in becoming a virtuoso guitar player, per se. I was more interested in making sure I could play the guitar solo that would complement the song. I got more into the songs than the nature of musicianship.”
After the Beatles and the Stones broke the British Invasion wide open, bands like Cream and the Yardbirds most influenced him. “George Harrison would have that perfect 22-second guitar solo,” Van Zandt remembers. “Keith Richards. Dave Davies. Then, the harder stuff started coming. Jeff Beck in the Yardbirds. Eric Clapton with things like ‘White Room.’ But the songs stayed in a pop configuration, three minutes each or so. You’d have this cool guitar-based song with a 15-second, really amazing Jeff Beck solo in it. That’s what I liked. Later, the jam bands came, but I was not into that. My attention deficit disorder was not working for the longer solos,” he jokes. Watch a YouTube video of any recent E Street Band performance where Van Zandt solos, and the punch and impact of his approach and attack are apparent. At Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., last year, his solo on “Rosalita” was 13 powerful seconds.
Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen’s relationship goes back to their earliest days on the Jersey shore. “Everybody had a different guitar; your guitar was your identity,” recalls Van Zandt. “At some point, a couple of years later, I remember Bruce calling me and asking me for my permission to switch to Telecaster. At that point, I was ready to switch to Stratocaster.”
Photo by Pamela Springsteen
Van Zandt left his Epiphone behind for his first Fender. “I started to notice that the guitar superstars at the time were playing Telecasters. Mike Bloomfield. Jeff Beck. Even Eric Clapton played one for a while,” he tells me. “I went down to Jack’s Music Shop in Red Bank, New Jersey, because he had the first Telecaster in our area and couldn’t sell it; it was just sitting there. I bought it for 90 bucks.”
In those days, and around those parts, players only had one guitar. Van Zandt recalls, “Everybody had a different guitar; your guitar was your identity. At some point, a couple of years later, I remember Bruce calling me and asking me for my permission to switch to Telecaster. At that point, I was ready to switch to Stratocaster, because Jimi Hendrix had come in and Jeff Beck had switched to a Strat. They all kind of went from Telecaster to Les Pauls. And then some of them went on to the Stratocaster. For me, the Les Paul was just too out of reach. It was too expensive, and it was just too heavy. So I said, I’m going to switch to a Stratocaster. It felt a little bit more versatile.”
Van Zandt still employs Stratocasters, and besides the 1957 I strummed, he was seen with several throughout the ’80s and ’90s. But for the last 20 or 25 years, Van Zandt has mainly wielded a black Fender ’57 Strat reissue from the ’80s with a maple fretboard and a gray pearloid pickguard. He still uses that Strat—dubbed “Number One”—but the pickguard has been switched to one sporting a purple paisley pattern that was custom-made by Dave Petillo.
Petillo comes from New Jersey luthier royalty and followed in the footsteps of his late father, Phil Petillo. At a young age, the elder Petillo became an apprentice to legendary New York builder John D’Angelico. Later, he sold Bruce Springsteen the iconic Fender Esquire that’s seen on the Born to Run album cover and maintained and modified that guitar and all of Bruce’s other axes until he passed away in 2010. Phil worked out of a studio in the basement of their home, not far from Asbury Park. Artists dropped in, and Petillo has childhood memories of playing pick-up basketball games in his backyard with members of the E Street Band. (He also recalls showing his Lincoln Logs to Johnny Cash and once mistaking Jerry Garcia for Santa Claus.)
“I was more interested in making sure I could play the guitar solo that would complement the song. I got more into the songs than the nature of musicianship.” —Stevie Van Zandt
“I’ve known Stevie Van Zandt my whole life,” says Petillo. “My dad used to work on his 1957 Strat. That guitar today has updated tuners, a bone nut, new string trees, and a refret that was done by Dad long ago. I think one volume pot may have been changed. But it still has the original pickups.” Petillo is responsible for a lot of the aesthetic flair seen on Van Zandt’s instruments. He continues, “Stevie is so much fun to work with. I love incorporating colors into things, and Stevie gets that. When you talk to a traditional Telecaster or Strat player, and you say, ‘I want to do a tulip paisley pickguard in neon blue-green,’ they’re like, ‘Holy cow, that’s too much!’ But for Stevie, it’s just natural. So I always text him with pickguard designs, asking him, ‘Which one do you like?’ And he calls me a wild man; he says, ‘I don’t have that many Strats to put them on!’ But I’ll go to Ben Newberry and say, ‘Ben, I made these pickguards; let’s get them on the guitar. And I’ll go backstage, and we’ll put them on. I just love that relationship; Stevie is down for it.”
Petillo takes care of the electronics on Van Zandt’s guitars. Almost all of the Strats are modified with an internal Alembic Stratoblaster preamp circuit, which Van Zandt can physically toggle on and off using a switch housed just above the input jack. Van Zandt tells me, “That came because I got annoyed with the whole pedal thing. I’m a performer onstage, and I’m integrated with the audience and I like the freedom to move. And if I’m across the stage and all of a sudden Bruce nods to me to take a solo, or there’s a bit in the song that requires a little bit of distortion, it’s just easier to have that; sometimes, I’ll need that extra little boost for a part I’m throwing in, and it’s convenient.”
In recent times, Van Zandt has branched out from the Stratocaster, which has a lot to do with Andy Babiuk's influence. The two met 20 years ago, and Babiuk’s band, the Chesterfield Kings, is on Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool Records. “He’d call me up and ask me things like, ‘What’s Brian Jones using on this song?’” explains Babiuk. “When I’d ask him why, he’d tell me, ‘Because I want to have that guitar.’ It’s a common thing for me to get calls and texts from him like that. And there’s something many people overlook that Stevie doesn’t advertise: He’s a ripping guitar player. People think of him as playing chords and singing backup for Bruce, but the guy rips. And not just on guitar, on multiple instruments.”
Van Zandt tells me he wanted to bring more 12-string to the E Street Band this tour, “just to kind of differentiate the tone.” He explains, “Nils is doing his thing, and Bruce is doing his thing, and I wanted to do more 12-string.” He laughs, “I went full Paul Kantner!” Babiuk helped Van Zandt plunge deeper down the Rickenbacker rabbit hole. Currently, Van Zandt has six Rickenbackers backstage: two 6-strings and four 12-strings. Each 12-string has a modified nut made by Petillo from ancient woolly mammoth tusk, and the D, A, and low E strings are inverted with their octave.
Van Zandt explains this to me: “I find that the strings ring better when the high ones are on top. I’m not sure if that’s how Roger McGuinn did it, but it works for me. I’m also playing a wider neck.”
Babiuk tells me about a unique Rick in Van Zandt’s rack of axes: “I know the guys at Rickenbacker well, and they did a run of 30 basses in candy apple purple for my shop. I showed one to Stevie, and purple is his color; he loves it. He asked me to get him a 12-string in the same color, and I told him, ‘They don’t do one-offs; they don’t have a custom shop,’ but it’s hard to say no to the guy! So I called Rickenbacker and talked them into it. I explained, ‘He’ll play it a lot on this upcoming tour.’ They made him a beautiful one with his OM logo.”
The purple one-off is a 1993Plus model and sports a 1 3/4" wide neck—1/8" wider than a normal Rickenbacker. Van Zandt loved it so much that he had Babiuk wrestle with Rickenbacker again to build another one in baby blue. Petillo has since outfitted them with paisley-festooned custom pickguards. When guitar tech Newberry shows me these unique axes backstage, I can see the input jack on the purple guitar is labeled with serial number 01001.
“Some of my drive is based on gratitude,” says Van Zandt, “feeling like we are the luckiest guys in the luckiest generation ever.”
Photo by Rob DeMartin
Van Zandt also currently plays a white Vox Teardrop. That guitar is a prototype owned by Babiuk. “Stevie wanted a Teardrop,” Babiuk tells me, “but I explained that the vintage ones are hit and miss—the ones made in the U.K. were often better than the ones manufactured in Italy. Korg now owns Vox, and I have a new Teardrop prototype from them in my personal collection. When I showed it to him, he loved it and asked me to get him one. I had to tell him, ‘I can’t; it’s a prototype, there’s only one,’ and he asked me to sell him mine,” he chuckles. “I told him, ‘It’s my fucking personal guitar, it’s not for sale!’ So I ended up lending it to him for this tour, and I told him, ‘Remember, this is my guitar; don’t get too happy with it, okay?’
“He asked me why that particular guitar sounds and feels so good. Besides being a prototype built by only one guy, the single-coil pickups’ output is abnormally hot, and the neck feels like a nice ’60s Fender neck. Stevie’s obviously a dear friend of mine, and he can hold onto it for as long as he wants. I’m glad it’s getting played. It was just hanging in my office.”
Van Zandt tells me how Babiuk’s Vox Teardrop sums up everything he wants from his tone, and says, “It’s got a wonderfully clean, powerful sound. Like Brian Jones got on ‘The Last Time.’ That’s my whole thing; that’s the trick—trying to get the power without too much distortion. Bruce and Nils get plenty of distortion; I am trying to be the clean rhythm guitar all the time.”
If Van Zandt has a consigliere like Tony Soprano had Silvio Dante, that’s Newberry. Newberry has tech’d nearly every gig with Van Zandt since 1982. “Bruce shows move fast,” he tells me. “So when there’s a guitar change for Stevie, and there are many of them, I’m at the top of the stairs, and we switch quickly. There’s maybe one or two seconds, and if he needs to tell me something, I hear it. He’s Bruce’s musical director, so he may say something like, ‘Remind me tomorrow to go over the background vocals on “Ghosts,”’ or something like that. And I take notes during the show.”
“Everybody had a different guitar; your guitar was your identity. At some point, a couple of years later, I remember Bruce calling me and asking me for my permission to switch to a Telecaster.” —Stevie Van Zandt
When I ask Newberry how he defines Van Zandt’s relationship to the guitar, he doesn’t hesitate, snapping back, “It’s all in his head. His playing is encyclopedic, whether it’s Bruce or anything else. He may show up at soundcheck and start playing the Byrds, but it’s not ‘Tambourine Man,’ it’s something obscure like ‘Bells of Rhymney.’ People may not get it, but I’ve known him long enough to know what’s happening. He’s got everything already under his fingers. Everything.”
As such, Van Zandt says he never practices. “The only time I touch a guitar between tours is if I’m writing something or maybe arranging backing vocal harmonies on a production,” he tells me.
Before we say goodbye, I tell Van Zandt about my time stuck in his elevator, and his broad grin signals that I may not be the only one to have suffered that particular purgatory. When I ask him about the 1957 Stratocaster I got to play upon my release, he recalls: “Bruce Springsteen gave me that guitar. I’ve only ever had one guitar stolen in my life, and it was in the very early days of my joining the E Street Band. I only joined temporarily for what I thought would be about seven gigs, and in those two weeks or so, my Stratocaster was stolen. It was a 1957 or 1958. Bruce felt bad about that and replaced that lost guitar with this one. So I’ve had it a long, long time. Once that first one was stolen, I decided I would resist having a personal relationship with any one guitar. But that one being a gift from Bruce makes it special. I will never take it back on the road.”
After 50 years of rock ’n’ roll, if there is one word to sum up Stevie Van Zandt, it may be “restless”—an adjective you sense from reading his autobiography. He gets serious and tells me, “I’m always trying to catch up. The beginning of accomplishing something came quite late to me. I feel like I haven’t done nearly enough. What are we on this planet trying to do?” he asks rhetorically. “We’re trying to realize our potential and maybe leave this place one percent better for the next guy. And some of my drive is based on gratitude, feeling like we are the luckiest guys in the luckiest generation ever. That’s what I’m doing: I want to give something back. I feel an obligation.”
YouTube It
“Rosalita” is a perennial E Street Band showstopper. Here’s a close-up video from Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park last summer. Van Zandt’s brief but commanding guitar spotlight shines just past the 4:30 mark.
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