Amythyst Kiah began learning guitar at the age of 13, then later attended a creative arts high school, where she found her people among all the “misfits and weirdos.”
Folk singer-songwriter Amythyst Kiah is a formidable fingerstylist. When asked about her creative process, she explains how she’s come up playing a lot of solo shows—something that’s inspired her to bring out the orchestral range of the guitar for her own vocal accompaniment. Over the years, she’s taken her high school classical training and college old-time-string-band experience to evolve her fingerpicking skills, developing three-finger technique and other multi-dimensional patterns influenced by players like Mike Dawes. And for her latest full-length, Still + Bright, she’s only continued to grow in her musicianship, but by stepping back to square one: rhythm.
Amythyst Kiah - "God's Under the Mountain"
“I’ve stayed away from writing songs where I’m just strumming for a really long time,” she prefaces, “because I was worried that it was going to be too boring to not do fingerstyle. But then I realized, there’s so many [strummed] songs that are super powerful, and you can still make it interesting rhythmically.
“I started to listen to more rhythm guitar players, like Cory Wong, and reconfigured how I was viewing rhythm guitar,” she continues. “It was a matter of finding a way to do it that was exciting and interesting to me. Now, it’s really expanded the songs that I can write.”
All of the demos for Still + Brightbegan with strumming, says Kiah. When working on ideas, she would “play rhythmically as much as I could,” then open GarageBand, choose a tempo she felt comfortable playing to, and add programmed drums—often going with a modern R&B pattern. But when she brought her songs to the studio, she discovered that she was struggling to replicate the guitar parts she’d recorded at home.For Kiah, who’s always had a very strong sense of self and vision for her sound, that was a bit discomforting.
In the making of Still + Bright, Kiah’s fifth full-length album, the songwriter strengthened her skills as both a rhythm guitarist and a vocalist.
“I had a moment of, ‘I can either spend way too long trying to replay this part that I’ve been playing from muscle memory at this point,’” she shares, or hand it off to her session player, Nashville guitarist (and, coincidentally, Premier Guitarcolumnist) Ellen Angelico, and focus on her lyrics and vocal delivery instead. “I used to be very much like, ‘I have to be playing guitar on everything.’ But there’s a team of people here that can help, and make things go along more smoothly. My ego shouldn’t be getting in the way.”
She did, ultimately, play guitar—acoustic or electric, or both—on five out of 12 tracks, and banjo on two. Angelico performed on each track, alternating between mandolin, dobro, pedal steel, and acoustic, electric, and baritone guitar. (You’ll also hear Billy Strings, with his unmistakable, rapid-fire bluegrass licks, on “I Will Not Go Down.”)
The finished album exudes a spirit of triumph. It rings as one extended anthem, beginning with “Play God and Destroy the World,” a reflection on a childhood rejection of religious hypocrisy, and ending on “People’s Prayer,” an avowal of humanistic compassion. “S P A C E,” one of the more pensive songs in the collection, features Kiah playing clawhammer banjo. “God’s Under the Mountain” builds and undulates with a communion of syncopated vocal melody, fiddle, pedal steel, dobro, and background vocals by producer Butch Walker and Avi Kaplan. Then, the waltzing “Dead Stars” unwinds with simpler, judicious instrumentation supporting a mournful theme, before swelling with Morricone-like eloquence as it closes. “This is the first album where I really had a concept about everything, from the logo to the color palette, and everything else,” says Kiah, “and I had an incredible team who was able to really bring to life what I was envisioning.”
Amythyst Kiah’s Gear
Some of Kiah’s building blocks for her fingerpicking abilities came from classical training in high school and old-time studies at East Tennessee State University.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/tinnitus photography
Effects
- L.R. Baggs Para Acoustic DI
- TC Electronic Polytune
Strings, Picks & Accessories
- Acoustic: D’Addario light
- Electric: Ernie Ball medium
- Dunlop .73 mm picks
- Paige capo
Throughout the record, Kiah’s propulsive singing voice is the glowing flame to the hearth, acting as a centerpiece to the already luminous, Americana-fueled full-band arrangements. Like rhythm guitar, voice was another essential element that she cultivated while creating Still + Bright.
“I kind of diminished that power of having a voice,” she admits, explaining how she’s always been preoccupied with measuring up on guitar, and has long held multi-instrumentalists such as Prince in high esteem. But something shifted when a sentiment expressed by her manager, Dolph Ramseur, years ago, finally sunk in. “He said, ‘Amythyst, you know, you could just stand in a room and sing a cappella, and people would sit there and listen, and they wouldn’t get up and leave, and they would not be bored.’ And then it really dawned on me—it’s a powerful thing, people that can just sing; there’s a power and strength there, too. It’s just understanding where the power lies, and then embracing it, as opposed to feeling inadequate.
“It’s just understanding where the power lies, and then embracing it, as opposed to feeling inadequate.”
“I have this ongoing obsession in the back of my mind that I’m never doing enough,” she continues. “So, anytime I remove something from the equation, I worry. That stems from social anxiety, and being overly concerned with, like, ‘Am I making the right decision?’ But it doesn’t matter how long I agonize or rethink or redo something; at the end of the day, the decision I make is still going to be spontaneous. Because there’s only ever ‘now.’” She adds, laughing, “I’m a big Alan Watts fan.”
Now, she’s started doing vocal warmups before shows, “and through that, I’ve expanded my range and I’ve also been able to gain even more control over my voice. It also means that I can write more challenging songs. Those two things—expanding [rhythm] guitar and expanding voice—have let me open a whole new side to my sound.”
Spiritual themes appear frequently on Still + Bright, in both Kiah’s song titles and lyrics. The opening lines of “Empire of Love” include, “My religion is none at all / I build my own cathedrals and let ’em fall.” On “Let’s See Ourselves Out,” she sings, “So many matrices we create to escape / Sometimes I wonder if we’re just a mistake.” And, on more than one song, there’s mention of how “we’re all made from stars from above,” alluding to the scientific evidence that the elements of the human body were created by stars that went supernova.
Kiah was raised in a predominantly white, Christian suburb in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as part of a Black family who didn’t attend church. She identified as an “alternative” kid, vacillating between agnosticism and atheism, shopping at Hot Topic, and drawing inspiration from The Matrix’s theme of breaking free from societal constraints. (She remarks on her younger self’s “cognitive dissonance” of buying “‘alternative clothes’ at the mall.”) As a self-proclaimed introvert, she dealt with social anxiety, and spent a lot of her time at home alone on the computer. But when she began learning guitar at 13, and later started attending a creative arts high school, she finally felt like she fit in: “’cause everybody there was misfits and weirdos.”
Spirituality is a common theme in Kiah’s music. Her current beliefs draw mainly on principles of Zen Buddhism and Taoism.
Photo by Kevin & King
Though still adamantly individualistic, her spiritual views evolved when she took courses in both Western humanities and Eastern religion in college: “I realized that people have created narratives about how to live our lives for thousands of years. So, this idea that only one group of people got it right and everyone else is wrong; that threw all of that out the window.” Today, she says that Zen Buddhism probably best captures her personal belief system, but, “I hesitate to call myself a Zen Buddhist because I feel like I still have more to learn,” she says. She also rereads the Tao Te Ching by Laozi “pretty regularly,” lauding the principles of Taoism as another strong influence on her philosophies.
At the beginning of our 1 p.m. Zoom call, Kiah shares that she typically spends her mornings alone and in silence, meditating, writing, and reading, and lightheartedly apologizes for enthusiastically “going on”—saying she’s had a lot of time to think before speaking to another person. When I ask her about what modern artists she’s listening to lately, she has more to say about what she’s been reading. One of the books in her current rotation is The Lost Art of Silence by Sarah Anderson.
Growing up, Kiah identified as an “alternative” kid, and was something of an “anime mall goth” who often shopped at Hot Topic.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/tinnitus photography
“It goes along really well with meditation and learning to live in the present,” Kiah says. “It’s been interesting to explore those different perspectives on silence, and make more of an effort to find time in my life to be quiet. I find that I’m getting more and more comfortable with myself and my thoughts, and I feel less like I always have to block out anxious thoughts. Or, if I have anxiety about something, I can come up with an idea of, ‘Okay, well, how can I alleviate this? Can I do anything about it?’, and solve the problem as opposed to starting the spiral.
“Impostor syndrome was the big driver for my social anxiety, and now, I feel like I’m on the other side of being an impostor,” she reflects. “I’m doing what I’ve been wanting to do for the past 12 years, making a living doing this. There’s stressful things that happen, but you have to decide, what are you willing to be stressed out about? To try to seek a perfect, happy life where nothing ever upsets you—that’s called emotional repression and it’s really unhealthy. It’s just about accepting the fact that, hey, some days, some weeks are gonna be shit, and to find ways to take care of yourself that are as least self-destructive as humanly possible.”
“It doesn’t matter how long I agonize or rethink or redo something; at the end of the day, the decision I make is still going to be spontaneous. Because there’s only ever ‘now.’”
And while she’s outgrown a lot of her social anxiety, she says it’s been a challenge adapting to the stress that comes with the unpredictability of touring. “When I would be at home, I would establish this really tight routine, and then I got completely knocked on my feet when I would leave,” she explains. “I had to get to this point where I would just be focusing more on the present and less on trying to micromanage how my day’s going to be, because it’s not gonna always go the way that I want things to go.
“That’s been also helpful in my creative process, because then I’m not as anxious and worried about all these other things that I don’t have control over, and I’m able to just … enjoy the process of living.”
Ellen Angelico's Gear
Guitars
- Dismal Ax Barnstormer
- Cervantes Telecaster
- GFI Expo S-10
- 1980s Kentucky KM-250S mandolin
Amp
- 3rd Power Dream 50 Plexi
Effects
- Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner
- Line 6 HX Stomp
- 1981 DRV
- MXR Timmy Overdrive Mini
- Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Boy
- Strymon Flint
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario NYXL
- Wegen picks
YouTube It
On WDVX’s Blue Plate Special, recorded in Knoxville, Tennessee, Kiah performs an evocative, stripped-down version of “Empire of Love” from Still + Bright.
This late-’90s Masterbilt was made to mimic the feeling and look of vintage luxury.
Some guitars just feel expensive. Not in an “I shouldn't be touching this, lest I scratch it” way so much as simply exuding luxury. Maybe it’s the flawless ebony fretboard, making gliding up and down the neck feel like ice skating. Or perhaps it’s the slim, ’60s-style neck shape which felt instantly comfortable in my small hands. It may have something to do with the sumptuously low 2/32" action at the 12th fret, requiring hardly any effort to play.
Makes sense, considering this guitar’s origin story. Mac Yasuda was born in Nishinomiya, Japan. At 15, he discovered the music of Hank Snow and fell in love with country music and the guitar itself. He stole a classical guitar from his cousin (“He never played it,” said Yasuda) and started a band with his friends. Yasuda traveled to the States in the ’70s and after picking up his first vintage guitar from a pawn shop, he was hooked. He began scoping out gear for his friends, which eventually grew into a shop called Mac’s Guitar Gallery in Kobe, Japan. By the ’90s, he estimated he had owned between 4,000 and 5,000 instruments, and his collection was valued at $3 million. He has authored several books about vintage guitars and is widely considered one of the world's preeminent authorities on the subject.
Yasuda is also an accomplished musician. While in Nashville in the ’80s—perhaps for one of the half-dozen times he’s performed on theGrand Ole Opry—he met Greg Rich, an instrument designer who was then head of Gibson’s banjo division. Yasuda enlisted Greg Rich and another guitar maker named Mark Taylor to produce a line of high-quality, vintage-style instruments under the name Masterbilt. “Vintage guitars are fine, but they're limited,” said Yasuda at the time. His Masterbilt guitars would give us mere mortals the chance to get a taste of the luxurious feel of a fine vintage instrument. Masterbilt debuted at NAMM in 1997, and it’s still unknown how many guitars were actually produced. The trademark of the Masterbilt name was cancelled in 2005 and has since been used by other brands, like Epiphone.
“Some folks think anything from the ’80s or before is vintage, but perhaps the fact that time has continued to march on should be factored in.”
Fanny's House of Music believes this guitar to be an early prototype, one of six ever made. Three were sunburst and three were natural. Playing it feels like playing any fine vintage 335; funny when you consider that at 27 years old, some would consider this Masterbilt vintage itself. The notion of what is considered truly “vintage” is hotly debated on Reddit every few months. Some folks think anything from the ’80s or before is vintage, but perhaps the fact that time has continued to march on should be factored in. Some guitars from the ’80s are now 45 years old! We consider guitars from the ’90s to be vintage at this point, so this 1998 Masterbilt prototype fits right in.
This Masterbilt is now 27 years old. In your books, does that make it a “vintage” guitar?
Photo by Madison Thorn
It’s a good example of how history and passion can intersect to create something special. This guitar tells a story of dedication to quality and an appreciation for the feel of a well-made instrument. Whether or not a 27-year-old guitar qualifies as “vintage” may be up for debate, but the magic in this guitar definitely isn’t. If you’re ever in Nashville, stop by Fanny’s and take it for a spin. You might find yourself feeling a bit like I felt after my unexpected ride in a Jaguar: getting a glimpse into the world of understated elegance, where refinement isn't about flash but about experiencing something crafted to near perfection.
SOURCES: namm.com, Los Angeles Times, Blue Book of Guitar Values, Vintage Guitar, Guitar-List.
My Morning Jacket’s Is, their 10th album, released on March 21, and as we reported in our feature on the band in our May print issue, it showcased a band exercising their classic strengths as well as newfound vision and curiosity. Helmed by superstar producer Brendan O’Brien, Is finds MMJ at their anthemic, psychedelic best.
We caught up with Carl Broemel for a Rig Rundown back in 2015, but on this year’s tour, PG’s John Bohlinger checked in with all three axemen—Jim James, Broemel, and bassist Tom Blankenship—to hear about their road rigs. In Broemel’s estimation, they’re lazy—they just like to bring everything.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Three's a Crowd
This gorgeous Gibson Jimi Hendrix 1967 SG Custom, aged by Murphy Labs, initially had three humbuckers, but James kept hitting his pick on the middle pickup, so it got the yank—as did the hefty bridge and Maestro Vibrola system, which were replaced with a simple stopbar tailpiece.
Mirror Image
James picked up this 1998 Gibson Flying V right around when My Morning Jacket got started. He traced and ordered the flashy mirror pickguard himself. It’s got Gibson pickups, though James isn’t sure of the models.
Jim James' Jimmy
James plucked this one-of-a-kind from Scott Baxendale’s collection of restored vintage guitars. He guesses it’s either an old Kay or Harmony guitar, but the decorations, including the custom plastic headstock plaque, make exact identification difficult. But it was clear this one was meant for James, since it has his name on it.
Elsewhere backstage is James’ Epiphone Jim James ES-335, a custom shop Fender Telecaster and Strat, a 1967 Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman, and a Gibson Barney Kessel.
Make Love, Not War
James loves repurposing old military equipment for creative, peaceful purposes, which is how this old radar system came to be a part of his live amplification kit. Along with the old tech, James runs two 3 Monkeys Orangutan heads through a 3 Monkeys cab.
Jim James' Pedalboard
James’ board is built around a pair of GigRig QuarterMaster switching systems, which lets him navigate the stomps you see here: a Devi Ever US Fuzz, Boss BD-2w, SoloDallas Schaffer Boost, Boss OC-2, EarthQuaker Devices Spatial Delivery, Strymon blueSky, EQD Ghost Echo, Malekko Spring Chicken, ISP Deci-Mate, Electro-Harmonix Mel9, UA Starlight Echo Station, and UA Astra Modulation Machine. A D’Addario Chromatic Pedal Tuner duo keep things on pitch, a Strymon Zuma and Ojai pair handle the power, and a Radial SGI-44 line driver maintains clarity.
Arts and Crafts Night
One night while a bit tipsy, Broemel took out his paint pens and set to work on this Gibson Les Paul Standard Faded, resulting in this masterpiece. He also removed the pickup selector switch; even though the neck pickup remains, it never gets used.
Relic By Broemel
This 1988 Les Paul Standard predates the band, and Broemel has given it its aged finish over the years—on one occasion, it fell out of a truck. It’s been treated to a Seymour Duncan pickup upgrade and occasional refrets when required.
Carl's Creston
This Creston Lea offset has two Novak lipstick pickups in the neck, with a switch to engage just one or both, plus a low-end roll-off control. It’s finished in the same blue-black color as Broemel’s house and sports a basil leaf on the headstock in tribute to Broemel’s son, Basil.
Also in the wardrobe are a shiny new Duesenberg tuned to open G, and a custom shop Fender Telecaster with a fattened neck and Bigsby to swing it closer to Broemel’s beloved LPs.
Milk Route
Broemel routes his GFI Ultra pedal steel, which is tuned to E9, through a board which includes a Milkman The Amp, which is projected through the speaker of a Fender Princeton Reissue combo. Operated with another GigRig QuarterMaster, the board also includes an Eventide H9, Moog MF Delay, Fender The Pelt, MXR Phase 90, EHX Nano POG, Xotic Effects EP Booster, Source Audio C4, and a Peterson StroboStomp HD.
Side-Carr
This time out, Broemel is running two Carr Slant 6V heads in stereo.
Carl Broemel's Pedalboard
Broemel commissioned XAct Tone Solutions to build this double-decker board, which depends on a GigRig G3S switching system. From top to bottom (literally), it includes a Boss TU-3, Durham Electronics Sex Drive, JAM Pedals Tubedreamer, Source Audio Spectrum, JAM Retrovibe, MXR Phase 100, Fender The Pelt, Origin Effects SlideRIG, 29 Pedals EUNA, two Eventide H9s, Kingsley Harlot V3, JAM Delay Llama, Merix LVX, Hologram Chroma Console, and EHX POGIII. A wah and Mission Engineering expression pedal sit on the left side, while a Lehle volume pedal and Gamechanger Audio Plus hold down the right edge.
Utility units include two SGI TX interfaces, two Strymon Ojais and a Strymon Zuma, and a Cioks Crux.
More From the Creston Crew
Blankenship, too, has brought along a few guitars from Lea, including these Precision-bass and Jazz-bass models. The dark-sparkle P-style rocks with GHS flatwound strings, while the natural-finish J-style has roundwounds.
Emperor's New Groove
Blankenship just got these brand-new Emperor cabinets, through which he cranks his Mesa Boogie WD-800 Subway heads.
Tom Blankenship’s Pedalboard
Like James, Blankenship uses a GigRig QuarterMaster to jump between his effects. After his Boss TU-3, that includes an Origin Effects Cali76, DigiTech Whammy Ricochet, Pepers’ Pedals Humongous Fuzz, MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, Tronographic Rusty Box, and EHX Bassballs Nano. A Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 Plus lights things up, and a Radial SGI TX keeps the signal squeaky clean.
Shop My Morning Jacket's Rig
EarthQuaker Devices host Echo Reverb Pedal
ISP Technologies DECI-MATE Micro Noise Reduction Pedal
Electro-Harmonix Mel9 Tape Replay Machine Pedal
EarthQuaker Devices Spatial Delivery Envelope Filter Pedal
Universal Audio UAFX Starlight Echo Station Delay Pedal
Universal Audio UAFX Astra Modulation Machine Pedal
Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster
Today, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) and the Fender Custom Shop (FCS) introduce the newest member of the ‘Stories Collection’ family—a series of instruments that pays tribute to iconic Fender guitars and basses that have been uniquely modified by the legendary artists who played them. Mike Campbell, the tasteful and versatile player who is responsible for some of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ most memorable riffs, has teamed up with Fender and the Custom Shop to develop the Stories Collection Mike Campbell signature guitars - the Red Dog Telecaster and FCS Limited Edition Masterbuilt 1972 “Red Dog“ Telecaster—two reproductions of Campbell’s stunning and heavily modified Telecaster that gives players the opportunity to create their own sonic identity through the framework of one of rock and pop’s greatest guitar players.
“Telecasters are the heart and soul of rock and roll music and this one is a beautiful instrument,” said Mike Campbell. “I could tell The Red Dog was special as soon as I picked it up. It felt like it was in the right place at just the right time. The humbuckers give it so much power and such a wide variety of tones while the destruct button really sets it apart from just about any other tele.”
The tale of the Red Dog Telecaster began when one of Campbell’s former students living in Florida offered to sell him a guitar. However, after seeing the guitar in question, it became clear that this was no standard instrument pulled from the rack. Campbell was presented with a bright red Tele equipped with humbuckers in the neck and middle position, a Bigsby tremolo and, perhaps the guitar’s most idiosyncratic flourish, an onboard electronic boost dubbed the “destruct” circuit. As any other lifelong guitar devotee would, Campbell bought this glorious Frankenstein of an instrument without a moment’s hesitation. The Red Dog was subsequently used most memorably on the Heartbreaker’s track “Refugee” and is prominently featured in the song’s music video. All throughout his storied career playing with Tom Petty, as a session guitarist, alongside Fleetwood Mac and touring the world with his solo act The Dirty Knobs, this singular Telecaster has been inextricably linked to Campbell’s career and legacy as one of rock and roll’s finest players.
The Stories Collection Mike Campbell Red Dog Telecaster offers the same level of craftsmanship and sonic capability at a more accessible price point. The two signature Mike Campbell humbuckers in the neck and middle position bring a low-end growl and high octane output that sets it apart from other Telecaster guitars. However, the custom single coil bridge pickup delivers the caliber of twang that people worldwide associate exclusively with Tele guitars. A Bigsby B5F tremolo allows players to extenuate riffs and solos with an additional level of flourish and attitude. Perhaps the Red Dog’s most exciting feature lies beneath the surface—the “Destruct” circuit. With the push of a sleek silver button on the control plate, an added 34 dB of gain can be activated for complete tonal dominance.
“It’s our mission to honor the legacy and sonic character that Mike Campbell has infused into every note played on his beloved ‘Red Dog’ Telecaster®,” said Justin Norvell, Executive Vice President of Fender Products. “Every scratch, modification, and battle scar tells a story, and with these meticulously crafted recreations, we’re giving players everywhere the chance to channel that same timeless energy and write their own musical history.”
While the Red Dog Telecaster came into his hands already modified, its custom features were universal and powerful enough to elevate Campbell’s personal playing style and the same can be said for Fender’s painstakingly detailed and powerfully crafted recreations. The FCS Limited Edition Masterbuilt 1972 “Red Dog” Telecaster is a jaw dropping representation of the instrument as it exists today—dings, paint chips, dents and all by FCS’s Senior Masterbuilder Dennis Galuska. Outfitted with vintage replica Arcane, Inc. pickups and signature “Destruct” boost circuit wired by Analogman, this custom Telecaster can achieve the same biting jangle heard on “Refugee.” Features include a flat sawn maple neck with custom Oval “C” back shape, 7.25” radius fingerboard, 21 vintage upgrade frets, 5-way pickup sector and vintage style Jazzmaster bridge with threaded saddles.
“The ‘Red Dog’ Telecaster® is a testament to how a heavily modified instrument can be both deeply personal and universally cherished,” said Chase Paul, Director of Product Development - Fender Custom Shop. “There’s an undeniable magic in an instrument that evolves alongside its player, and every modification on this guitar serves a purpose, working together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Dennis Galuszka and the Custom Shop dedicated countless hours to faithfully recreating every detail, bringing players and fans as close to Mike’s legendary Tele® as possible.”
Stories Collection Mike Campbell Red Dog Telecaster® ($3,499.99) Revered for his tasty rhythms and fiery leads, Mike Campbell is responsible for many of the iconic hooks from the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers catalog. For decades now his faithful Fender guitars have been at the heart of his trusted formula for award-winning tone.Campbell bought what became known as the “Red Dog” from a former guitar student in Florida, complete with Bigsby tremolo and a powerful onboard boost, known as the “Destruct” circuit. Mike’s iconic 1972 Red Dog Telecaster is featured on the Damn the Torpedoes track “Refugee” and can be seen in the accompanying music video. The Stories Collection Mike Campbell “Red Dog” Telecaster features an Heirloom™ nitrocellulose lacquer “Red Dog Red” finish, 1-piece maple neck with 7.25” radius fingerboard and 21 vintage-style frets as well as an onboard “Destruct” boost circuit. The custom Mike Campbell Red Dog pickup set features two vintage-style humbuckers and a single-coil Telecaster bridge pickup, Bigsby B5F tremolo and a custom Red Dog neck plate. Custom accessories include a vintage-style case, strap, picks and certificate of authenticity.
Unique, versatile and utterly original, The Mike Campbell “Red Dog” Telecaster pays tribute to a veteran Heartbreaker with a serious knack for writing extraordinary songs and delivering catchy, captivating and magnificent guitar parts.
Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition Masterbuilt Mike Campbell 1972 “Red Dog” Telecaster® ($20,000.00) With raw, powerful riffs and explosive leads, Mike Campbell firmly established himself as one of the greatest guitarists and songwriters in music history—and throughout his accomplished career, Fender guitars played in integral role in his creative expression. One of his most noteworthy instruments was his modified three-pickup Telecaster that would come to be known as the “Red Dog.” Fender Custom Shop Senior Masterbuilder Dennis Galuszka partnered with Mike to recreate this incredible guitar. From beautifully faded red metallic finish to the worn and Bigsby B5 vibrato tailpiece, every nick, ding and scratch was meticulously replicated to bring this tribute guitar to life. Loaded with vintage replica Arcane, Inc. pickups and a “Destruct” boost circuit wired by Analogman, this Tele plays, sounds and feels just like the guitar heard on “Refugee.” Its two-piece select alder body and custom-shaped, one-piece maple neck feature a well-loved Relic® lacquer finish, while the hardware is aged to look like it’s been played for the last five decades. Wonderfully unique and with a storied past, the Limited Edition Masterbuilt Mike Campbell 1972 “Red Dog” Telecaster is a fitting homage to such an incredibly captivating and inspiring musician. Other premium features include flat sawn maple neck with custom Oval “C” back-shape, 7.25” (184.1 mm) radius, 21 vintage upgrade (45085) frets, 5-way switch, 3-ply parchment pickguard, vintage-style Jazzmaster® bridge with threaded steel saddles, vintage-style “F”-stamped tuning machines, bone nut, two American Vintage ‘65+ string trees with nylon spacers, deluxe hardshell case, strap and certificate of authenticity.
For more information, please visit fender.com.
Fender Stories Collection Mike Campbell Red Dog Telecaster Electric Guitar - Red Dog Red
