Guitarist Brandon Seabrook, architect of fretboard chaos, and his trusty HMT Tele.
Itās a heady, thrilling ideaābut no one whoās followed his zigzagging career will be surprised at the gumption. As heās cycled through various projects (including the acclaimed power trio Seabrook Power Plant), heās become a resident chaos architect within the Brooklyn avant-garde sceneāexploring everything from jazz-fusion to brutal prog to other untamed strains of heavy rock, typically wielding his trusted 1928 tenor banjo and a modified āheavy metal Telecasterā acoustic-electric from 1989.
But Object of Unknown Function, his first solo album since 2014ās Sylphid Vitalizers, became his own real-life choose-your-own-adventureāa process of rejuvenation by playing with new toys. Along with his usual gear, Seabrookās main compositional tools this time were a 6-string 1920 William O. Schmick Lyric guitar banjo and a 1998 Jerry Jones Neptune electric 12-stringāboth of which became vibrant ānew relationships,ā even if, at first, he felt like he was āstepping out on his guitar.ā
āMy other guitar [his Telecaster] is the only thing Iāve been playing for the past 25 to 27 years,ā he says, laughing. āI was so afraid to try something else: āI canāt play another guitar because itās like an extension of my arm. I know the topography of this neck so well. Itās my sound.ā"
Brandon Seabrook's Gear
Seabrookās 1989 Fender HMT Thinline Telecaster has seen enough wear to rival Willie Nelsonās Trigger.
Photo by Scott Friedlander
Instruments
- 1928 Bacon & Day Silver Bell tenor banjo
- 1920 William O. Schmick Lyric guitar banjo
- 1989 Fender HMT Thinline Telecaster with Sheptone Pickups
- 1998 Jerry Jones Neptune 12-string electric
Amps
- 1962 Magnatone Custom 450
- 1971 Traynor YGM-3
Pedals
- Arion SAD-1 Stereo Delay
- Jam Pedals Dyna-ssoR compressor
- Jam Pedals Rattler distortion
Strings and Picks
- DāAddario XL Nickel Wound 10's
- Dunlop Tortex .88 mm
Accessories
- TASCAM PORTA 3 4-track cassette recorder
But Seabrook fell in love āright awayā with the Jerry Jones, and new ideas started flooding out. āThe 12-string is such a magic sound, and the Jerry Jones holds the intonation so well that you can detune some of the double-strings to make different intervals, kind of like a built-in harmonizer,ā he says. āWhen you play chords on that and they ring; itās some sort of majestic, angelic soundāor it can be.ā Photo by Scott Friedlander
Seabrook found the 6-string banjo at Brooklyn shop RetroFret Vintage Guitars, intending to shop for a mandolin. He was struck by William Schmickās construction (āIt uses slightly heavier strings, and the neck is wideā) and, more crucially, the surprising intensity it harnesses: āIt just sounded so metal to me or something,ā he recalls. āSo deep and rich and ominous, but beautiful.ā These discoveries came at a pivotal time: āI donāt know what happened last year, but I felt the need to get some new instruments. And that opened up a new sound world.ā
He eventually linked up with two key collaborators, producer David Breskin (John Zorn, Bill Frisell) and engineer Ben Greenberg (who plays guitar in noise-rock band Uniform), at the small Brooklyn studio Circular Ruin. That setting was ideal for the physical experience he hoped to capture: āI used contact mics on the guitar, and [sometimes on my body], to have a subtle sound design. Itās in thereāyou can kinda hear it [on the album] sometimes.ā
One reason for that impact: This is, by and large, the most intimate record of Seabrookās careerāa downshift from the wall-to-wall wildness that has defined so much of his work. That said, make no mistake. Almost no one else could create the pogoing guitar madness of āPerverted by Perseverance,ā which sounds like ā80s King Crimson being subjected to water torture. (āI actually was revisiting the ā80s King Crimson stuff while I was making this album,ā he says. āI just came back to it after years of not hearing it. Thatās straight-up Telecaster prepared with some alligator clips, and then I use my radio tape recorder on the pickups.ā)
Object sometimes leans into a more traditional āsoloā vibe, like on the dissonant, highly improvised banjo piece āUnbalanced Love Portfolioā; at other points, it piles instruments into towering overdub soundscapes, like on āGondola Freak,ā a heart-accelerating swirl of harmonized 12-strings.
Object of Unknown Functionis the guitaristās first solo record since 2014ās Sylphid Vitalizers.
āIāve been playing a lot of solo things over the past 10 years, and thatās on banjo and guitar,ā Seabrook says. āI was kinda hesitant to make an album of that stuff, although some pieces are totally stripped-down to just me. But I thought I could make a more compelling studio listening experience now that I have a little more of a palette that these instruments are offering. The solo album I did 10 years ago had lots of layers, but I wanted to be a bit more vulnerable on this record and have some songs stripped-down and some full.ā
The resulting project is a āblenderā of all the things Seabrook loves, thrown together in a way that sparks his imagination. āIām just trying to sound like the influences I have, whether itās ā80s King Crimson or Eugene Chadbourne or Van Halen or Joni Mitchellāall these things I hear certain fragments of, and maybe itās only for a measure or a section,ā he says. āI guess I am conscious of messing with form. I love the juxtaposition of certain things.ā
Seabrook is a long-time mainstay of the Brooklyn jazz and avant-garde scene, where, in addition to leading his own ensembles, heās worked with a wide range of artists that includes Nels Cline, Anthony Braxton, Mike Watt, and Mostly Other People Do the Killing.
Photo by Luke Marantz
āI used to be even more of a hailstorm on the audience psyche,ā he continues. āI just recorded a new album with this quartet of synthesizer, violin, bass, and guitar, and I want to bring more lyricism and less feeling of intentional surprise. Iām getting there slowly. A lot of the music I listen to is really lyrical, like folk music or soft rock. I try to put elements of that in here. I guess I do want to make weird twists and turns, but I do put a lot of thought into how to weave them and make them coherent.ā
Itās not like Seabrook has suddenly recorded an Eagles album, but these more refined moments signal a desire to keep challenging himselfāand his audience. āI think itās getting older and being more vulnerable, more confident in your choices,ā he says. āWhen I was younger, I never wanted one second of space. Now I just want to be more connected to the things I truly love. Itās a journey. I never want to think somebody wants to hear a certain thing from me.ā
YouTube It
Video Caption: In this mind-melting performance of ābrutalovechamp,ā captured May 20th, 2023 at Brooklynās Public Records, Seabrook is joined by the epic proportions octet, including everything from cello to recorder.
Back in March 2022, we caught up with Cory Wong in the middle of an international tour to film a Rig Rundown. This time around, we found Wong with his Fearless Flyers pals sticking in one spot, at Cory Wongās Syncopated Summer Camp. The four-day, four-night summit, held in Nashville, brought together ace players like Ariel Posen, Larry Carlton, and Sonny T to offer clinics on all things rhythm. Aside from the camp, Wong and his fellow guitar Flyer, Mark Lettieri, both had new releases to celebrate: Lettieriās recent solo record, Can I Tell You Something?, dropped in July, and Wongās Live in London and Starship Syncopation came out in May and July, respectivelyāplus, the Flyersā new EP was released in February.
Both Lettieri and Wong toured us through the guitar gear they brought along for the camp.
Brought to you by DāAddario.The Wong Way
Wongās starter is, unsurprisingly, his Fender Cory Wong Signature Stratocaster. This is an off-the-rack model, and the sapphire blue transparent satin lacquer finish demonstrates the beautiful alder beneath it: āSometimes a guitar is made out of the right piece of a tree,ā says Wong. Other features on the model include deluxe locking tuners, a 6-screw tremolo system, Seymour Duncan Cory Wong Clean Machine pickups, and an American Ultra Modern āDā neck profile.
Founder's Keepers
At John Mayerās suggestion, Wong had Fender create him a āfounderās modelā of his signature guitar, with some just-so appointments that canāt be had on the standard production instruments. Those include a bound fretboard and a unique, one-off finish.
But Wong doesnāt get too attached to his guitars. He often auctions them off to benefit a non-profit that gets free guitars into the hands of kids who need them.
Another Wong novelty: his fingers donāt sweat much, so he only changes his strings about once every three months, despite plenty of playing time. When the time comes, he uses Ernie Ball .010s from either the Slinkys or Paradigm series.
Neural Network
Through a Shure GLXD16 wireless system, Wong runs his guitar into his Neural DSP Quad Cortex, which runs a beta version of his Archetype: Cory Wong plugin, based off of a melding of a Dumble and a Fender Twin. The signal hits an onboard envelope filter and rarely used pitch shifter, then exits out the effects loop into a Wampler Cory Wong Compressor, Jackson Audio The Optimist, and a Hotone Wong Press. The signal goes back into the Quad Cortex, where thereās a preset phaser, stereo tape delay, and modulated reverb, plus a freeze effect. Two XLR outs run to front of house, while two run to Wongās Mission Engineering Gemini 2 stereo cabinet.
Fiore di Latte
Lettieri flies with his signature PRS Fiore (and wears a matching shirt to boot). The model, which he began designing with PRS in 2019, has a swamp ash body, maple neck, 25 1/2" fretboard, nickel frets, and a pickup system that allows for 11 different combinationsāthe ultimate studio weapon. He runs it to his board with Revelation Cable Company cables. Lettieri strings it with Dunlop .010s, and strikes them with Dunlop celluloid picks.
Lettieri Goes Low
Lettieri also calls on this PRS SE 277 baritone guitar. Heās swapped the pickups for a Lollar P-90 in the neck position and a gold-foil in the bridge. He tunes it to A standard and runs .014ā.072 strings on it.
Little Wing
Lettieri sticks with tubes, running into a PRS HDRX 20āa 20-watt combo intended to capture the roar and power of Hendrixās Marshalls in a more practical package.
Chopping Block
Guitar pedals werenāt the intended application for Lettieriās pedalboardāit was meant for chopping veggies, but that didnāt stop him from slapping his stomp tools on the cutting board.
His signal first hits a Keeley Monterey Custom Shop Edition, followed by an MXR Deep Phase, J. Rockett HRM, J. Rockett Melody OD (Lettieriās signature), Pigtronix Octava, and a Dunlop DVP4, all powered by a Strymon Ojai. A TC Electronic TonePrint Plethora X5 pedalboard handles coordination and switching between the devices.
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TC Electronic TonePrint Plethora X5 Pedalboard
Keeley Monterey Custom Shop Edition