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Rig Rundown: Henry Kaiser's Five Times Surprise

A studio visit with the new gear-heavy improv/art-rock supergroup that includes Henry Kaiser, Andy West, and Anthony Pirog.

Henry’s had his custom-built Klein since the early ’90s—he’s an early adopter of, essentially, everything—but replaced the original neck with one by Sweden’s True Temperament. Check out those frets, shown close up in the following photo. The guitar fits easily in an airplane’s overhead compartment, and Henry’s brought it to Antarctica, where he’s a scientific diver for the U.S. Antarctic Program, five or six times. Once it was so cold the bridge cracked. The pickups are by Alembic.

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