Rig Rundown: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

Jett’s primary guitar for most of her shows for the last 20 years is a battered and sticker-bedecked Gibson Melody Maker with a single Red Rhodes Velvet Hammer humbucker. A black-finished 2011 signature Melody Maker with a Velvet Hammer that was a gift of the late Brian Farmer (guitar tech for Warren Haynes) serves as yet another backup. The volume knobs on all her guitars are wrapped with the hooked side of a piece of Velcro to increase their grip-ability, and each instrument features D’Addario .010–.046 string sets. Nagy says that a big part of Jett’s sound comes from using the broad, serrated edge of her D’Andrea Delrex Sharkfin 1.0 mm picks.