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Rig Rundown: Modest Mouse's Jim Fairchild

The alt-rocker details and demos his wide-ranging guitar collection, expansive pedalboard, and dual-amp setup.

Fairchild’s main board starts with a Seymour Duncan Shaper Shifter, and from there the signal hits a Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus, an Ibanez DE7, a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver, an MXR Uni-Vibe, an EarthQuaker Devices Dirt Transmitter, a Boss PS-5 Super Shifter, a Soursound Hundred Dollar Boost, an EarthQuaker Devices The Depths, an Electro-Harmonix Micro POG, a Mr. Black Eterna, a DigiTech HardWire RV-7 Stereo Reverb, a Greer Amps Fish Press, an old-school Pro Co RAT, and a Boss TU-3 tuner. A pair of MXR DC Bricks provides the power.

Click here, to win an EarthQuaker Devices' The Depths just like Jim's.

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A rig meant to inspire! That’s Jerry Garcia with his Doug Irwin-built Tiger guitar, in front of his Twin Reverb + McIntosh + JBL amp rig.

Photo by Frank White

Three decades after the final Grateful Dead performance, Jerry Garcia’s sound continues to cast a long shadow. Guitarists Jeff Mattson of Dark Star Orchestra, Tom Hamilton of JRAD, and Bella Rayne explain how they interpret Garcia’s legacy musically and with their gear.

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Grover has introduced Grover Guitar Polish, a premium, all-natural guitar care solution designed to clean, shine, and protect your guitar’s finish. Whether you're polishing your prized axe or simply maintaining your gear, Grover Guitar Polish offers a safe, effective choice for making your guitar’s finish look its best.

Grover Guitar Polish is specially formulated to remove dirt, fingerprints, and grime while enhancing the natural luster of your guitar. The versatile polish is safe for virtually all guitars: it works on gloss, matte, and satin surfaces without causing damage or altering the finish.

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Noiseless pickups are lively and versatile. Coil-splitting widens color palette. Great fit and finish.

Noiseless pickups might exact slight cost in vintage Tele edge.

$1,029

Fender Player II Modified Telecaster SH

fender.com

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Incremental improvements yield a deeply satisfying whole in a Tele for all seasons.

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The 1929 Gibson L-5 Andy Fairweather Low plays on Invisible Bluesman was a gift from Eric Clapton and was previously owned by J.J. Cale.

The MVP sideman has spent his life playing with the stars, but he’s also a bandleader with a hit new album, The Invisible Bluesman. Fairweather Low also explains why Steve Cropper is his favorite guitarist.

If debuting a new album at No. 1 on the U.K. Jazz and Blues chart seems a lifetime away from topping the U.K. pop charts with the singsong-y “(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice,” it’s certainly a good chunk—56 of Andy Fairweather Low’s 76 years, to be exact. And on The Invisible Bluesman, Fairweather Low’s newly released, tradition-rooted long player, the Welshman channels Arthur Crudup by way of Robert Johnson, delivers an overdriven “Bright Lights, Big City,” and proves up to the challenge of “Lightnin’s Boogie.”

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