Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

Rig Rundown: The Wild Feathers

The Nashville-based rockers are on a tear with their Neil Young-meets-Tom Petty jams. Find out what vibey gear, classic combos, and boutique stomps power their stage shows.

Guitar-slinging assassin Daniel Donato joined the band this year as lead guitarist and only needed this Fender Custom Shop ’63 Telecaster to rock the Ryman. He’s swapped in a Glendale Guitars bridge plate because it allows him to emulate Don Rich by picking closer to the saddles for more dynamic playing and tones. Another upgrade he opted for was implementing Emerson saddles because they’re indestructible and help intonation issues. And he also dropped in a pair of Seymour Duncan pickups—a BG1400 neck pickup and an Antiquity I bridge model. Donato uses Ernie Ball Cobalt .010–.046 strings.

SWShopTheRigButton

Click below to subscribe to our weekly Rig Rundown podcast: 

Montana’s own Evel Knievel

If artists aren’t allowed to take risks, and even fail, great art will never be made. Need proof? Check Picasso, Hendrix, Monk, and Led Zeppelin.

In sixth grade, I went to a strict Catholic school. When you have an Italian-Irish mother, that’s just part of the deal. The nuns had the look and temperament of the defensive line of the ’70s Oakland Raiders. Corporal punishment was harsh, swift, and plentiful–particularly toward boys—and we all feared them. All but one second grader. I can’t remember his first name; nobody used it, because his last name was Knievel. His uncle was Evel Knievel, the greatest and perhaps only celebrity ever to come from my home state, Montana. On the playground, we would watch in awe as this wild Knievel kid raced by us, nuns chasing in an awkward, sluggish pursuit as he knocked kids over, dust, books, and gravel flying behind his path of terror. This kid was fearless. It was truly inspiring to watch.

Read MoreShow less

Nashville luthier and guitar tech Dave Johnson shows us the baker's dozen of tools he thinks any guitar picker requires to be a guitar fixer.

Read MoreShow less

Kemper updated the entire product range introducing the all-new Kemper Profiler MK 2 Series. More Power. More Flexibility.

Read MoreShow less

The Billy Idol guitarist rides his Knaggs into Nashville.

Read MoreShow less