Two months ago, Lindsay Ell released her latest single, “Sweet Spot,” plus she’s on the way to issuing a new album, following up 2020’s Heart Theory. And for the tour leading into her next record, she’s also got a passel of updated gear since her 2018 Rig Rundown. No surprise, since there’s always something new happening with Ell—whether it’s touring under her own banner or with Shania Twain, scooping up Canadian Country Music Association awards, or serving as a judge on Canada’s Got Talent.
When it comes to guitars, Ell’s 6-string tastes run to the classics and custom-builds, and she’s got her signature OD aboard, so let’s take a look.
Brought to you by D’Addario XS Strings.
Play Mary Kaye
“I’m a Strat girl,” Lindsay Ell attests. And this one, a Fender Custom Shop ’56 Strat in aged shell pink, was a gift from Keith Urban. It’s got jumbo frets and has become a studio and road favorite.
Stitched-Up Heart
On her last Rig Rundown, Lindsay was touring with several Strats that she had handpainted. This tour, she’s continuing the tradition with this funky-beautiful Fender Standard Strat she calls “Just Another Girl.” Note the humbucker-and-two-single-coils combination, and, of course, the stitched-up heart.
Paint It, Blue
The backside of Ell's Fender Standard Strat that wears the title of popular track from her 2017 album, The Project.
High-Flying Strat
Ell was asked by John Mayer to play in the video that announced the release of his PRS SE Silver Sky, the lower-priced version of his signature Paul Reed Smith model. This is the guitar she played in that video.
Lil’ Red
This vintage, all-stock Gibson Melody Maker from the 1960s was also a gift from Keith Urban—a thank you for opening dates on his spring 2023 tour.
Ultra, Man
This Fender Ultra Strat, in an aged ash natural finish, is currently Lindsay’s main go-to onstage. This hot rod is outfitted with Fender’s noiseless single-coil pickups. Elle’s guitars are strung with a variety of sets, including green DR Strings (.010–.048s0, Stringjoys (.095–.048), and D’Addario .010–.052s and .011–.052s. Her picks are D’Addario heavies.
Mahogany Marvel
Ell’s main acoustic is a custom-built Rockbridge OOO made of mahogany by Brian Calhoun in Charlottesville, Virginia. It’s a major switch for this longtime Martin player.
Amp Duo
Ell plays through a pair of amps: a Vox AC30 head and a Ceriatone Overtone Special. That’s a Furman power conditioner beneath the pair of heads.
Cute Cabs
The AC30 hits a 2x12 with Celestion Greenbacks and the Ceriatone slams a 1x12 Dr. Z cab with a Celestion Gold speaker.
Lindsay Ell's Pedalboard
Lindsay’s pedalboard contains a PolyTune 3 Noir, a Wampler Ego Compressor, a Ceriatone Centura Professional Overdrive, a signature Siren Etana drive, Vertex Ultraphonix OD, an MU-FX Micro-Tron III filter, an Arion Stereo Chorus, a Providence Chrono Delay, a HardWire RV-7 Stereo Reverb, and a Strymon Zuma power supply.
Dabbling with Digital
In addition to her trad tube amp-and-pedalboard combo, Lindsay also has a Neural DSP Quad Cortex on tap that has modeled tones of her amps.
PG’s John Bohlinger hung with Benson and his longtime lap-steel player Cindy Cashdollar before a recent Grand Ole Opry performance in Nashville.
[Brought to you by D’Addario XS Strings: https://www.daddario.com/XSRR]
Ray Benson's Fender Custom Shop Texas Telecaster
Ray Benson’s big body Texas Telecaster from the Fender Nashville Custom Shop features an ebony fretboard and a push-push coil tap for neck pickup in the tone control. The volume control is a stacked control with a 500k pot in the neck humbucker and a 250k pot for Tele pickup. About this Tele one-off, famed Fender guru Tim Shaw says: “To accommodate Ray’s wish for a larger guitar without totally changing the Tele’s geometry, Josh Hurst drew up a body that’s the same in the neck joint/cutaway area but is larger in the lower bout. The body is ash, and it’s not chambered. This body shape was the basis for the Acoustasonic Tele.
“Ray wanted an ebony fingerboard, so we had our colleagues in the Corona R&D model shop make him a custom neck,” Shaw continues. “He also wanted a neck humbucking pickup but didn’t want to overwind the bridge pickup to match the higher output of the humbucker. I wound a set matching a mid-’60s spec Tele bridge pickup with a custom neck pickup (that also has a coil split on an S-1 switch.)”
Like all of Benson’s electrics, this Tele is strung with John Pearse Strings (.012, .014, .017, .036, .040, .052).
Ray Benson's 2016 Collings SoCo 16 LC Deluxe
This 2016 Collings SoCo 16 LC Deluxe is a semi-hollowbody built with Collings’ proprietary laminate recipe. It features a long-scale (25.5”) maple neck with Collings larger peg head, a custom neck carve, ebony fretboard, a Lollar Imperial Low Wind neck pickup, and a Lollar Novel T bridge pickup.
Ray Benson's Collings Eastside Jazz LC
This Collings Eastside Jazz LC is stock from the shop except for the neck finish, which was sanded down on the back of the neck.
Ray Benson's Gibson J-200
Benson’s Gibson J-200 features leather work by Kerry Wilcox and a Barbera Transducer pickup.
This Elvis-esque box stays strung with John Pearse Bronze Wound mediums.
Ray Benson's Guild D-55
Benson brings two acoustics on tour, the J-200 and this Guild D-55 with a Barbera transducer pickup. The Guild is also strung with John Pearse Bronze Wound mediums.
Ray Benson's Pedalboard
Benson is not an effects player. He uses a Shure ULX-D wireless system with a P10R+ bodypack receiver and a Radial Engineering Reamp impedance boost. For routing the guitars, he uses a Rupert Neve RNDI and a Radial BigShot i/o. Benson’s huge Boss TU-1000 Stage Tuner is visible from outer space.
Ray Benson's Fender Super Reverb
For amplification, Ray Benson goes with a stock Fender ’65 Super Reverb reissue and uses Planet Waves cables and Fender 354 medium picks.
Cindy Cashdollar's SteelMaster D8 Doubleneck Lap Steel
For the Grand Ole Opry gig, Cashdollar was playing a SteelMaster D8 doubleneck lap steel with eight strings on each neck, one tuned to E13 and one tuned to C6. This steel was built by well-known steel guitarist Herb Remington, revered for his work with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys band from 1946 to 1949 (he also composed the popular instrumental “Remington Ride”).
The Steelmaster D8 features an ash body and George L single-coil, 15k pickups. The scale length is 24 1/2". Cashdollar uses John Pearse Strings: The C6-tuned neck is strung with a Hawaiian Steel Guitar #7650 8-string set. The E13 tuning set can be ordered as separate strings, which they package as a set. The gauges for each tuning are as follow:
Neck #1 with C6 tuning:
- G – .011
- E – .014
- C – .018
- A – .024w
- G – .030w
- E – .036w
- C – .044w
- A – .054w
Neck #2 with E13 tuning:
- E – .013
- C# – .016
- B – .018
- G# – .024w
- F# – .030w
- D – .038w
- G# – .052w
- E – .064w
Cashdollar uses a John Pearse slide bar (3 1/4” Thermo-Cryonic Tone Bar), and thumbpicks, as well as Acri Picks fingerpicks.
Cindy Cashdollar's (Asleep at the Wheel) Pedalboard
Cashdollar has several bigger pedalboards, but for this Opry gig she went with a small travel board. It starts with a Durham Electronics Sex Drive clean boost running into a Telonics FP-100 Multi-Taper volume pedal, which feeds an Electro-Harmonix EHX-2020 tuner and her amp. A Boss DD-3 Digital Delay lives on the board but runs through the amp’s effects loop. A Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus powers it all.
Cindy Cashdollar's Telonics TCA-500C
Although Cashdollar has used various Fender amps in the past, she’s currently plugging into a new Telonics TCA-500C with a 15" speaker.