Erin Coburn grew up on blues and classic rock. That background has afforded her a spotlight onstage for over half her life, including opening slots ahead of Marcus King and Blackberry Smoke. She released her first album Chaos Before Conformity in 2015 at just 14 years old. She was starting to cut a groove in the blues-rock genre, but the needle stopped when her ear latched onto the darker moods of Alice in Chains, more dynamic music of Sleep Token, and the technical proficiency from modern guitar whisperers Tim Henson and Scott LePage of Polyphia. Since then, her playing has sped up, her tunings have dropped—including the addition of a 7-string Strandberg—and she’s joined the heavier side of riffing with one goal in mind.
“I’m going more towards hard-rock and metal because I love it and that’s where my soul is—I just want to open up mosh pits someday!”
It’ll be interesting to see how she fuses her backbone of blues-rock with the new injection of musical blood. Regardless of the destination, we’re just glad to be sitting shotgun for the ride.
Before her band’s headlining show at Nashville’s Eastside Bowl, Erin Coburn welcomed PG’s Chris Kies onstage for a conversation about gear, music, and surprises in her lunchbox. She dished on how she gravitated (and possibly levitated) towards Strandberg guitars during a NAMM Show visit and then divulged a brand-new offering from Lace that includes some of her own signature of sweet ’n’ heat.
[Brought to you by D’Addario Strings & XPND Pedalboard.]
Bodacious
Erin started her guitar journey playing Strats and semi-hollows, but a fateful trip to the 2019 NAMM Show was all it took for her to be drawn in by headless horsemen of Strandberg. “I had seen guitarists play them on Instagram, but I never seen one in person, until I was walking by Strandberg at NAMM and I levitated towards their booth because I thought ‘those look so cool!’” She used her blues angle—a weak spot in their artist roster at the time—as an in with the company and they’ve been thick as thieves ever since.
This is one of two Strandberg Boden Classic NX 6 she had on tour. It has an alder body, quartersawn maple neck with a maple fretboard that has a 20" radius and Luminlay dots, Jescar 51100 stainless steel frets, the company’s trademarked EndurNeck profile, and Strandberg’s EGS Rev7 tremolo system & string locks. The typical Boden Classics come with Suhr pickups, but Coburn rocks Lace models in her Strandbergs—this HSS configuration takes the Sensor Dually Red-Blue humbucker in the bridge and a pair of Sensor Silver single-coils in the middle and neck slots. All the Strandberg models you’ll see weigh in at just five pounds!
Teal Steel
Here’s Coburn’s Strandberg Original NX 6 Tremolo Neck-Thru that features a chambered swamp ash body featuring a solid maple top capped a flame maple veneer. It also has a roasted maple neck with bird’s-eye maple fretboard that’s carbon-fiber reinforced. The major difference to a player like Coburn is the neck-thru construction that removes any need for a heel so she can grab every note packed on this 24-fret, 25.5"-scale shred stick.
Fresh Mags
Here is seemingly just another beautiful Strandberg Boden Classic NX 6, but if you look closely it’s stacked with a mint set of signature Erin Coburn Lace pickups. There are two highlights to point out in this H-S-S setup. First, is the bridge humbucker that’s a brand-new design blending Lace’s Purple and Gold Sensors that strive to be equally powerful as they are articulate. Second, the single-coils feature ceramic magnets, which is a first for Lace products. The middle single-coil features reverse-wound, reverse-polarity (RWRP) winding enhancing the second and fourth positions. The neck single-coil to Erin’s needs that require “robust power delivering a strong foundation for deeply rich and fuzzy warm tones.”
Tin Can Alley
Coburn gets rough and rowdy with this duo of lunchbox bruisers built by New Egypt Folk String Instrument Company. They only have four strings but offer enough attitude you won’t be missing the other two.
Shredulele
And if lunchbox rippers weren’t enough, Coburn busts out a Kala KA-20CE Concert Uke for a medley of covers. The mini monster is made of burled meranti and runs through her rig just like the rest of her instruments.
Strings & Things
For this run, all her guitars used DR Strings Veritas .010–.046, but as she’s started exploring lower tunings and test driving her new Strandberg Boden Prog NX 7 she’s began experimenting with DR’s DDT lineup of strings. She uses custom DR Strings straps to secure all her instruments, too.
Erin Coburn’s Pedalboard
We caught Coburn during a rig rebuild. During the Rundown, she alluded to a future layout that will be in stereo and feature two Bad Cat amps that will certainly rage and roar. However, during her stop in Nashville, she filled the room with rock thanks to the Neural DSP Quad Cortex. Her core tone centered around Rabea Massaad’s preset Clinic Vibes, but she changed a few things that she needed including the addition of the unit’s freeze feature and enabling her to run Clinic Vibes preset in mono. She’ll introduce a drive or a combination of two for dirty and lead tones, and she has a wah on tap, too. On the left side of the Quad Cortex rests a Mission Engineering SP1-ND Quad Cortex Expression pedal and on the right is a Boss FV-500 Volume pedal.
Kala
KA-SEM Exotic MahoganyMahogany is used for the neck, top, back, and sides of this soprano, which also features a GraphTech NuBone nut and saddle, an amber-satin finish, and a walnut fretboard.
$99 street
kalabrand.com
CORDOBA
15SMThis uke’s all-mahogany construction is intended to deliver full, rich sound, and features include an abalone rosette, ABS binding, and a sleek satin finish.
$89 street
cordobaguitars.com
LUNA
Vintage Mahogany with PreampOutfitted with a UK-T2 preamp and onboard tuner, this uke features mahogany for the body and walnut for the bridge and fretboard.$99 street
lunaguitars.com
MAGIC FLUKE
FleaWith 3-ply Australian hoop pine for the top and acoustically resonant thermoplastic for the body, these colorful ukes offer easy playability with plenty of personality.
$225 street
magicfluke.com
MAHALO
Java Series MJ1TBK-UThese ukes incorporate Indonesian rosewood for the fretboard and bridge, nyatoh for the arched-back body, and are outfitted with NuBone XB bridge saddles.
$42 street
mahalo-ukulele.com
PONO
ASSolid acacia for the top, back, and sides, and ebony for the fretboard and bridge compliment the rope-marquetry rosette and bone nut and saddle on this soprano.
$299 street
koolauukulele.com
IBANEZ
UEWS5The cutaway and C-shape neck makes for even easier access to all frets on this mahogany uke, while the abalone rosette and chrome open-gear tuners provide some nani.
$99 street
ibanez.com
LANIKAI
SPST-SThis morado-body uke has a solid spruce top for good projection and punchy tone, and features include a NuBone XB nut and saddle.
$189 street
lanikaiukuleles.com
ALVAREZ
AU90SUtilizing a modified take on traditional fan-style bracing to optimize response, this uke also features a solid rosewood bridge and a bone nut and saddle.
$179 street
alvarezguitars.com
GRETSCH
G9100Pearloid dot inlays and open-gear tuners provide a classic look, while a genuine bone nut and saddle assist with resonance for this mahogany top, back, and sides uke.
$99 street
gretschguitars.com
