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.
Schecter Hellraiser C7
Here’s a sleek rock machine with an arched mahogany body, 24 jumbo frets, a Graph Tech XL Tusq nut, and a pair of EMG 707TW humbuckers.
$1,049 street
ESP LTD Eclipse EC-1007
Loaded with an EverTune bridge, this single-cut shred monster is bound to keep your djenty riffs in check. It features set-thru construction, a Macassar ebony fretboard, EMG active humbuckers, and thin neck profile.
$1,399 street
Ibanez Axion Label RGD71ALMS
Powered by a set of Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers, this multi-scale 7-string keeps things dead simple with only a master volume and pickup toggle plus two different voices via a push-pull knob. Its Wizard-7 neck shape is ready for speed.
$1,199 street
Jackson Pro Series Soloist SL7A MAH HT
This modern take on a 7-string houses a pair of Seymour Duncan Distortion 7 pickups along with 24 jumbo frets, a compound radius fretboard, and a mahogany body with an ash top. And dig the new take on the pearloid piranha-tooth inlays.
$1,299 street
Ernie Ball Music Man JP15 7
Legendary prog-metal shredder John Petrucci’s latest signature model 7-sstring is built for speed and chugs. It’s loaded with custom DiMarzio Illuminator pickups, a piezo bridge pickup, and an onboard gain boost.
$3,999 street
Strandberg Boden Prog NX7
Looking for a guitar with untraditional style? This headless 7-string is an ergonomic wonder. It comes with Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers, a sassafras body, a multi-scale Richlite fretboard, and the company’s EndurNeck profile.
$2,495 street
Epiphone Matt Heafy Les Paul Custom Origins
The third collaboration between Epiphone and the Trivium frontman is undoubtedly metal. Each guitar sports a pair of Heafy’s signature Fishman Fluence humbuckers (with three voices), a SpeedTaper D neck profile, gold hardware, and Les Paul Custom cosmetics.
$1,099 street
Caparison Guitars Dellinger 7 Prominence
Built with a carved mahoghany-maple-mahoghany body, this 7-string can be customized with either a Schaller or Floyd Rose bridge and is available in three different colors. It also has a 5-piece maple and walnut neck, 25.5" scale length, and custom Caparison pickups.
$3,699 street
Charvel DK24-7 NOVA Angel Vivaldi
Building upon a modified Dinky body, this signature model comes in satin sage green or black with gold hardware. Dig the reversed Fender headstock and the pair of DiMarzio pickups (Air Norton in the neck and Tone Zone in the bridge). The five-way switch also offers standard and parallel pickup options.
$1,749 street
PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN
As 33.3 percent of Periphery’s guitar army, Mark’s latest signature model is an affordable update that comes loaded with his signature Seymour Duncan passive humbuckers, a push/pull knob for single-coil tones, and a newly designed violin-top carve.
$1,099 street