![Rig Rundown: Steel Panther's Satchel [2023]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-steel-panther-s-satchel-2023.jpg?id=33410178&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
Steel: hard metal. Panther: one of the most ferocious animals. Put them together, and you have perhaps the greatest band of the 21st century. And, hot off the release of their latest, most ass-kicking album ever, Steel Panther is re-invading America. While in Nashville, before they played a blistering set for a packed crowd at Marathon Music Works, Panther’s lead guitarist Satchel invited PG’s John Bohlinger to soundcheck to show off his mighty rig.
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Wild Tiger
Satchel’s main axe is his Charvel Satchel signature model in yellow bengal, which features a 25.5"-scale maple fretboard with a neck with a compound radius of 12"-16". This tiger also features two Fishman Fluence humbucker pickups and a Floyd Rose tremolo.
Picks of Destiny
All of his electrics are strung with Dunlop .009–.042 strings, and Satchel rips with Dunlop Tortex Flow .88 picks.
Party Like It's 1987
This custom 1987 Charvel Satchel model, made to commemorate Steel Panther's latest album, has all of the ingredients of the standard Satchel model, but features art by Ron Williams from RonzWorld Guitars. The design includes a graffiti-inspired top and back and strippers pole-dancing on the fretboard.
Falcon Folk
When Satchel wants to go acoustic, he steps up to his Gretsch G5022CWFE-12 Rancher Falcon Jumbo 12-String Acoustic-Electric guitar, which remains on a K&M acoustic guitar performer stand so he can easily switch back to his Charvel when he wants to unleash hell.
Satchel's Pedalboard
Although Satchel spent decades in front of a wall of 4x12 cabinets, he now relies on one tiny Atomic Amplifire 3 Modeler running on the “5051” model for distorted sounds and the “D-Lux” model for clean, which sends the signal in mono to the front-of-house and monitors.
Satchel runs his Charvel into a Sennheiser EW 572 G3 Wireless which sends his face-melting riffs into his TC Electronic Polytune 3 Noir Mini, followed by an All Pedals Steel Panther 1987 Distortion & Delay, a Way Huge Smalls Conspiracy Theory Professional Overdrive, and an MXR Phase 95. A Strymon Ojai provides the juice.
![Rig Rundown: All Them Witches [2021]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-all-them-witches-2021.jpg?id=28279952&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
Sleeping Through the War, in 2017, explored more purposeful, mystical songcraft cloaked in hypnotic, rambunctious rock. For 2018’s ATW, the band’s IV-like retreat (substitute Headley Grange for a Tennessee cabin) extracted a doomier, more chaotic side A equally matched by a side B that’s a psychedelic painkiller. And 2020’s Nothing as the Ideal shows the temporary power trio (drummer Robby Staebler completes the line-up) striking a levitating balance within a menacing, mortar of metal that binds and anchors their emotive, effervescent excursions. (Drop the needle on closer “Rats in Ruin” and let it wash over you.)
Just before their sold-out show at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium (on Halloween, no less), Witches guitarist Ben McLeod and bassist/vocalist Charles Michael Parks Jr. welcomed PG’s Chris Kies onstage to re-chronicle their setups. The resulting conversation covers their modified war horses, deciphers their esoteric stacks, and reveals the secrets of the “doom broom.” Plus, we get hip to new builder Elad Shapiro of Dale Amps.
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McLeod’s Monster
Starting off the Rundown, just like the 2016 episode, we have Ben’s beloved 2010 Gibson Les Paul Traditional. He’s done several mods to make this instrument a third appendage. McLeod had removed the stock speed knobs, opting for witch-hats (of course). However, he’s a big proponent of precise volume manipulation, so he put back the speed knobs for the two volume controls. He replaced the plastic nut with one made of bone. He says it not only helps with intonation but gives the guitar a silkier, smoother sound. The stock bridge Classic ’57 humbucker was swapped out for a DiMarzio Super Distortion. And, although it was mentioned last time, it’s worth noting that the pickguard was removed because McLeod is a big fan of Duane Allman and he didn’t feel like covering the full burst.
All the guitars take D'Addario NYXLs (.010–.046) and are typically tuned to D standard or drop C (C-G-C-F-A-D). And all his guitar maintenance is handled by Eastside Music Supply tech and PG contributor Derek Ness, who authored our 2019 edition of No-Brainer Mods.
Knaggs Nailed It
When a custom builder like Joe Knaggs comes calling as a fan, you answer. The Maryland-based luthier wanted to send McLeod a few guitars and the 6-stringing Witch said, “absolutely!” The SG-ish Honga is his favorite. “This guitar has an ungodly amount of midrange, and it is so awesome,” gushes McLeod. “It’s an amazingly, well-built guitar.” The set-neck, double-cutaway axe has a 24.75" scale length and came with Bare Knuckle Mules. The lone mod on this guitar (again done by Derek Ness) was swapping the pickup selector from below (near the control knobs) to up top, like Les Pauls.
Roy Marks the Spot
“I’m obsessed with Roy Buchanan,” admits McLeod. “So, I had to have a guitar that looked like his, with a butterscotch blonde finish and black pickguard.” This bombshell is a Fender American Vintage ’52 Telecaster. Ben reversed the control plate and put the volume knob ahead of the tone control, so he had easier access to the volume knob for county-ish, pedal-steel bends. He also dropped in a set of Fralin Blues Special Tele single-coils because he heard that his current favorite picker, Kenny Vaughan, loves them. For ATW, it’s primarily a safety net, but when he’s home he plays this T the most. (And for a taste of how it sounds, spin Ben’s surf-western side project El Castillo.)
Slippery Slides
For songs like “Rats in Ruin,” McLeod will grab a Dunlop Heavy Wall Large Glass Slide (213), and he attacks the strings with Dunlop Tortex .73 mm picks.
Fourth-Grade Fender
This is still the same Fender Twin Reverb reissue Ben was using in 2016, which he’s been blasting through since fourth grade, when he got it for Christmas. He’s had it outfitted with a master volume knob (far right control) so he can dial back its roar at home. (He leaves it wide open when onstage.) Another alteration was removing the pair of Jensens for a couple of alnico Warehouse Guitar Speakers 50W Blackhawks.
The Gain Monster
This mysterious box of rock is a very angry interpretation of a 50W JCM800. Built by Nashvillian Elad Shapiro (Dale Amps is the company), it features a Hiwatt output transformer and Mullard EL34s. A 2x12 open-back Dale cab is loaded with a set of Warehouse Guitar Speakers ET65s. In flight, he uses either the Twin Reverb (clean) or the Dale (heavy). (During the Rundown, Ben alludes to a forthcoming 100W version that will be used on their winter run and into 2022.)
For those who can’t read Hebrew, the controls are as follows: (top, from left) preamp gain, master volume, and presence, while below you have treble, mids, and bass.
Lucky for us, we had the amp builder himself on hand, and here’s what he said about his creation: “It’s a 4-stage, high-gain amplifier with three EL34s in the output, three 12AX7s in the preamp, and it has a Hiwatt Partridge output transformer. I like to use them because they’re very open and chime-y sounding. The biggest difference between this and a JCM800 is that it doesn’t have a cold-clipper stage—how the tube is biased causes it to do something unpleasing to my ear. And it cleans up real nice when you ease off the volume.”
6-pack and a Wah
As diverse as the band’s sound can be, Ben keeps his stomps relatively straightforward. His sweet baby Boss BD-2 Blues Driver still finds a home on his board. The rest of his colors come from fresh friends: a duo each of Electro-Harmonix (Holy Grail and Deluxe Memory Man 1100-TT) and MXR (Carbon Copy and Phaser 90) boxes, and a Stomp Under Foot La Scatola Nera. This pedal was a result of a request from Ben to SUF’s Matthew Pasquerella “to have a new and different fuzz from his Alabaster pedal, and add an octave.” Off to the right he has a Dunlop Cry Baby 95Q wah that replaced his Vox V847 Wah because he prefers its wide sweep and not having to engage the circuit, thanks to its auto-return switching. The Radial BigShot ABY True Bypass Switcher controls the amps, while the TC Electronic PolyTune 3 Mini keeps his guitars in check.
In our last Rundown, we picked our jaw off the floor and left scratching our head when first encountering bassist Charles Michael Parks, Jr. amputated 1972 Rickenbacker (left). At that time, he used the bewildering 4001 most of the night. The only sub happened when going for his 1966 Rickenbacker 450/12 for Dying Surfer Meets His Maker songs Call Me a Star” and “Talisman.” As the story went, the guy he bought it from was left-handed, and he chopped off the upper bout, slashed off some of the headstock, and flipped it around to play lefty. Parks got the bass super cheap, had set it up to play right-handed, reworked the electronics, shaved the bridge and moved it back, and then outfitted it for a proper stereo jack. It usually has D’Addario Half Round (.050–.105) strings. And, as Parks puts it, “it’s a battle axe. If being dragged behind a truck had a sound, it’d be this.”
Since then, he had budding luthier and tech whiz Derek Ness build him a more dependable, road-worthy replica of the oddball (right). Besides the original’s brighter toaster pickups and its frayed look, the biggest difference is that the Ness Custom model has a Hipshot BT3 Bass Xtender detuner.
Daddy Played Bass
This 1962 Fender P bass was bought by Parks’ father in 1965 and was recently gifted to him. His father’s friends were sound engineers and, like the P’s designer, didn’t play the instrument, but they heavily tinkered with its circuitry by putting in a Jazz bass pickup and additional switching. Shortly after purchasing the P, his father smashed the switches and gave it a bizarrely beautiful sound.
The Groove
From all the years of playing it, Parks’ father worked a serious thumbprint just above the J pickup.
SG Me to 69, Please
A week after Woodstock (possibly after seeing Carlos Santana rip on an SG Special), Parks’ father picked up this 1969 Gibson SG Custom (factory built with only two pickups and a Bigsby) at Hazen’s Music Store in Plattsburgh, New York. Again, being the generous father he is, he gifted it to his son.
Twin Towers
Parks’ trusts his tone to Dale, aka Elad, Shapiro, too. The clean amp (right) pumps out 120W and is loosely based on an Ampeg circuit, but uses six 6L6s (instead of KT88s) because Elad prefers “a rounder, thumpier, bluesier sound.” It has an additional midrange control and a robust transformer for a solid DI out (aiming for the Motown gold-standard tone). The left-side head is chasing the thunderous sound of a Sunn Model T. It has an added gain stage and a beefed-up power supply for more voltage, making it the ultimate companion to the doom broom. Both Dale cabinets have a single 15" speaker (below) and a pair of 12s (top). The 1980s Sovtek Mig 100H is just paperweight backup for now.
Parks' Pedal Playground
The lone survivor from our 2016 rundown is Parks’ Red Panda Raster, because of his love for its reverse-delay setting. New arrivals include a Boss DD-200 Digital Delay (used only on “Diamonds”), a Greer Little Samson, MXR FOD (hits the dirty amp), and a Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb. A Radial Twin City Active ABY Switcher controls the amps, a Radial Voco-Loco Effects Switcher colors his vocals, and a Sonic Research ST-300 Turbo Tuner keeps his instruments in line.
Indeed, a pick can strongly influence our musical decision-making: Do we play linear, single-note lines in a more legato fashion because we want to minimize the crisp attack our heavy pick imparts, or do we crank out melodic double-stops because that same pick attack pushes them over the top in such an addictive way? Do we add upstroke ghost notes to that rhythm part because our thin pick gives them an ethereal subtlety, or just keep a battery of eighth-notes going because the understated feel helps build tension? Regardless of the genre of music you play, and the musical applications you're attempting to serve, your choice of pick will provide a tonal foundation for your sound and your technique.
Fortunately, it's a good time to explore picks, because there's a smorgasbord of varieties available today. In addition to the big pick kahunas that've been around for decades—companies like Fender, Dunlop, D'Andrea, and Ernie Ball—a slew of smaller manufacturers are making top-notch picks in a variety of styles and materials. These new companies include Red Bear Trading Company, Steve Clayton, V-Picks, Wegen, JB, BlueChip, Golden Gate, PickBoy, Wedgie, and more. If, like most players, you've been using the same pick for years, perhaps now's the time to experiment with shapes and materials you'd never considered before. You may be amazed at what a sharper tip, a heavier gauge, or a more unusual material might bring out of you. And it's a helluva lot cheaper than shelling out for another guitar, amp, or even a pedal.
1. The Material World
Generalizations about the tonal characteristics of pick materials are hard to make, because everyone uses them a bit differently. But if you've ever been caught without a pick and had to resort to fishing a quarter out of your pocket, you know just how harsh and unforgiving the wrong material can be. (Although, even a quarter may be a fitting plectrum in some circumstances!)
By and large, most electric guitarists today use some form of plastic or nylon pick, but the types of plastic have changed considerably over the years. Luigi D'Andrea first began making guitar picks from cellulose acetate plastic back in 1922, and it has remained one of the standard materials for guitar picks ever since, as with Ernie Ball's standard line of Cellulose Acetate Nitrate picks (ernieball.com). Some pick purists swear by "tortoiseshell," which is actually made from the shell of the Atlantic Hawksbill Turtle—an endangered species that is, incidentally, not a tortoise at all. When real turtle shell was banned from trade back in 1973, pick makers turned to plastics to emulate its combination of flexibility and durability. In the process, they discovered DuPont Delrin, the material used in Dunlop's long-lived and very popular Tortex line (jimdunlop.com), D'Andrea's Delrex line (dandreausa.com), and Ernie Ball's new Everlast picks.
The Tortex pick's distinctive powdery texture—which applies friction to the strings and helps make for a surer grip— comes from a proprietary polishing process that's part of Dunlop's own version of the basic "punch-and-tumble" pick-making technique. (The other frequently used process is injection molding.) "For the longest time, our nylon picks were No. 1 for us in the US," says Jimmy Dunlop, "and they're still huge in the UK. But, starting in the early '90s with the grunge guys, Tortex really started to take over: All those guys used Tortex—Kurt Cobain, Jerry Cantrell, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden … ."
While Delrin aims to emulate the properties of turtle shell, newer plastics like Ultem (polyetherimide) are also being used, including in Dunlop's Ultex line and Steve Clayton's Ultem picks (steveclayton.com). Many tortoiseshell enthusiasts—especially bluegrass and Gypsy-jazz players—are also singing the praises of Red Bear Trading Company (redbeartrading.com), whose Red Bear Original and Tortis picks are made of a polymerized animal protein that Red Bear's Michael Skowron likes to call "cultured turtle shell." Companies like Wegen (wegenpicks.com), Golden Gate, and BlueChip (bluechippick.net) are also making tortoiseshell-style picks from various materials.
Nylon picks—including the legendary Herco Flex used by Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, and Gene Simmons (and which are now made and distributed by Dunlop)—have been a mainstay for many players for decades. They have an arguably brighter sound and more flexibility than comparably thick plastic picks, and they very often have textured grips that make them less likely to slip out of your hand at that sweaty blues jam. They may appeal more to players shooting for a vintage sound, as they seem less suited to the kind of very compressed tone and tight rhythm phrasing that modern rockers gravitate towards.
Stone, wood, leather, and other more exotic materials certainly have their place, too—both as aesthetically beautiful items and as alternate tone generators. In general, the harder and denser the material, the more crisp and cutting the resulting sound. As with guitar bodies and necks, wood picks can impart a variety of tones ranging from brighter and more articulate (e.g., from harder woods) to earthier, warmer sounds from softer woods. The Stone Picks Co. (stonepicks.com) makes picks from gemstones and jade, while Stoneworks (stoneworkspicks.com) creates one-of-a-kind picks from materials like turquoise, variscite, and something they call "dinosaur bone." Surfpick (surfpick.com) makes plectra out of lignum vitae wood, while Pick Your Axe (pickyouraxe.com) offers a variety of woods, including zebrawood, walnut and bubinga. If you're hell-bent for leather, you'll want to check out Corter Leather (corterleather.bigcartel.com), which makes picks out of good ol' hide—you can even have them tanned to order. If you find you still like the sound of that nickel or quarter after all, you might look into Fender's Steel pick (fender.com)— just don't drop it in a slot machine.
2. Get with the Thickness
Whatever the material, a thinner pick— somewhere between .40 and .60 mm for more standard materials like Delrin or nylon—will have a lighter sound that often works better for acoustic strumming and other applications where you want a more trebly tone. The classic strummed acoustic guitar zing sound—so useful on rock, pop, and country recordings for filling in the midrange and helping to define rhythms— is almost always the result of using a thin or extra thin pick. Indeed, the noise of the thin pick flapping against the strings is often an essential part of that sound.
Conversely, thin picks make little sense for rock rhythm guitar or lead, however, as they deliver very little bass or midrange tone, and simply lack the heft necessary to bring out a well-rounded tone on singlenote leads. For that, you'll at least need to step up to a medium-gauge pick—which is generally in the range of .60 to .80 mm. Mediums remain the most popular pick thickness, and with good reason: While they're not ideal for zingy strumming, they're the perfect combination of stiffness and flexibility for rock rhythm work and full-bodied acoustic accompaniment (especially in solo situations), and they've got enough heft to produce powerful tones on leads and hook figures as well. Tonally, they tend to help produce a good blend of high-end bite and lower mid-range thump, without being too shrill or boomy.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with a little boom. For a heavier sound, you'll naturally want to gravitate to a heavier pick—basically anything past .80 mm. At the lower end of this range, you'll still have enough flexibility for crunchy rhythms, but you'll also have the firmness you need for full-bodied chord arpeggios and fat lead lines. In fact, it's noteworthy just how much one's tone changes in switching from a medium to a thick pick. Solos suddenly sound more dynamically even—almost compressed— with fewer transients and spikes. And you may even find that your leads seem to clean up a bit, as there's likely to be less pick noise and less slop in your playing.
At the thicker end of this range, over 1.5 mm, you'll find the ideal weights for bebop and other big-body jazz guitar playing— sounds that become increasingly mellow and warm, and lines that sound even cleaner and more burnished. But the biggies aren't just for jazz cats: Metal dudes who favor a bottom-heavy, scooped-mid sound will also want to experiment with picks in the 1.5 mm to 3 mm range.
3. Shape of Things
The shape of your pick is another place to consider experimenting. While you may be attached to a certain shape, as your playing develops, you may find that a different shape becomes more desirable. Generally, electric players who want more precision, control, and articulation of single-note lines (including shred kings like Dream Theater's John Petrucci, who uses teardrop-shaped d) will gravitate toward smaller, heavier picks with pointier tips, which is why virtually all jazz-oriented picks are shaped this way.
As Jimmy Dunlop puts it, "If you make the conversion to a Jazz III pick, you're not coming back. If you suddenly were to go back to a standard-size pick after that, it would be like putting on a pair of clown shoes and trying to run the 40-yard dash. You simply develop a more articulate style with a pick like that."
Those teardrop and small, triangular shapes, says Ernie Ball's Derek Brooks, "were really made popular by the jazz guys, and I've also noticed that a lot of the progressive, highly technical shred players also prefer those. Arguably, there's less drag on a smaller pick like that." Apart from the standard, teardrop and jazz shapes, other essential shapes include the equilateral triangle and the fin shape, which offers more than one style of contact surface, including a multi-point edge, as well as a more standard rounded point.
But it's not just the shape you should consider, either—it's which part of said shape you use. Some players use the rounded rear portion of the standard pick shape to get a sound that's a little more full and, well, rounded.
4. Tap into Textures
Though it's probably one of the most overlooked aspects of picks from a tonal perspective, believe it or not, the texture of your plectrum's surface can also be a big deal. Many pick designs—including Dunlop's traditional Nylon picks (as well as their Max-Grip cousins) and D'Andrea's Brain picks—feature raised lettering and/ or other patterns intended to help you maintain a better hold under sweaty conditions. But a lot of players like these raised surfaces even more for the impact they have on tone. Famous players who reportedly flip these picks around so that the textured grip surface comes in contact with the strings include country star Keith Urban and U2's the Edge (who uses nylon Herdim picks with raiseddot grippage). Try it out—grab a pick with raised dots or lettering, and dig how it imparts a more biting texture to your sound.
How to Pull off a Rockin' Pick Slide
A dramatic pick slide is either the coolest pick trick, or the dorkiest, depending on how well you pull it off. If you sound like Eddie Van Halen on the intro to 1979's "D.O.A.," you've got it mastered. If your cat shrieks—keep practicing. A Dunlop Tortex Heavy has the perfect mix of grainy, powdery texture and weight for pick slides, while most cellulose and nylon picks don't. Here's the key: The pick should be held flat against the low E string, so that the gripping surface—not the edge—is what contacts the string. (That's why they don't call it a "pick scrape." No one said a glory move like this would be easy.) Start with the pick back by the bridge, and drag it rapidly along the length of the string, all the way to the nut. You'll want to have a decent amount of gain for this—and it doesn't hurt to have a phaser and some delay to help create that jet-swoosh sound while making the whole slide that much bigger and broader. —JR
5. A Question of Style
Ultimately, the pick you choose will have everything to do with what style of music you play and the unique attributes you bring to that style. Still, it's equally fascinating that it also works the other way around: The pick you use can have a determining effect on how your style develops. "I like to play solos, so I prefer a heavy pick for digging in," says Ernie Ball's Brooks, "and that's the only pick I use. So I'm aware that that's had a big impact on my rhythm style, which might be quite different if I'd used a medium pick all these years."
Although players of all types are encouraged to be adventurous with every consideration we're discussing here, there are still some pretty reliable rules of thumb to follow if you're new to guitar and are overwhelmed by the possibilities. For acoustic players, here's what we recommend: Acoustic chord strummers will generally want to use a thin pick, probably one made of cellulose, Delrin, or faux tortoiseshell. Acoustic flatpickers engaging in more intricate playing and single-note lines will probably prefer something a bit more rigid, perhaps a medium or a heavy. And they, too, will want to seek out some of the excellent tortoiseshell replacements, such as Red Bear's Original and Tortis, Dunlop's Ultex, Clayton's Ultem, or JB's Shell Sonics (jbpicks.com). That said, a good old-fashioned Fender Medium or D'Andrea Classic Celluloid will also work. And if thumbpicks are your calling, most manufacturers have something that'll suit your needs.
Electric rock players, on the other hand, can, uh, take their pick, though they will almost certainly favor medium to very heavy gauges of standard-shaped or large triangular picks, with either a rounded or a sharp tip. Classic- and indie-rock players might consider nylon or cellulose, while metal and grunge aficionados might steer toward Delrin or even acrylic models, such as V-Picks' Stiletto, Switchblade, Venom, or Snake models (v-picks.com). As we mentioned previously, regardless of genre, if accuracy and precision are your game, consider trying a smaller, harder pick with a sharp tip. Jazz players also typically favor the smaller, harder picks, such as Dunlop's Jazz III or Big Stubby, Planet Waves Black Ice Extra Heavy (planetwaves.com), PickBoy Pos-A-Grip Jazz (pickboyguitarpicks.com), and many others.
To Each Their Own
There's no accounting for taste, of course, and the only way to really find your true voice on the instrument is to keep practicing and keep experimenting. Ultimately, only your own ears can tell you when you've found the pick that best assists you in realizing the sound inside your head. And chances are, your idea of what constitutes the ideal pick will evolve over time, or at least broaden to include different considerations for different applications. So try as many as you can and keep your ears—and your mind—open. With that approach, you're sure to always pick a winner.
Alternative Picks
Not everyone is content to use a pick made from cellulose, nylon, or even stone, and even the most diehard tortoiseshell user may want to change things up now and again. Fortunately, offbeat pick variations and other unusual string-strokers abound.
Jellifish Plectrum Effect
Looking a bit like Sigmund the Sea Monster, the Jellifish pick is not really a pick at all, but a series of 18 small pieces of guitar-string-like wire arranged on a slight grade and held together by a plastic, pick-like fob. You can produce a chorus effect by grazing it over the strings laterally, or arc it back and forth over the strings for a sound not unlike a cello or a viola. jellifish.com
The Wirething Guitar Pick
This little oddity comes in models that use a nylon, acrylic, or plastic injection-molded body with a small metal wire made of steel or copper alloy for striking the strings. Jerry Donahue and Gene Bertoncini sing its praises, which isn't bad company to keep. wirething.com
Fred Kelly Bumblebee Jazz
This interesting hybrid is basically a yellow thumbpick attached to a small, black flatpick, giving you the best of both worlds. fredkellypicks.com
Heet Sound EBow
While not a pick in the usual sense, the EBow has been cool for so long and through so many phases of musical fashion, that its actual method of actuating strings—by focusing "a sympathetic oscillating magnetic field" on them—is almost secondary. Used liberally by everyone from Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew to Radiohead, Bloc Party, and Opeth, it's almost certainly the most popular device for coaxing sounds from a guitar outside of a traditional guitar pick. With a sound somewhere between a guitar synth and an angry cello, it's simply a must-have for every recording player. ebow.com/home.php
Updated on 4/20/2021.