Raised on blues rock and Strats, this spunky shredder is now aiming to attract headbangers and mosh pits with headless Strandbergs and brand-new signature Lace Sensor pickups.
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.
Shop Erin Coburn's Rig
Strandberg Boden Classic NX 6
Strandberg Boden NX 6 Neck-Thru
Strandberg Boden Prog NX 7
Neural DSP Quad Cortex
DR Strings Veritas 10-46
DR Strings DDT 13-65
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Lutefish, the real-time music collaboration device and platform, is excited to announce a suite of new features designed to simplify setup, streamline collaboration, and offer more flexible subscription options for Lutefish Stream users. These latest updates, Audio Presets, Automatic Session Recall, Improved Scheduling with Contact Visibility, and a new Yearly Subscription Plan, are all about making it easier than ever for musicians to jam together, no matter where they’re based.
Save Time and Stay in the Flow with Audio Presets & Session Recall
Musicians can now save and reuse their exact audio settings, reducing setup time and ensuring every session sounds exactly as they want.
- Automatic Session Recall: When users leave a session, their current audio levels are automatically saved and restored when they rejoin.
- User-Defined Audio Presets: Each user can create and name up to five custom presets, like “Band Practice,” “Studio Mic Setup,” or “Quick Jam,” making it effortless to jump back in with the perfect sound.
“These tools are all about saving time and hassle,” said Patrick Finn, Business Manager at Lutefish. “Musicians want to make music, not spend time rebalancing levels every session. With presets and recall, we’re giving them time back and helping them sound their best, every time.”
Smarter Scheduling and Contact Visibility
The latest update to Lutefish also made it easier to find collaborators and book sessions. Users can now:- View all their contacts at a glance when scheduling a session.
- Instantly identify which contacts own a Lutefish Stream device—so they will always know who’s ready to jam.
Go Yearly and Save 20%
Lutefish now offers a Yearly Subscription Plan, providing users with the same great access as the monthly plan at a 20% discount.
This option is now available within the Lutefish app and web platform, and current monthly users are eligible for a discount with an upgrade to a yearly subscription.
Lutefish’s mission has always been to empower musicians to connect and collaborate without boundaries. With these new updates, Lutefish Stream continues to break down barriers—whether you’re jamming with a friend across town or collaborating with a bandmate 500 miles away.
For more information and to start jamming today, visitlutefish.com.
The veteran Florida-born metalcore outfit proves that you don’t need humbuckers to pull off high gain.
Last August, metalcore giants Poison the Well gave the world a gift: They announced they were working on their first studio album in 15 years. They unleashed the first taste, single “Trembling Level,” back in January, and set off on a spring North American tour during which they played their debut record, The Opposite of December… A Season of Separation, in full every night.
PG’s Perry Bean caught up with guitarists Ryan Primack and Vadim Taver, and bassist Noah Harmon, ahead of the band’s show at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl for this new Rig Rundown.
Brought to you by D’Addario.Not-So-Quiet As a Mouse
Primack started his playing career on Telecasters, then switched to Les Pauls, but when his prized LPs were stolen, he jumped back to Teles, and now owns nine of them.
His No. 1 is this white one (left). Seymour Duncan made him a JB Model pickup in a single-coil size for the bridge position, while the neck is a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound Staggered. He ripped out all the electronics, added a Gibson-style toggle switch, flipped the control plate orientation thanks to an obsession with Danny Gatton, and included just one steel knob to control tone. Primack also installed string trees with foam to control extra noise.
This one has Ernie Ball Papa Het’s Hardwired strings, .011–.050.
Here, Kitty, Kitty
Primack runs both a PRS Archon and a Bad Cat Lynx at the same time, covering both 6L6 and EL34 territories. The Lynx goes into a Friedman 4x12 cab that’s been rebadged in honor of its nickname, “Donkey,” while the Archon, which is like a “refined 5150,” runs through an Orange 4x12.
Ryan Primack’s Pedalboard
Primack’s board sports a Saturnworks True Bypass Multi Looper, plus two Saturnworks boost pedals. The rest includes a Boss TU-3w, DOD Bifet Boost 410, Caroline Electronics Hawaiian Pizza, Fortin ZUUL +, MXR Phase 100, JHS Series 3 Tremolo, Boss DM-2w, DOD Rubberneck, MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe, Walrus Slo, and SolidGoldFX Surf Rider III.
Taver’s Teles
Vadim Taver’s go-to is this cherryburst Fender Telecaster, which he scored in the early 2000s and has been upgraded to Seymour Duncan pickups on Primack’s recommendation. His white Balaguer T-style has been treated to the same upgrade. The Balaguer is tuned to drop C, and the Fender stays in D standard. Both have D’Addario strings, with a slightly heavier gauge on the Balaguer.
Dual-Channel Chugger
Taver loves his 2-channel Orange Rockerverb 100s, one of which lives in a case made right in Nashville.
Vadim Taver’s Pedalboard
Taver’s board includes an MXR Joshua, MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe, Empress Tremolo, Walrus ARP-87, Old Blood Noise Endeavors Reflector, MXR Phase 90, Boss CE-2w, and Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST-200, all powered by a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus.
Big Duff
Harmon’s favorite these days is this Fender Duff McKagan Deluxe Precision Bass, which he’s outfitted with a Leo Quan Badass bridge. His backup is a Mexico-made Fender Classic Series ’70s Jazz Bass. This one also sports Primack-picked pickups.
Rental Rockers
Harmon rented this Orange AD200B MK III head, which runs through a 1x15 cab on top and a 4x10 on the bottom.
Noah Harmon’s Pedalboard
Harmon’s board carries a Boss TU-2, Boss ODB-3, MXR Dyna Comp, Darkglass Electronics Vintage Ultra, and a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus. His signal from the Vintage Ultra runs right to the front-of-house, and Harmon estimates that that signal accounts for about half of what people hear on any given night.
Kiesel Guitars has introduced their newest solid body electric guitar: the Kyber.
With its modern performance specs and competitive pricing, the Kyber is Kiesel's most forward-thinking design yet, engineered for comfort, quick playing, and precision with every note.
Introducing the Kiesel Kyber Guitar
- Engineered with a lightweight body to reduce fatigue during long performances without sacrificing tone. Six-string Kybers, configured with the standard woods and a fixed bridge, weigh in at 6 pounds or under on average
- Unique shape made for ergonomic comfort in any playing position and enhanced classical position
- The Kyber features Kiesel's most extreme arm contour and a uniquely shaped body that enhances classical position support while still excelling in standard position.
- The new minimalist yet aggressive headstock pairs perfectly with the body's sleek lines, giving the Kyber a balanced, modern silhouette.
- Hidden strap buttons mounted on rear for excellent balance while giving a clean, ultra-modern look to the front
- Lower horn cutaway design for maximum access to the upper frets
- Sculpted neck heel for seamless playing
- Available in 6 or 7 strings, fixed or tremolo in both standard and multiscale configurations Choose between fixed bridges, tremolos, or multiscale configurations for your perfect setup.
Pricing for the Kyber starts at $1599 and will vary depending on options and features. Learn more about Kiesel’s new Kyber model at kieselguitars.com
The Sunset is a fully analog, zero latency bass amplifier simulator. It features a ¼” input, XLR and ¼” outputs, gain and volume controls and extensive equalization. It’s intended to replace your bass amp both live and in the studio.
If you need a full sounding amp simulator with a lot of EQ, the Sunset is for you. It features a five band equalizer with Treble, Bass, Parametric Midrange (with frequency and level controls), Resonance (for ultra lows), and Presence (for ultra highs). All are carefully tuned for bass guitar. But don’t let that hold you back if you’re a keyboard player. Pianos and synthesizers sound great with the Sunset!
The Sunset includes Gain and master Volume controls which allow you to add compression and classic tube amp growl. It has both ¼” phone and balanced XLR outputs - which lets you use it as a high quality active direct box. Finally, the Sunset features zero latency all analog circuitry – important for the instrument most responsible for the band’s groove.
Introducing the Sunset Bass Amp Simulator
- Zero Latency bass amp simulator.
- Go direct into the PA or DAW.
- Five Band EQ:
- Treble and Bass controls.
- Parametric midrange with level and frequency controls.
- Presence control for extreme highs.
- Resonance control for extreme lows.
- Gain control to add compression and harmonics.
- Master Volume.
- XLR and 1/4" outputs.
- Full bypass.
- 9VDC, 200mA.
Artwork by Aaron Cheney
MAP price: $210 USD ($299 CAD).