Yasmin Williams' gateway drug to guitar was a video game. After defeating Guitar Hero II (on expert, no less), her parents encouraged the budding interest by giving Yasmin an electric.
"I guess they were impressed that I beat the game," admits Williams. "They got me an electric first and so I learned Hendrix and Nirvana songs. I really wanted to be a metal-head shredder like Paul Gilbert and Steve Vai … that didn't work out [laughs], so I switched to acoustic because I could lay the guitar across my lap and tap on the neck much like playing the harder, faster songs on Guitar Hero."
In addition to playing the acoustic guitar (in traditional and non-traditional styles), Williams sprinkles in toe-tapping percussion (yes, she wears tap shoes that dance on a board that rest on her guitar's case), cello-bow drones, metallic-hammer touches, and even dabbles in traditional African instruments like the kalimba and kora.
She's joined the venerable instrumental label Spinster (women-run label), shared the stage with fingerstyle icon Kaki King, and aims to continue expressing herself through the guitar with any means necessary.
She's been playing for over 10 years and released two buoyant, joyful instrumental records—2018's Unwind and 2021's Urban Driftwood. Her most recent collection of songs was an empathetic and uplifting response to U.S.'s social unrest in 2020.
Just after putting out her latest album, the one-woman ensemble virtually welcomed PG's Chris Kies into her D.C.-based rehearsal studio.
In this episode, the unconventionally great guitarist shows off her main instruments, illustrates how she expands the acoustic guitar's possibilities (incorporating two-hand lap tapping, an Engle hammer, and a cello bow), and gets wild and weird with a pair of digital dreamers—a Strymon BigSky and Hologram Electronics Microcosm.
[ Brought to you by: D'Addario Pro Plus Capo]
Skytop Grand Concert Multi-Scale Acoustic
Above is Williams' mainstay acoustic—a multi-scale Skytop Grand Concert model handbuilt by luthier Eric Weigeshoff. No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, the teredo Sitka spruce top does have holes in it. Before coming to Weigeshoff's New York-based shop, the sourced Sitka was used in the PNW to line around rafts accessing the Puget Sound. The teredo worms chew through the logs, boring out unique patterns and grooves. The use of the holed tonewood enhances Williams' percussive playing style. In addition to the teredo holes on top, Weigeshoff put in two of his signature side soundholes that create a stereo effect allowing her to hear herself better onstage.
Her No. 1 came loaded with James May Engineering Ultra Tonic V3 pickups. The Skytop takes GHS Silk and Steel (.011–.048) strings, she goes with a Black Mountain thumbpicks, sometimes strikes the strings with an Engle Guitar Hammer, and exclusively uses Shubb Capos. The guitar will be in all sorts of tunings, but most often it rides in open D ("because things just sound beautiful and light").
Here's the reverse side of Yasmin's Grand Concert with its stunning spalted tamarind used for the sides and back.
Timberline Guitars T60HGHpc
"I never thought I'd get a harp guitar," admits Williams. "It just looks like too much is going on [laughs]." However, when she was introduced to this parlor-sized Timberline Guitars T60HGHpc during NAMM 2020, the idea of a harp guitar was more in her grasp.
Its top, back, and sides are made from solid acacia, while the mahogany neck is paired with a Macassar ebony fretboard. Tamarind is used for the comfort arm bevel and it's also used as binding to contrast against the acacia body.
The double-neck harp is outfitted with a dual-output system that uses a pair of 3-element contact K&K Sound Pure Mini pickups.
And the upper sub-bass strings are typically tuned to a g scale.
21-string Kora
Another instrument Williams will pluck on is this 21-string Kora. The instrument is native to West Africa and was developed in the 16th century.
Hugh Tracey Kalimba
As a child, Yasmin loved Earth, Wind & Fire's hit "Kalimba Story" (off Open Our Eyes) and it inspired her to add it to her onstage repertoire. In practice, Williams will rest this Hugh Tracey Kalimba on her acoustic's top (behind the bridge) and tap out melodies on the guitar's neck with her left hand and hit the kalimba with her right. (A great example of her dexterity is the song "Guitka" that closes out her debut album, Unwind.)
Yasmin's Pedalboard
Since finding her footing with the acoustic guitar, Yasmin has been slowly filling her Holeyboard stomp station. (She's a big fan of the Holeyboard because she can test out new pedals without the long-term commitment of Velcro and its residual gooeyness.)
Her pedals (going from utilitarian to oddball) include a TC Electronic PolyTune 3 and Loop Community Looptimus (not pictured). Then we have the Audio Sprockets Tone Dexter that allows her to map her recorded guitar tone and blend that with her soundboard pickup almost giving her acoustic a 3-D sound. Next she has the Pigtronix Infinity Looper, a Strymon BigSky, and the zany Hologram Electronics Microcosm.
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Oklahoma City sludge rockers Chat Pile have had a busy few years. Their 2022 LP, God’s Country, broke them internationally, and their critically acclaimed 2024 follow-up, Cool World, solidified them as one of the most exciting heavy bands of the moment. We spoke with bassist Stin and guitarist Luther Manhole about the record for our November 2024 issue.
Now, we bring you the band’s first official Rig Rundown, filmed ahead of their show at The End in Nashville last fall. Tune in to see how Stin and Luther conjure the band’s brutal soundstorms on the road.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Bari Blast
Manhole’s main machine is this baritone 6-string, an Ernie Ball Music Man BFR Axis Super Sport, finished in “starry night.” Luther took a tip from tourmate and Agriculture guitarist Richard Chowenhill and slapped some tape over his neck pickup near the first string to prevent it from catching on the edge of the humbucker. It’s tuned to drop A, with Ernie Ball Mammoth Slinky strings.
Quite the Quilter
Back at home, Luther and Stin lean on big vintage amps, but on the road, Luther brings out this Quilter Tone Block 202, which is plugged into an Ampeg VT-40 combo amp that’s been gutted to run just as a 4x10 cabinet. Luther digs the icier, cutting tone from the 10″ speakers.
Luther Manhole's Board
Manhole’s board is minimalist: All he needs is a TC Electronic PolyTune, a Suhr Riot for dirt, an Electro-Harmonix Memory Boy (which is set for a wobbly chorus effect), and a TC Electronic Hall of Fame for reverb—pedals he’s used for over a decade. An Acoustic PBIS08 supplies the quartet with power.
Peavey Power
Around 2007, Stin went on a hunt around Oklahoma music shops for a Peavey T-40. He finally found one—in a total “Wayne’s World moment”—that belonged to a country singer who had passed away. Since the band’s formation, this “hot and clangy” white T-40 has been Stin’s tool for crafting Chat Pile’s elephantine, bottom-heavy sound. He uses the 5-string Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalts (.060–.125), omitting the .040 string, and plucks with orange Ernie Ball Everlast .73 mm picks for strong, percussive attack.
Building Blocks
Stin’s signal runs to this Quilter Bass Block 802, which blasts through a Trace Elliot 4x10 redline cab with horns—the cab that’s been used on every Chat Pile recording to date.
Stin's Board
Stin probably thinks Manhole’s board is excessive. He packs just his Boss TU-3 and a Tronographic Rusty Box, each with their own individual power supply plugged into a power bar that’s fixed to the board.
