I recently wrote a blog about FSC Instruments '59 pickups. Well, I liked them so much I decided to ask Farhad Soheili to make me a set of 1960's style pickups. I have two Strats and thought it would be cool if they were both voiced differently.

Because I do so many sessions, small variances in tone can make a big difference. Plus, let's admit it, I'm a tone nerd.

It's strange the details that fail to progress with guitar gear over the decades. Companies spend a lot of time trying to reduce the pedal size, but neglect others. For instance, we now have nano pedals. Yet, the footswitches remain small.

Have you ever tried to turn a pedal on or off when you weren't wearing shoes? It's not a very comfortable experience unless you're using a Boss pedal.

I grew up listening to a lot of British rock music — everything from the Beatles to Led Zeppelin. I also heard a lot of punk and early hardcore — bands such as the Ramones and Minor Threat.

Because of my roots in this music, you would think I would have had a Marshall amp. But, I didn't know until recently. I'm not sure why. I always wanted one, but I just ended up buying other amps.

The question comes up quite a bit about what is the best wattage guitar amp to buy. It's hard to find the perfect volume amp that covers all applications. Especially if there is a wide variety of gigs, you do. Choosing an amp judging by its wattage alone may be a little misleading.

Let's try to narrow down some choices in this article.

The song “Because” by Abby Ahmad started as quite a different song then what we hear today. Its life began as a song performed and written on acoustic guitar.

Most of the time, with Abby's music, the initial presentation of the song is where we build the production. Abby's songs are ready to go upon arrival at the studio, which is a testament to both her playing and writing.

Recording acoustic guitars can be a real challenge in non-commercial studio environments.

Commercial studios often have live rooms carefully constructed for flattering acoustics. In a lot of these pro commercial studios, you can place a mic anywhere in the room and it will sound great.

Avatar Recording Studios NYC

But recording has changed a lot over the past two decades, and fewer people are recording in commercial studios. Instead, they’re opting for home and project studio environments.

Most guitarists have heard the term b5 (flat five) when referring to the blues. Some go as far to call it the blue note. I’ve always felt the play between the major and minor 3rd to be a more significant player in the blues.

Still, the b5 does have an essential place in blues. The blues has influenced much of contemporary music. Blues is the foundation of the various styles of rock, country, and other forms of music.

I’m a big ol’ fan of spring reverb. I don’t always use spring reverb, but when I do I tend to be pretty particular about it. I never have bonded with digital emulations of spring reverb. There is just something about the interaction of the guitar, the amp, and the springs that needs to happen in real time.

Guitar tuners are a wildly underappreciated tool. You rarely see people talk about them when they’re showing off their pedalboards. They get passed over by their flashy counterparts: overdrive, fuzz, and delay. 

When I was younger I didn't understand why people would swap out their guitar pickups. If you liked the way a guitar sounds when you buy it, I thought, why change it?

It wasn't until a friend showed up at my studio with a guitar that had some hand-wound pickups in it that I had a revelation. It was quite the eye opener. There were elements of my guitar tone I wasn’t happy with but I couldn't put my finger on. I certainly didn’t think to consider my pickups.

Reverb is an effect guitarists use regularly but often don't understand the ins and outs of. For many, it’s an on-or-off effect on an amp. When confronted with more complex offerings of reverb they are struck with confusion.

It’s often debated whether the Big Muff circuit is distortion or fuzz. Although both distortion and fuzz are hard-clipping circuits, the Muff is definitely a fuzz. But it was the first step toward the distortion pedal.  

Once in a while a pedal company comes along that makes exceptional gear. This is not to say that other companies put out inferior products. It's just that sometimes someone is so dedicated to an idea or product that they spare no expense.

In 2001 I decided I wanted a Rickenbacker 12-string. It’s a sound I have long loved. I grew up listening to the Beatles. Tom Petty was also on the soundtrack to my childhood. How could a guitar collection that’s supposed to represent my influences not include a Rickenbacker 360/12? 

There are so many overdrive/distortion pedals on the market and most say the same thing in their description: “Overdriven tube amp sound.” Yet, when I’ve played through many, they don’t actually sound like an overdriven amp. That’s not to say they sound bad. Some sound nice, but not really like a cranked tube amp.

The Rat is one of the earliest distortion pedals, arriving on the market in 1978. Prior to that, there were only a few gain pedals: the Colorsound Power Boost, the Maestro Fuzz-Tone FZ-1, the Sola Sound Tone Bender, the Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, the Dallas Rangemaster, and the Electro- Harmonix Big Muff. 

I’m a self-confessed vintage tone nut. I’m not hiding in the shadows. I’m fully public with my love of guitar tones of past. That doesn’t mean I don’t embrace new ideas.  I’m open—unless you bring Kemper or Fractal into the conversation. 

Solderless cables are not a new concept. They’ve been around for a few decades. George Ls were the first brand I was introduced to.  I tried George Ls a number of times but they’ve always been unreliable. 

I recently paid a visit to F.S. Lutherie in Brooklyn, NY. They are a small guitar custom shop specializing in repairs and builds, based in the borough’s Greenpoint section. Owner Farhad Soheili met with me to discuss his new line of custom guitars, FSC Guitars. 

If you chat with a guitarist and mention overdrives, you’ll need to pull up a chair and get comfy. You’re gonna be there for a while.  It’s a deep subject partly because there are so many overdrive pedals on the market. It’s flooded with overdrive options.