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Erin

Of course I have to have a 7-string!

Ibanez RGA7420FM

This guitar has a body made of Meranti with a Flamed Maple Top, 3-piece Maple neck with the fretboard made from Jatoba, 25 1/2" scale, Edge Zero II-7 trem, and the pickups are explained below.

I'm a big fan of Seymour Duncan pups, and they went into this one as well. The guitar is a little light, but it feels right!

The color is almost mesmerising! I purchased this one from Guitar Center, and was glued to it the minute I had seen it! The blue colors instill a sense of calm that my anxious/ADHD-ass needs! Which is why I named it after my soulmate who had passed back at the beginning of 2021. Her presence alone gave me a calming feeling that nothing else could ever match.

Marie

My baby!

Ibanez JemJr with Custom Seymour Duncan Pickups!

Mahogany body, Wizard III 1-piece Maple neck with Rosewood fretboard, 25 1/2" scale, double locking Floyd type trem, and custom Seymour Duncan pups.

This thing plays and sounds like a dream! It almost seems too easy to play at times!

It's body is made from meranti wood, which isn't a hardwood, but is firmer, and holds its sustain better than basswood.

All of my guitars are named after my soulmate, with the exception of my newest; named after her sister, who was a great friend and I love her very much.

Black

My bang around guitar!

Ibanez RG5EX1

Basswood body, 3-piece Maple neck with Rosewood fretboard, 25 1/2" scale, Edge III trem, Pickups: Bridge: Ibanez INF4, Middle: Ibanez INFS3, Neck: Ibanez INF3.

I actually love this guitar for its weight, tone, and reverse headstock! It has Stock DiMarzio's in it, but it sounds amazing, which is why I haven't replaced them! These pups, made by Ibanez, apparenlty like the heavier woods, and they have a much gooder bottom end.

Even though it has a basswood body, it feels like a mahogany body, and gets close to, if not the same sustain as mahogany.

Tara

My newest guitar!

Ibanez Prestige RG2027XL

Holy Hayal! This guitar is phenomenal! The picture doesn't do it any sort of justice! The finish on this thing is like glass! The body is either Basswood, or Mahogany. They made both, and the specs on this one says Mahogany. It's much heavier than Basswood, and the sustain is amazing!

7 string (of course! lol), 27" baritone scale, two DiMarzio Fusion Edge 7 pickups, Lo-Pro Edge Trem, Gotoh Tuners, the works! I have had many, many Ibanez guitars, because I absolutely love them! But, the craftsmanship on this guitar, the way it sounds and plays, is the best I have EVER played!!! It had a hefty price tag, but I wanted a really good guitar before I die, and I got it with this one! Much gooder than I expected!!

As I said, this guitar was named after my soulmate's sister. She was a great friend, and I love her very much! Even though we had a falling out after her sister had passed and haven't spoken since, she still holds a special place in my heart, and I will always have nothing but love and respect for her.

Ernie Ball Super Slinky

My father used nothing but Ernie Ball Super Slinky's. He always told me that they were, by far, the best guitar strings around! As I followed in his footsteps playing guitar. I also heeded every piece of advice he ever gave me. If he said that Ernie Ball made the best strings, then Ernie Ball made the best strings!

I was never disappointed!

I have tried other strings on my guitars, and none have ever matched the longevity of these strings! They kept their bright tone forever and a day, and they lasted a long time before I would break one!

I have always felt the 9's were the best for my playing. I tried using the extra light 8's for a minute, but wound up breaking the .008 within hours of putting them on. SO, to this day, I play the 9's.

.009/.011/.016/.024/.032/.042

On my 7 string guitars, standard string sets come with a low B .054. However, they weren't selling 7 string sets when I began playing one, and I always chose a .052 for the low B. It's a little tighter, but seems to sound better in a mix. Now that the 7 string sets are being sold, I buy them with the .054's.

Jim Dunlop Nylon .38mm Picks

I have tried so many different picks in my time. Nnothing has come close to matching the quality of Jim Dunlop Picks! Most other guitar picks will actually break, or wear down really fast! Dunlop Picks have outlasted anything I have tried.

My playing style has changed over the years. I used to play very heavy music, and would turn my pick when playing fast. I would use the Dunlop Jaz III picks, and it worked for the time. But, I started noticing that you could hear my pick scraping against the strings in my recordings, and I hated it! So, I started to mess around with my picking style, and found that the flatter I kept my pick against the string, the less pick noise you could hear, and the cleaner the solos would sound.

Playing with a heavy pick, like the Jazz III's, it became difficult to play flat against the strings. So, I started testing out lighter picks, and found the most comfort in the .38mm picks. They would bend and give when picking a note, giving it a more crisp sound, rather than the pick sliding across the string "scrape" sound.

Every guitarist has the problem with dropping their picks now and again. I tried different things to help with the grip, and wound up using black fabric tape. The type of tape used in some construction and electrical fastening. It's considered a friction tape that gets tacky when it heats up. This was perfect for guitar picks, as when you pick them up, you get your perfect positioning of the pick between your thumb and index finger, and when it heats up due to your body heat, it becomes tacky and holds in place. I can even let go of the pick, and it will hold on to my thumb! I have never dropped a pick since using this tape!

I need to patent the idea...lol

Line 6 POD HD PRO X &
Spider II 112

As for the guitar amps I have used, I have been through countless brands! Unfortunately, I have never been able to afford the high end amps, but I still wanted to get a certain tone.

I have found a great compromise in the Line 6 products! They sound amazing, with great amp modelling that doesn't have that full blown digital amp sound, their effects are built in and sound amazing, and the price tag is down at a poor musicians price!

I grabbed the rackmount Line 6 POD HD PRO X   that was used, but the person that previously owned it couldn't figure out how to use it, so he sold it to a Guitar Center. I found it, with the FBIII Foot Pedal together at an amazing price, and bought it! Paired with a Rocktron 200 watt Power Amp, and a LIne 6 4x12 Speaker Cabinet, this thing sounds unbelievable!!! The configuration is done either by the small screen and a myriad of buttons and knobs on the unit itself, or by using the software that comes with it having a great graphical display to configure exactly how you want it to sound, what effects to use, and the cabinet configuration! It also has direct line outs that have some of the best cabinet emulators I have ever heard! When recording, you can get the exact sound to the DAW as you get from the speakers!

I live in an apartment, and the walls are very thin. Granted, you can use the rack unit at low volumes that sound just as amazing as loud volumes, it's pretty bulky! So, I picked up a Line 6 Spider II with the 12" speaker for practicing with. It also sounds amazing, and the configuration is similar to the POD HD PRO X!