“KIESEL INSTRUMENTS ARE so versatile, they can cover all styles and extremely well,” says Will Swan, guitarist in Californian post-hardcore quintet Dance Gavin Dance. The last year or so has kept him busy — not only with writing, recording and releasing his group’s ninth full-length, Afterburner — but also finalizing his own signature Kiesel, which was announced back in February.
Available in five finishes, it’s a single-cutaway curved top featuring Kiesel’s Beryllium humbuckers and a white acrylic swan inlay around the 12th fret. For Swan, the main attraction with the Beryllium pickups was the fact they weren’t overly compressed. Instead, there’s more clarity coming from Alnico II magnets and vintage-style windings, voiced more like the classic guitars of old than the maximized output typically appointed to modern instruments.
“I’ve always been into a really clean tone, even when I’m distorted,” Swan says. “The same goes for my approach to gain. I’ve never used distortion pedals. I like to get the distortion from whatever head I’m using. I was using Orange for a long time and just recently switched over to Friedman. With those amps you get a crunch and heaviness but you’re also able to hear every single note. I think the higher output your pickups, the more it will cover up the nuances in what you’re playing. I prefer pickups that let you hear everything, even the mistakes!
Despite not using distortion pedals, you have long been known to keep a fair few effects on the board. Tell us a bit more about how they work for you…
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Kittie - Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara Mcleod discuss the canadian metal powerhouse's unexpected rebirth — by fire!
Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara McLeod explain that making new music was “not on their bingo card” when the band regrouped in 2022 for a few festival appearances, preferring to think of the sets as more of a “final lap” than a new beginning. But drilling into old favorites — whether the nu-flavored teenage slams of 1999’s Spit or the more venomously groove-thrashed tunes of their late-’00s period — revealed that despite not having raged together in years, there was something undeniably special about Kittie’s musical connection. “Playing with these girls is like putting on an old pair of pants,” Lander says. “It’s very comfortable — and it looks good too.”
McKinley James - Why all you really need is a guitar, a drummer and some serious low-end six-string skills
Nashville-based blues rocker McKinley James came flying out of the gate in 2022 with his Dan Auerbachproduced EP, Still Standing By. His momentum screeched to a halt, however, when his keyboardist split, leaving only him and his drummer, Jason Smay (who also happens to be his father). “For a moment, I was like, ‘What are we going to do?” James says. “But then I thought, ‘Well, other bands have succeeded as a duo. Maybe we can, too.”
TC Electronic TC 2290P Dynamic Digital Delay
THE MID EIGHTIES was a golden age for digital delay, thanks to the proliferation of pro- and studio-quality rack effects units from Eventide, Korg, Lexicon, Roland and Yamaha.
Danelectro Doubleneck
WHEN I THINK back to the Seventies, the famously coined “Me” decade, it seems the only surefire way you could leave audiences awestruck was to strap on a doubleneck guitar.
CARLOS ALOMAR
The former David Bowie guitarist talks Young Americans, Station to Station and the Berlin Trilogy, plus recording (and co-writing) \"Fame\" with John Lennon
GEORGE TERRY
It turns out Eric Clapton's Seventies guitarist (and co-writer of \"Lay Down Sally\") also played on ABBA's \"Voulez-Vous.\" Below, he looks back on a decade-plus of E.C., Bee Gees, Diana Ross and more
FRANK MARINO
The Mahogany Rush frontman charts the band's Seventies lows and highs, plus SG's, pickups and how he was definitely not visited by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix
DEWAYNE "BLACKBYRD" MCKNIGHT
The jazz/funk/fusion veteran on his smooth segue from Herbie Hancock sideman to full-on Funkdaledic member -plus his '70s gear and what he learned from Shuggie Otis
PAT TRAVERS
The Canadian-born virtuoso discusses the rise and fall of the Pat Travers Band, witnessing the U.K. punk revolution and the riotous roots of \"Snortin' Whiskey\"
JOE PERRY
The iconic guitarist looks back on Aerosmith in the Seventies, the decade that literally made and temporarily broke apart those Bad Boys from Boston
