Elliott Smith

Elliott Smith is known to have used the Yamaha FG-180 Red Label acoustic guitar, a model originally manufactured in Japan, though Elliot's FG-180 was actually a Taiwan manufactured acoustic as can be seen from the missing Nippon Gakki sticker. This is evidenced by a photo from Sweetadeline, showing Smith with the guitar at the Oscars.

"I had the amazingly good fortune to meet another incredibly talented songwriter named Elliott Smith. He set a new bar for music and I truly believe him to be one of the great voices of our generation. In 1995 I took Elliott out on his first tour as my opening act. I adored his songs and our friendship ran deep. Although our relationship was strictly platonic, it was Elliott who helped me fill the void after the loss of Kurt. On both of the tours that Elliott and I subsequently did together, it was the Martin that we would end up playing into the wee hours of the morning in our hotel room…I believe that "Grandpa" is the ONLY instrument in the world that was played, adored and loved by both Kurt Cobain AND Elliott Smith. It was also played on occasion by Shawn Colvin and of course, me. In 2003, Elliott died and this completely broke my heart…It was around this time that I began to release myself from the whole world of music as I knew it and dedicate myself to my young daughter Annabelle. The Martin was getting little attention, and by this point it held memories that I wanted to let go of. It had served me well and I wanted to give it a new lease on life. It needed to be played, so in 2004 I sold it to a guitar dealer and that was that. A few years later I got a letter from someone who was about to purchase the guitar and wanted to know if everything was on the “up and up.” I am happy to say that the guitar Kurt Cobain called “Grandpa” and Elliott Smith called “Gramps” now resides in the permanent collection of Make’n Music in Chicago, IL. I am told it is played regularly and adored by many a visitor who wants to hear the “stories.” On special occasions it is even made available to other musicians for purposes of inspiration and to use on recordings. I am glad to have known it, served it well, and to have shared in the memories this wonderful guitar possesses. There you go…the story of “Grandpa.” Mary Lou Lord

He has many pre 1969 and post 1969 guitars (at least five). The difference in those is the fret witch the neck joins the body (pre at the 16th, post at the 19th). -Gibson ES-330 pre 1969, flaming red finish, Standard tuning and a Bigsby vibrato -Gibson ES-330 post 1969, sunburst finish, Open D tuning. We can see a picture of it at Portland's Oregon History Museum.

''He brought his guitars, but the funny thing about Elliott is he had five of the same guitar, the Gibson ES-330. I never understood it, exactly. I was like, "OK, that’s great, we can use those, but if you want this bigger guitar sound, I encourage you to check out the guitars that I have." On “Shooting Star”, he fell in love with this old 60s Telecaster I have. Most of the really big guitars you hear on that album are that Telly because this guitar just spits at you. '' (David McConnell on Pitchfork interview)

It's a very old guitar (made in the 30's) from Chicago. He uses in Roman Candle's era.

Elliott playing his 60' Gibson J45

''The (first two solo) records were totally limited, and there was no choice about what to use Then I got an 8-track (Tascam 38) and I had a choice between a couple of different mics.

In Larry Crane interview (''Elliott Smith: on the joy of recording'', Tape Op), says that is the main microphone for instrument recording. For vocals, he use a cheap RadioShack ''Realistic'' brand (more highs and noisier)

Later, he also uses in live performances (Winter/Spring 1999) for guitar and snare.

The link lists Jeff Stovall's recording credits for the album "Roman Candle". To see the reference of to use of the 4 track in the liner notes for Roman Candle follow the "more images" link under the album image from the Source/Proof URL link. That particular 4 track was a Tascam Portastudio 424.

"we definitely recorded a version of Go By i'm not sure which version got used on new moon either or was the yamaha cant remember the model number XO was a 60's gibson country and western and a 63 epiphone texan and the yamaha figure 8 was the '63 texan and a '57 J-50"

Rob Schnapf

Elliott Smith used a Fender Duo-Sonic, not a Cyclone or Mustang, during his early years with Heatmiser, until he switched to an Epiphone Crestwood in 1994. This is evidenced in the Sweetadeline image titled "nateheatmiser5.jpg."

''There are two M50s out front by the conductor, and very high above, a pair of KM56s. Did I mention the special love that developed for the KM56s? Aside from the acoustic guitar, they were also used as drum overheads, on a piano track or two and probably some other things I'm forgetting. A+ fr versality'' - Tape Op interview book (volume 2)

when elliott briefly stayed in Paris in 1999 after the XO tour and before recording Figure 8, he bought that guitar in a Place Pigalle store and created the song bearing the same title (Place Pigalle was also the work title for Figure 8)

Elliott plays a Rickenbacker as a Frontman of Heatmiser

smith uses john pearse medium-gauge, phosphor-bronze strings. “they seem to last longer,” he explains. “i get mediums because i tune all the strings down a step. that happened by accident a couple of years ago. i didn’t have my own guitar for quite awhile, and i’d play my girlfriend’s guitar. i don’t have perfect pitch and i didn’t realize that it was way lower, so the e string was actually a d, the a string was a g, and so on. so, nowadays i just tune that way, and when i play older songs that were written in normal tuning, i put a capo on.”

Elliott Smith is seen with a Fender Mustang Electric Guitar on the inside cover of his album "XO," as mentioned in the Sweetadeline FAQ.

Elliott loved this microphone. He can be seen using this mic in his kitchen in the famous recording of between the bars on YouTube.

Elliott Smith sing with a Shure in the Heatmiser's ''Plainclothes Man'' video

Elliott Smith began using the Epiphone Crestwood Custom in 1994 during his time with Heatmiser. The accompanying photo suggests he may have also used this guitar for some of his solo recordings.

In an Instagram photo, Elliott Smith is seen with a Fender Vibrolux Reverb amplifier, identifiable by the number of knobs on the first channel and the bright switch. The blue text format near the light also matches other silverface Vibrolux models. [Instagram link]

''He wanted that board because he knew there were only thirteen made and The Beatles had worked on it'' - Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing

epiphone crestwood in a guitar player article

Elliott Smith uses a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, as mentioned in the "Frequently Asked Questions" section on Sweetadeline, particularly noted in relation to "Strange Parallel."

the pedals of course are the dl-4 and the budda phatman tube overdrive.

Elliott Smith used the Bill Lawrence A-300 acoustic pickup in his Yamaha FG-180 guitar until 2001, as shown in a photo from Wennermedia.

the pedals of course are the dl-4 and the budda phatman tube overdrive.

He used in a few songs of From a Basement on A Hill, as A Fond Farewell or King's Crossing. That pedal simulates the ''Leslie Rotative Speaker''. He had one of these in New Monkey Studio

"'Cupid's Trick' still remains a mystery to me, tracking-wise. I've found what sounds like the original acoustic guitars and drums on a DA-88 digital tape, but none of the other elements are present."

Elliott Smith used the Ibanez AD202 effects processor during the recording of his album "Either/Or" in 1996, as shown in a user-uploaded photo on Tapeop.

Elliott Smith used the Neumann U47 microphone for vocal recordings during the creation of songs for "Figure 8" at Abbey Road Studios. Additionally, he employed it with a Leslie speaker and two Shure SM57 microphones positioned at 130 degrees for electric guitar recordings, as detailed on the elliottsmithob Tumblr blog.

From Tape Op interview by Larry Crane with Elliott Smith and producers Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock on the recording of Either/Or.

Tom: “In other cases, like the song "Alameda," the drum mics were mixed together live through the Mackie 1604 to one track live as they were recorded, with compression from the Behringer Composer added at the same time as well. Knowing Elliott, I'd speculate that he did test passes of the drum mix until he felt it would work well in the final mix. "Alameda" was also dumped to 16-track at The Shop, where some vocals were added (see Alternate Versions… for this iteration), but for the album release Elliott chose to return to the original 1/2-inch master and mix from those tracks, possibly after recording an "updated" vocal.”