Identifying the gear

I'm feeling you on that. Nearly every American indie artist now has at least one strange (formerly) cheap Harmony in it's different appearances in their rig. Auberbach, Ryan Adams and Pat Smear use to play this Buck Owens American acoustic (made by Harmony as well) which was once cheap garbage, a merchandise product for country singer Buck Owens. If you now want one of these here, you've gotta pay more than I did for my J-45. Same with a lot of the stuff Jack White uses.

Thanks for listing up those pedals!

if I had known this was coming, I coulda bought up Airline res-o-glass guitars and Silvertone twin twelve amps by the truck load for under $50/item in the 90s but didn't think anything of this crappy old gear... I kick myself every time I am on ebay for not picking up all those silvertone piggy back set-ups that I would see at guitar shows marked "make offer, do not want to carry it home" on the last day of the show

as for the balck eys guy, I coulda bought a billion crappy Harmony thinline hollowbodies for $100 or less, but they're all such poor players I kept turning them down.... a buddy of mine had a few different variations of the Harmony Rocket but sold them while they were still worthless for little-to-no profit... cool sounding guitars but not players and notoriously difficult to set up

the one place I did really make out though was Ampeg V series amps. Josh Homme's love of the VT40, VT22 and equivalent V2 and V4 amps made me a mint on amps I bought in the late 90s for chump change. But those are actually some pretty substantial pieces of kit, unlike the hipster gear

to be fair to the Buck Owens flag-painted harmony guitar, its really made from nice wood and has a lively sound because of the piss poor bracing. Its not sturdy, but the top really resonates on those guitars. Not awful guitars and I might just take one over a current Gibson flat-top given the choice.

http://equipboard.com/pros/samantha-crain/strymon-bluesky-reverberator-pedal

Jim, that BlueSky is on that picture. The BigSky is as well.

my bad.... I must be going blind in my old age

And same goes on for anything that White or Auerbach uses. You will have to pay 10 times more for something that looks like something Jack White used.

this phenomenon with the cilvertone, airline and harmony stuff is the same as the Kurt Cobain effect on the price of vintage Mustangs, Jags and even duo sonics when I was a kid....when I first started playing Kurt's use of them was still flying under the radar (hell, kurt was still alive and just coming into the limelight that would ultimately drive him to eat some buckshot back when I started playing seriously) and ou really could get a 50s or 60s short scale fender for peanuts, they were occasionally reissued and those reissues had awful resale on the used market, they were real USA Fenders that you could buy $100... then by the time I was 15 years old the vintage ones were untouchable and the reissues commanded real money and even Japanese and Mexican versions were pretty expensive

Hey, me again.

I know there are not many black Gibson acoustics out there. I recently read how Gibson even behaves difficult on that color when it comes to custom models. Some say it's in honor of Johnny Cash though he played a black Martin mainly.

I did a little research on Sera Cahoone's rig today and found this: https://sealivemusic.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/seracahoone.jpg

Looks like a Dreadnought but I think it's not the Elvis Dove 'cause of the pickguard. She shape reminds of a J-45 but can that be?

Any ideas?

Gibson J-45 Modern Classic in Ebony. (https://www.long-mcquade.com/52370/Guitars/Acoustic/Gibson/J-45_Modern_Classic_-_Ebony.htm)

That was pretty quick.

Okay, can you get that one as well. Martin SM but which model?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Sera_Cahoone_02.jpg

https://sealivemusic.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/seracahoone.jpg

Planet Waves Screeching Halt and Kyser Quick-Change Capo. Apparently this is a favourite combo amongst these artists.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Sera_Cahoone_02.jpg

SM? Not sure about that. best I could find was an 00-18. Also, there's an M1 Series acoustick pickup and what may be a Schubb Capo.

http://i.imgur.com/Qg2gGv8.jpg

What the hell kind of Stratocaster is that!? What is that black back plate!?

In case you're wondering, he's some guitarist who plays for a big worship band. Honestly, it was a poor performance at least in taste of what they did. Such a flat sound...

Anyways, what kind of stratocaster is that?

did it look stock from the front?

The "SM" often stands for a slotted headstock, at least on newer models.

Lex, i'll help you out maybe tomorrow. I'm at Pearl Harbour now.

Jim, it's a regular Fender Stratocaster. It's just that i've never seen that black back-plate before.

he modded it then... maybe active electronics?

its got a weird white plate on the back too behind the control route

why didn't you just ask him what was up with it?

Idiot left in a hurry with his band. No one of tgen bothered to say goodbye or anything.

I just noticed the silver back-plate as well... This is strange considering how flat his sound was. No direspect but that guy wasn't doing very much with his Kemper

Wait, did I mention he was running his guitar straight into a Kemper? He has a controller to go with it. I find it kind of shameful because his array of sounds is either clean arpeggios or strumming with a bit of overdrive, BUT SO LITTLE!!

maybe the kemper is to blame for the so called flat tone... my personal jury is still out on the profiling amp... its still a digital approximation of actual electrons and a run of the mill American strat is one of those guitars that can sound really unremarkarkable through a lot of gear in a lot of situations, you gotta bring it to life with bombastic technique and good amplification

not everyone needs a ton of effects though, not every piece of music calls for it.... maybe he uses the controller more in his bar band or at jams... its a worship band, they're usually pretty conservative with sounds as well as musical content because apparently God prefers to be bored on Sundays

but seriously, a lot of times a guitar can just be a guitar and not drenched in effects and that's okay if the guy playing it has nice touch and a good idea what hes doing...

It appears I didn't make myself clear. wait, I think I just said it wrong. I like when artists ise a lot of effects, but I also understand when they need to be minimalistic. But that's only on effects. Playing wise, i'm saying he wasn't very bombastic. He's too predictable and boring. Like I said, simple arpeggios and a bit of chord strumming. What's the point of making music if everything you do is just within your comfort zone?

. As for the Kemper, I just don't like the idea of skipping out on actual amps for a clone.

What he was doing is essentially what every other worship guitarist does, if not less. I'd get it he were working in a church like my own and still learning, but someone of his calibre? I find it inexcusable. My critique (or two cents), a bombastic artist knows how to use few effects to great and wonderful degree without seeming flat.

Ever heard of Hozier? I love his acoustic playing, mainly because his style is to my liking. It's not the best example, but I know it off the top of my head that even though his finger-style is predicatble, he still manages to sound different. In a live concert, I always hear someone trying o sound a bit different for each song.

That's the problem, though. He sounded the same on all songs.