Kristin Hersh

"I’m playing a Tele Thinline, and that’s what I used on most of the record. It has a little more character, a little more balance, and I can put chromes on it and the character doesn’t suffer." said Kristin in this interview

"Ha! That’s my favorite pedal, which is embarrassing because it’s been my signature sound for a while. I found that at Kingsway Studios, Daniel Lanois’ place in New Orleans, where we made a bunch of records. It distorts at the top of the wave and mellows at the bottom into this ’70s bass sound. It can carry a whole song. It’s hypnotic. It doesn’t have the effect you’d think a fuzz wah would have. I don’t know—it’s just really charming and awful, and I love it. It’s on a lot of 50 Foot Wave stuff, but the Throwing Muses song where it’s the loudest is probably “No Way in Hell” from University."

"I play a Strat and a Telecaster with Throwing Muses"

Hersh reads from her 2010 memoir, Rat Girl, while another of her favorite guitars, an ESP Xtone, hangs on her shoulders. “That became my most solid, roadworthy guitar for a while,” she says. “It takes effects well without feeding back.” Photo by Tony Nelson

Kristin Hersh’s favorite acoustic is a one-of-a-kind, Collings C10 cutaway, handbuilt for her by Bill Collings. She selected the body shape. Note the “K” on the headstock.

Can clearly be seen in this tweet from 24 Oct 2016

"Drums are the most fun, but bass is a close second. I’m playing a Reverend on that."

Another distinctive acoustic sound comes from a Nashville-tuned Gibson J-45. “We’ve been using that on almost every solo record,” Rizzo says. “A lot of people think she’s playing a 12-string, but what’s happening is it’s the 6-string and the Nashville played together. She can play the exact same thing from take to take so they sound like a 12-string, which is pretty cool. And sometimes it sounds very physical. Her hands can be so strong that it’s like, ‘How the hell is she playing that?’”

To capture the sound that Hersh wanted out of her Collings C10, which is the key guitar on Wyatt at the Coyote Palace, Rizzo would usually start with a Shure KSM44A and a Miktek C7

To capture the sound that Hersh wanted out of her Collings C10, which is the key guitar on Wyatt at the Coyote Palace, Rizzo would usually start with a Shure KSM44A and a Miktek C7

"From there, he’d run the signal through a MartinSound Martech MSS-10 mic preamp, primarily just to stay true to the sound that Hersh was hearing in the room."

Can clearly be seen in this tweet from 24 Oct 2016

Can clearly be seen in this tweet from 24 Oct 2016

Can clearly be seen in this tweet from 24 Oct 2016

Can clearly be seen in this tweet from 24 Oct 2016

On April 26, 2022, in Glasgow, Kristin Hersh was photographed using a Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal during a Mono performance.

At a performance in Mono, Glasgow on April 26, 2022, Kristin Hersh was seen using a Boss TR-2 Tremolo pedal, as evidenced by a user-uploaded photo.

In this interview with PremierGuitar, the Supro 16T is listed as part of her rig as an aside. No other details are mentioned in the interview itself.