Avi Bortnick

John Scofield’s rhythm guitar player, Avi Bortnick show us his custom-made Stratocaster in this Premier Guitar video. “The body is one of those Highway One jobs which I got off eBay just because it was fairly lightweight and it had "LT" carved in the back, which, somehow, I liked,” he says at (11:23). It has EMG pickups, he says. “I think these are the SA 88s, I believe. I've had them for so long, you can see it's kind of worn down. It's a guitar I play with John. I hardly ever use this guitar for other things unless I'm doing a funk recording session. Because I think these pickups are really great for kind of Prince, almost '80s style funk. They're very clear. They're very even. Not super great for soloing somehow. I don't think they have a whole lot of character. But they work well for this band. I've actually tried a few other guitars and I always come back to this one. And it feels good and I'm used to it,” (11:48). For tuning machines and strings, Bortnick uses, “American Standard…locking tuners. These strings are a 10 set just a D'Addario 10 set. Really good. Been using D'Addario forever and they work well,” (12:28)

Fender Jazzmasters – I have two, red and blue, both assembled from parts. The red one has traditional Jazzmaster pickups, while the blue one has humbuckers. Both are upgraded with the Staytrem system, and one has the excellent Mastery bridge. Both have Squier J. Mascis necks.

On his web site Bortnick details the guitars that he uses, including this one.

Avi plays a 1983 Fender Squier Telecaster, a 1965 Gibson ES-330, and a 1990 American Standard Stratocaster.

Avi plays a 1983 Fender Squier Telecaster, a 1965 Gibson ES-330, and a 1990 American Standard Stratocaster.

On his web site Bortnick details the collection of guitars that he uses, including this one.

On his web site Bortnick details the guitars that he uses, including this one.

On his web site Bortnick details the guitars that he uses, including this one.

On his web site Bortnick details the guitars that he uses, including this one.

Answering a comment Avi writes "I do, however, have a Variax - which is an incredible feat of technology, but it's not a MIDI controller, much like the cool new Boss SY-300 isn't a MIDI synth."