Ben Chasny

When not playing delicate fingerstyle acoustic, Ben Chasny wreaks sonic havoc on an inexpensive Mexican Strat. His electric guitar is a Mexican-made Strat that cost about $300. “I travel so much with my guitars and I think, ‘This airline is fucking me.’ But then I remember, ‘Oh, it’s a $300 guitar—I’ll just get another one.’ A repair on an expensive guitar would cost even more than that.”

Chasny plays fingerstyle in a variety of tunings on an Alvarez-Yairi acoustic/electric. “It has a really fast fretboard, which I like,” he says, “though my friends who play Americana and American Primitive hate it. They’re like, ‘What are you doing?’”

"I usually run through a fender twin silver face."

In answer to Premier Guitar's question about how he created the massive tones on his album Ascent: "that was a big part of trying to figure out what the record was going to sound like. I wanted to have the most extreme distortion possible and mix it up high. I had the Devi Ever Destructo Noctavia pedal going into that silver Boss Fuzz [the FZ-5]. The combination of those two was just fucking insane-sounding. The engineer, Eric Bauer, had a lot to do with figuring out a good combination, mixing it, and getting the right microphone placement. I owe him a lot on the record."

In answer to Premier Guitar's question about how he created the massive tones on his album Ascent: "that was a big part of trying to figure out what the record was going to sound like. I wanted to have the most extreme distortion possible and mix it up high. I had the Devi Ever Destructo Noctavia pedal going into that silver Boss Fuzz [the FZ-5]. The combination of those two was just fucking insane-sounding. The engineer, Eric Bauer, had a lot to do with figuring out a good combination, mixing it, and getting the right microphone placement. I owe him a lot on the record."

Listed as one of Chasny's effects on Premier Guitar.

Listed as one of Chasny's effects on Premier Guitar.

In answer to Premier Guitar's question about what looper he uses: "the Boss Loop Station, the one with two pedals. I have some preset stuff. I do some tape collages and throw them in there. They’re especially good for when you’re retuning—you just hit it."

"... I had a [looper] pedal for a while. There are so many one-man bands with [looper] pedals, which I understand. But there’s something to be said for playing with other people, so I stopped doing that after a while. I almost felt like the blank space in the performance was better than trying to fill it up with a repetitive part. Now I just use it as a kind of sample machine."

"I happen to have a very special pedal that Bill Skibbe made for me that is sort of my baby. Bill is a bad-ass who does sound for Shellac and recorded the School of the Flower record with the venerable Jessica Ruffins at their studio in Michigan. I can’t even explain what the pedal does"

Listed as Chasny's preferred picks on Premier Guitar.

Excerpt from an interview with Ben Chasny by (Sir) Richard Bishop:

BS - Are you particular about guitar strings? I believe that as guitar players we should be able to pick up any guitar at any time, no matter what kind of strings it has, and still be capable of entertaining an audience.

BC - You would think that, but I had to put on 12-gauge strings recently and, man, did I suck. I use 10s, same as Angus Young. He plays guitar in a band called AC/DC.

RB - Never heard of him! I bet he dresses funny.

BC - With the lighter gauge I can get the strings really buzzing when I detune. Sometimes a sound person will inform me that I have some buzz. Hey! Thanks! I never noticed that in all the years I have been playing. Good ear.