Frank Black

In this photo, Frank Black can be seen playing a Fender American Vintage '58 Telecaster guitar in a live performance.

"Thompson keeps it single-coil simple with two stock vintage Teles and two ’50s Martins—a D-28 and a D-18. When he needs an angrier tone, he relies on the P-90 in his cherry 1963 Gibson SG Jr.," Premier Guitar states.

Vox AC30 was one of the two amplifiers used during the 90's era acording to guitargeek.

You can see Frank playing this guitar here and many other videos of live concerts from the '88-'91 era.

In this photo, Black is seen playing creamy white Fender Jaguar.

Charles uses the Duh Fuzz in his most recent performances. It seems that his version of the pedal is slightly older than the ones currently sold.

In this video you can see Frank Black using a pink Fender Mustang (Fender logo can be seen on the headstock at 0:23 in the video).

Charles uses the Klon Centaur in his most recent performances

In this picture gallery from the Catastrophic Theater you can see Black Francis playing an Epiphone Les Paul Custom back stage at a Blue Finger concert.

Two JCM 800 heads were used during the 90's, acording to guitar geek.

"Thompson keeps it single-coil simple with two stock vintage Teles and two ’50s Martins—a D-28 and a D-18. When he needs an angrier tone, he relies on the P-90 in his cherry 1963 Gibson SG Jr.," this Premier Guitar rig rundown states.

In the article you can see him using "vintage Vox AC30 heads driving Vox extension cabs".

In an article by Premier Guitar, Frank Black is mentioned as using a Martin D-18, among other guitars, for his performances. The piece highlights his preference for vintage instruments, including the D-18 for its distinctive tone.

Used live at the Town and Country Club, London 1988

Towards the end of this gear rundown video it is shown that Frank uses a Weber MiniMASS Attenuator to lose a little of the power when playing in smaller venues.

In this NPR live performance, Frank Black can be seen playing his pickup equipped Martin D-18. The guitar is never shown in full detail and at first glance it doesn't look to be hooked up to an amp but when the shot zooms out, the dark background reveals a dangling wire coming from the accoustic guitar every now and again. The amplifier in the back is clearly used by Joey Santiago which means the Roland Microcube in the front (definitely not a GX version, which has an extra knob) is Frank's.

Charles uses the Boss FS-5L in his most recent performances.

In this 2014 article by John Bohlinger on February 12, guitar tech Duncan Swift gives PremierGuitar a gear rundown before a Pixies performance on February 2nd at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

"Thompson keeps it single-coil simple with two stock vintage Teles and two ’50s Martins—a D-28 and a D-18. When he needs an angrier tone, he relies on the P-90 in his cherry 1963 Gibson SG Jr."

A picture of the Gibson SG reveals a Dog Ear model.

Charles uses the Lehle Dual SGoS Amp Switcher in his most recent performances

1993 Frank Black guitar rig, taken from the guitargeek archives, show it as a few pedals used during that era.

The Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus can be seen on Frank's pedalboard towards the end of this gear rundown video.

Used to change amplifiers during 1993, acording to guitar geek.

The Boss Chromatic Tuner TU-2 can be seen on Frank's pedalboard towards the end of this gear rundown video. It's hard to tell, but the pitch buttons look square and there appears to be a led visualizer.

The Radial J48 Active Direct Box can be seen on Frank's pedalboard towards the end of this gear rundown video.

Frank Black uses this guitar in this performance and several others from this period with some regularity, with a specific spot being at 3:17 during Nimrod’s Son. This shot shows the shallow depth of the body and the distinctive oval-shaped sound hole and harsh cutaway. I can’t confirm that it was ever used on a record but it would make sense for it to be on anything between Come On Pilgrim and Doolittle.

Frank Black is confirmed to use the Healy Guitars Healer, as evidenced by an Instagram post from Healy Guitars. The post details the creation of a custom Healer guitar specifically for him, featuring unique elements such as one of his wisdom teeth and maple wood sourced from his own property. This guitar was crafted with a hum-cancelling bridge pickup and a vibrant neck pickup, tailored to Black's preferences. The post also mentions that this is the second Healer guitar made for him, and he has been seen performing with it during live shows in 2023.