Gary Lucas

Listed on Eastwood Artists page for Gary Lucas; includes video of him playing the guitar covering Grace with Natalie McCool

Gary Lucas uses a Fender Deluxe amp, as noted in the Premier Guitar article on him.

Gary Lucas can be seen in this video playing his Fender Stratocaster

As seen in this photo, Gary Lucas often plays a Gibson J-45

Gary Lucas has often used a National Style 0 Resonator, as seen in this photo.

Known from the following sources:

Guitar Player, September 1990, "Gary Lucas' Gods and Monsters" by Mark Dery

Lucas remains true to Beefheart's aesthetic. Backed by Gods and Monsters – country yodeler Julia Heyward, bassists Paul Now and Jared Nickerson, and alternate drummers Tony "Thunder" Smith and Tony Lewis – he rattles off strings of notes like a turret gunner spitting shells. He runs his sunburst '63 Fender Strat and red '65 Gibson Firebird (both strung with light-gauge D'Addario rock strings) through a maze-like signal chain: "My pedals sit on a percussion stand," he explains. "I go through a [Dunlop] Cry Baby wah into a T.C. Electronic Sustainer/Equalizer, a Boss Digital Metallizer, a Boss Flanger, another equalizer, which I use as gain-stage control, and then into a noise suppressor, a DeArmond volume pedal, a Whirlwind box – an effects loop with a gain stage – and then into a Boss Pitch-Shifter/Delay, a Boss Chorus, and then into another Pitch Shifter – which I manually manipulate – and then into a DigiTech 8-second delay, an Electro-Harmonix 16-second delay, an Alesis Midiverb, and a second Electro-Harmonix delay. At that point, I split the signal, running the direct sound into a Gallien-Krueger 250 ML and the effects into a Roland JC-120."

Premier Guitar, "Gary Lucas: Sincerely Strange" by Ted Drozdowski (June 13, 2016)

Guitars

• 1964 Fender Stratocaster
• 1966 Gibson Firebird
• 1946 Gibson J-45
• 1928 National Duolian

Gearnews, "Gary Lucas Interview: La Dolce Vita" by Paul Rigg (February 9, 2024; partially derived from an April 17, 2023 interview)

GN: You started playing guitar at nine. Some of your best-known include a 1920s National Steel, a Firebird, a Mexican Strat, and a vintage Tele – but you also use Italian Dophix overdrive pedals…

GL: Yes, my favourite is The Lussurria…it’s got a warmth and the sweetest tone of any distortion pedal. Plus, it is lit underneath, which enables me to see what I’m doing in the dark!

As mentioned here, one of Gary Lucas’ amps of choice is a Fender Hot Rod Deville.

Gary Lucas uses the Dunlop Jazz III as his pick of choice, as seen in this article with Premier Guitars

Listed in the Premier Guitar interview "Gary Lucas: Sincerely Strange" by Ted Drozdowski (June 13, 2016).

Effects

• DOD A/B box
• TC Electronic Spark Booster
• TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Blacklight tuner
• Boss MZ-2 Digital Metalizer
• Boss volume pedal
• Boss PS-2 Digital Pitch Shifters (2)
• Boss TR-2 Tremolo
• TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb
• Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delays (2)
• MXR M102 Dyna Comps (2)

Listed in the Premier Guitar interview "Gary Lucas: Sincerely Strange" by Ted Drozdowski (June 13, 2016).

Effects

• DOD A/B box
• TC Electronic Spark Booster
• TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Blacklight tuner
• Boss MZ-2 Digital Metalizer
• Boss volume pedal
• Boss PS-2 Digital Pitch Shifters (2)
• Boss TR-2 Tremolo
• TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb
• Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delays (2)
• MXR M102 Dyna Comps (2)

Listed in the Premier Guitar interview "Gary Lucas: Sincerely Strange" by Ted Drozdowski (June 13, 2016).

Effects

• DOD A/B box
• TC Electronic Spark Booster
• TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Blacklight tuner
• Boss MZ-2 Digital Metalizer
• Boss volume pedal
• Boss PS-2 Digital Pitch Shifters (2)
• Boss TR-2 Tremolo
• TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb
• Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delays (2)
• MXR M102 Dyna Comps (2)

Known from the following sources:

Guitar Player, September 1990, "Gary Lucas' Gods and Monsters" by Mark Dery

Lucas remains true to Beefheart's aesthetic. Backed by Gods and Monsters – country yodeler Julia Heyward, bassists Paul Now and Jared Nickerson, and alternate drummers Tony "Thunder" Smith and Tony Lewis – he rattles off strings of notes like a turret gunner spitting shells. He runs his sunburst '63 Fender Strat and red '65 Gibson Firebird (both strung with light-gauge D'Addario rock strings) through a maze-like signal chain: "My pedals sit on a percussion stand," he explains. "I go through a [Dunlop] Cry Baby wah into a T.C. Electronic Sustainer/Equalizer, a Boss Digital Metallizer, a Boss Flanger, another equalizer, which I use as gain-stage control, and then into a noise suppressor, a DeArmond volume pedal, a Whirlwind box – an effects loop with a gain stage – and then into a Boss Pitch-Shifter/Delay, a Boss Chorus, and then into another Pitch Shifter – which I manually manipulate – and then into a DigiTech 8-second delay, an Electro-Harmonix 16-second delay, an Alesis Midiverb, and a second Electro-Harmonix delay. At that point, I split the signal, running the direct sound into a Gallien-Krueger 250 ML and the effects into a Roland JC-120."

Touched by Grace: My Time with Jeff Buckley (2013), pg. 62

Jeff finished singing the lyrics to his dad’s song—a hymn to Sefronia, the ancient African slave queen—with all the authority of the shaman within. I stepped on my Digital Metalizer pedal to take the song out with a fuzzed-out bluesy riff based on the orchestral line that ends the original recording.

Premier Guitar, "Gary Lucas: Sincerely Strange" by Ted Drozdowski (June 13, 2016)

Effects

• DOD A/B box
• TC Electronic Spark Booster
• TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Blacklight tuner
• Boss MZ-2 Digital Metalizer
• Boss volume pedal
• Boss PS-2 Digital Pitch Shifters (2)
• Boss TR-2 Tremolo
• TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb
• Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delays (2)
• MXR M102 Dyna Comps (2)

Gary Lucas uses a Boss volume pedal, as documented in this article.

Mentioned in this September 1990 Guitar Player interview and listed in this June 13, 2016 Premier Guitar interview.

Guitar Player, September 1990, "Gary Lucas' Gods and Monsters" by Mark Dery

Lucas remains true to Beefheart's aesthetic. Backed by Gods and Monsters – country yodeler Julia Heyward, bassists Paul Now and Jared Nickerson, and alternate drummers Tony "Thunder" Smith and Tony Lewis – he rattles off strings of notes like a turret gunner spitting shells. He runs his sunburst '63 Fender Strat and red '65 Gibson Firebird (both strung with light-gauge D'Addario rock strings) through a maze-like signal chain: "My pedals sit on a percussion stand," he explains. "I go through a [Dunlop] Cry Baby wah into a T.C. Electronic Sustainer/Equalizer, a Boss Digital Metallizer, a Boss Flanger, another equalizer, which I use as gain-stage control, and then into a noise suppressor, a DeArmond volume pedal, a Whirlwind box – an effects loop with a gain stage – and then into a Boss Pitch-Shifter/Delay, a Boss Chorus, and then into another Pitch Shifter – which I manually manipulate – and then into a DigiTech 8-second delay, an Electro-Harmonix 16-second delay, an Alesis Midiverb, and a second Electro-Harmonix delay. At that point, I split the signal, running the direct sound into a Gallien-Krueger 250 ML and the effects into a Roland JC-120."

Premier Guitar, "Gary Lucas: Sincerely Strange" by Ted Drozdowski (June 13, 2016)

Effects

• DOD A/B box
• TC Electronic Spark Booster
• TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Blacklight tuner
• Boss MZ-2 Digital Metalizer
• Boss volume pedal
• Boss PS-2 Digital Pitch Shifters (2)
• Boss TR-2 Tremolo
• TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb
• Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delays (2)
• MXR M102 Dyna Comps (2)

As documented in this article, one of Gary Lucas’ effects of choice is the Boss TR-2 Tremolo.

Gary Lucas’ rig includes a TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb, as listed in this article on his rig.

As listed by Premier Guitar, Gary Lucas has two Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delays in his possession.

Premier Guitar’s article on Gary Lucas also mentions him having two MXR M102 Dyna Comps.

Premier Guitar’s article on Gary Lucas mentions his strings of choice as being Ernie Ball 2221 Regular Slinky, size .010-.046

Mentioned the September 1990 Guitar Player interview "Gary Lucas' Gods and Monsters" by Mark Dery.

Lucas remains true to Beefheart's aesthetic. Backed by Gods and Monsters – country yodeler Julia Heyward, bassists Paul Now and Jared Nickerson, and alternate drummers Tony "Thunder" Smith and Tony Lewis – he rattles off strings of notes like a turret gunner spitting shells. He runs his sunburst '63 Fender Strat and red '65 Gibson Firebird (both strung with light-gauge D'Addario rock strings) through a maze-like signal chain: "My pedals sit on a percussion stand," he explains. "I go through a [Dunlop] Cry Baby wah into a T.C. Electronic Sustainer/Equalizer, a Boss Digital Metallizer, a Boss Flanger, another equalizer, which I use as gain-stage control, and then into a noise suppressor, a DeArmond volume pedal, a Whirlwind box – an effects loop with a gain stage – and then into a Boss Pitch-Shifter/Delay, a Boss Chorus, and then into another Pitch Shifter – which I manually manipulate – and then into a DigiTech 8-second delay, an Electro-Harmonix 16-second delay, an Alesis Midiverb, and a second Electro-Harmonix delay. At that point, I split the signal, running the direct sound into a Gallien-Krueger 250 ML and the effects into a Roland JC-120."

Mentioned the September 1990 Guitar Player interview "Gary Lucas' Gods and Monsters" by Mark Dery.

Lucas remains true to Beefheart's aesthetic. Backed by Gods and Monsters – country yodeler Julia Heyward, bassists Paul Now and Jared Nickerson, and alternate drummers Tony "Thunder" Smith and Tony Lewis – he rattles off strings of notes like a turret gunner spitting shells. He runs his sunburst '63 Fender Strat and red '65 Gibson Firebird (both strung with light-gauge D'Addario rock strings) through a maze-like signal chain: "My pedals sit on a percussion stand," he explains. "I go through a [Dunlop] Cry Baby wah into a T.C. Electronic Sustainer/Equalizer, a Boss Digital Metallizer, a Boss Flanger, another equalizer, which I use as gain-stage control, and then into a noise suppressor, a DeArmond volume pedal, a Whirlwind box – an effects loop with a gain stage – and then into a Boss Pitch-Shifter/Delay, a Boss Chorus, and then into another Pitch Shifter – which I manually manipulate – and then into a DigiTech 8-second delay, an Electro-Harmonix 16-second delay, an Alesis Midiverb, and a second Electro-Harmonix delay. At that point, I split the signal, running the direct sound into a Gallien-Krueger 250 ML and the effects into a Roland JC-120."

Mentioned the September 1990 Guitar Player interview "Gary Lucas' Gods and Monsters" by Mark Dery.

Lucas remains true to Beefheart's aesthetic. Backed by Gods and Monsters – country yodeler Julia Heyward, bassists Paul Now and Jared Nickerson, and alternate drummers Tony "Thunder" Smith and Tony Lewis – he rattles off strings of notes like a turret gunner spitting shells. He runs his sunburst '63 Fender Strat and red '65 Gibson Firebird (both strung with light-gauge D'Addario rock strings) through a maze-like signal chain: "My pedals sit on a percussion stand," he explains. "I go through a [Dunlop] Cry Baby wah into a T.C. Electronic Sustainer/Equalizer, a Boss Digital Metallizer, a Boss Flanger, another equalizer, which I use as gain-stage control, and then into a noise suppressor, a DeArmond volume pedal, a Whirlwind box – an effects loop with a gain stage – and then into a Boss Pitch-Shifter/Delay, a Boss Chorus, and then into another Pitch Shifter – which I manually manipulate – and then into a DigiTech 8-second delay, an Electro-Harmonix 16-second delay, an Alesis Midiverb, and a second Electro-Harmonix delay. At that point, I split the signal, running the direct sound into a Gallien-Krueger 250 ML and the effects into a Roland JC-120."

Mentioned the September 1990 Guitar Player interview "Gary Lucas' Gods and Monsters" by Mark Dery.

Lucas remains true to Beefheart's aesthetic. Backed by Gods and Monsters – country yodeler Julia Heyward, bassists Paul Now and Jared Nickerson, and alternate drummers Tony "Thunder" Smith and Tony Lewis – he rattles off strings of notes like a turret gunner spitting shells. He runs his sunburst '63 Fender Strat and red '65 Gibson Firebird (both strung with light-gauge D'Addario rock strings) through a maze-like signal chain: "My pedals sit on a percussion stand," he explains. "I go through a [Dunlop] Cry Baby wah into a T.C. Electronic Sustainer/Equalizer, a Boss Digital Metallizer, a Boss Flanger, another equalizer, which I use as gain-stage control, and then into a noise suppressor, a DeArmond volume pedal, a Whirlwind box – an effects loop with a gain stage – and then into a Boss Pitch-Shifter/Delay, a Boss Chorus, and then into another Pitch Shifter – which I manually manipulate – and then into a DigiTech 8-second delay, an Electro-Harmonix 16-second delay, an Alesis Midiverb, and a second Electro-Harmonix delay. At that point, I split the signal, running the direct sound into a Gallien-Krueger 250 ML and the effects into a Roland JC-120."

Mentioned the September 1990 Guitar Player interview "Gary Lucas' Gods and Monsters" by Mark Dery.

Lucas remains true to Beefheart's aesthetic. Backed by Gods and Monsters – country yodeler Julia Heyward, bassists Paul Now and Jared Nickerson, and alternate drummers Tony "Thunder" Smith and Tony Lewis – he rattles off strings of notes like a turret gunner spitting shells. He runs his sunburst '63 Fender Strat and red '65 Gibson Firebird (both strung with light-gauge D'Addario rock strings) through a maze-like signal chain: "My pedals sit on a percussion stand," he explains. "I go through a [Dunlop] Cry Baby wah into a T.C. Electronic Sustainer/Equalizer, a Boss Digital Metallizer, a Boss Flanger, another equalizer, which I use as gain-stage control, and then into a noise suppressor, a DeArmond volume pedal, a Whirlwind box – an effects loop with a gain stage – and then into a Boss Pitch-Shifter/Delay, a Boss Chorus, and then into another Pitch Shifter – which I manually manipulate – and then into a DigiTech 8-second delay, an Electro-Harmonix 16-second delay, an Alesis Midiverb, and a second Electro-Harmonix delay. At that point, I split the signal, running the direct sound into a Gallien-Krueger 250 ML and the effects into a Roland JC-120."

Mentioned in this April 17, 2023 Planet Guitar interview (which is reproduced in English in this February 9, 2024 Gearnews interview. It can be seen in this December 9, 2022 Instagram reel.

Planet Guitar

PlanetGuitar: Hai iniziato a suonare la chitarra a nove anni. Tra le tue chitarre più note ci sono una National Steel degli anni ’20 del Novecento, una Firebird, una Stratocaster “Mexico” e una Telecaster vintage, ma usi anche pedali Dophix Overdrive italiani…

G.L.: Esatto, il mio preferito è il Lussuria. Tra le distorsioni è quella con il suono più caldo e morbido. Ed è retroilluminato, così posso vedere cosa faccio anche al buio.

Gearnews

GN: You started playing guitar at nine. Some of your best-known include a 1920s National Steel, a Firebird, a Mexican Strat, and a vintage Tele – but you also use Italian Dophix overdrive pedals…

GL: Yes, my favourite is The Lussurria…it’s got a warmth and the sweetest tone of any distortion pedal. Plus, it is lit underneath, which enables me to see what I’m doing in the dark!

Featured in this May 10, 2021 Instagram post by Dophix.

@garylucasguitar and Nettuno Fuzz. Sound is good❤️💪🏻👍🏻

Mentioned the September 1990 Guitar Player interview "Gary Lucas' Gods and Monsters" by Mark Dery. It can be seen in this December 9, 2022 Instagram reel.

Lucas remains true to Beefheart's aesthetic. Backed by Gods and Monsters – country yodeler Julia Heyward, bassists Paul Now and Jared Nickerson, and alternate drummers Tony "Thunder" Smith and Tony Lewis – he rattles off strings of notes like a turret gunner spitting shells. He runs his sunburst '63 Fender Strat and red '65 Gibson Firebird (both strung with light-gauge D'Addario rock strings) through a maze-like signal chain: "My pedals sit on a percussion stand," he explains. "I go through a [Dunlop] Cry Baby wah into a T.C. Electronic Sustainer/Equalizer, a Boss Digital Metallizer, a Boss Flanger, another equalizer, which I use as gain-stage control, and then into a noise suppressor, a DeArmond volume pedal, a Whirlwind box – an effects loop with a gain stage – and then into a Boss Pitch-Shifter/Delay, a Boss Chorus, and then into another Pitch Shifter – which I manually manipulate – and then into a DigiTech 8-second delay, an Electro-Harmonix 16-second delay, an Alesis Midiverb, and a second Electro-Harmonix delay. At that point, I split the signal, running the direct sound into a Gallien-Krueger 250 ML and the effects into a Roland JC-120."