Sean Watkins

"I picture it as like a warm, fuzzy ball of mids. Mine has great highs and lows, but the mids in it are really warm, and it’s fun to sing around. With the timbre of my voice and how I hear things, it’s clear. Other dreadnoughts can be sparkly up top and boomy in the bass, so they seem to compete with my voice, but somehow the J-45 is a really nice companion for singing. And I just like dry, woody-sounding guitars. For a long time I was playing smaller body LG and OM shapes and models, like Woody Guthrie, and I liked those because they weren’t as big on the low end and they were fun to sing with. I still enjoy playing them, but I like the fact that this is a good bluegrass guitar, as well as a fingerpicking type of guitar. I can do pretty much everything I want to do with it."

At 5:30 in his episode of Guitar Power Acoustic, Jackie Greene asks Sean about his guitar. Watkins explains that it is an LG-2, given to him by Jackson Browne from his personal collection. He adds, "for quieter stuff and for finger picking it really sings."

"I really like the triangular Wegen TF 120. They never wear down and they’re not scratchy—very dependable picks. BlueChips are great, too."

Discussing the guitars he played before settling on his Gibson, Watkins tells Premier Guitar, "I had a few Martins at first, and then I added a Collings D2H for a while, and a Bourgeois—I still play those frequently."

"Around the time I was 12, I started messing with it—I think it was an older Martin D-35 that my dad had … it was a Martin dreadnought for sure. And I just started practicing. For the first few years in Nickel Creek, I played mandolin and Chris played guitar, but I remember the day when it clicked: All of a sudden I could play rhythm, and it worked."

In an interview with Premier Guitar, Sean Watkins discusses his string preferences, mentioning that he typically uses Elixir 80/20 Bronze with NANOWEB Strings, Light .012-.053. He notes that he prefers strings that are broken in for recording sessions, changing them only when necessary.

"I generally use Elixir Nanoweb .013s, but sometimes I like the regular orange pack of D’Addarios [EJ17 sets]. I don’t like strings that sound new. When I’m recording, I like to have them broken in, and when I change strings it’s just because I break one."

Sean Watkins, guitarist of Nickel Creek, confirmed his use of BlueChip CT55 picks in a comment during Nickel Creek's AMA on Reddit in 2014.

In the YouTube video of Nickel Creek preforming "For All It's Worth", Sean Watkins is clearly observed playing a Gibson Flatiron Mandolin, most easily seen at 1:29 into the video, however the headstock of the instrument is seen more clearly from various other angles.

In the video, Sean Watkins is seen performing with a Martin F-55 hollow body electric guitar.