Sturgill Simpson

In 2017 Simpson's longtime lead guitarist Laur Joamets left his band. Since then, Sturgill has been playing lead/electric guitar at his shows.

Source video shows Sturgil playing his white tele live. He's also been seen playing at least two other Teles, as seen in these videos (first and second video might be the same guitar, with the decal added sometime between 2011 and 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsrsrOB0zNQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU19dWpeWTg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P58tvWhP8MM

Sturgill Simpson has played this guitar throughout his "A Sailors Guide to the Earth" tour, and was used on the album. The D18 is a twelve fret with a slotted head stock.

In this article in the Martin Journal of Acoustic Guitars, Sturgill talks about his number one guitar, his HD-28v. He tells the story of trading for the guitar at Gruhn's Guitar's in Nashville. This is the main acoustic Sturgill used throughout the first few years of his career. Sturgill carved his name and strumming pattern into the guitar so he could never sell or trade it.

Sturgill aquired this Ditson-style dreadnaught (modeled after the origional Martins built for Ditson department stores in the 1920s) after becoming a Martin Ambasador. It has mahogany back and sides, adirondack spruce top, is 12 frets to the body, and features a slotted headstock.

In his interview for the Martin Journal of Acoustic Guitars (Vol. 5, January 2016), Sturgil talks about why he chose this particular guitar: "I like a lot of bottom end, because I'm primarily a rythm player and a singer," says Simpson. "I picked up a couple 12-fret older model Dreadnaughts in the stores, and they just felt like more resonant, louder guitars. And then I saw the Ditson in the Martin Museum when I toured the factory and just kind of fell in love with the simplicity of the aesthetic of it. No bells or whistles, just a workhorse. This one's really alive already, I can tell, and I'm excited to hear it in a couple of years. I really would like to meet the luthiers who made it, 'cause it's just an absolute tank. It sounds like a cannon." (https://issuu.com/cfmartin/docs/martinjournal_vol5_jan2016)

Hiwatt themselve say Sturgill uses one in their April 2018 catalog, and can be seen in his Bonnaroo set. https://www.rollingstone.com/country/news/sturgill-simpson-plays-brace-for-impact-at-bonnaroo-2018-w521453

According to the L.R. Baggs website Simpson uses this pedal.

"I’ve also been really enjoying this Black Tiger Delay by Greer, which is a really strong delay that has a function that lets you keep your delay trails when you turn the pedal on and off, so when I need to do really psychedelic, longer-note or atmospheric stuff, I use that feature. It allows me to play interesting things with a dry signal under the delay trails."

"One piece of gear that I’m really enjoying with the steel is a phaser pedal made by Mad Professor. It has a blend knob that lets you blend the phase effect in with your dry signal, which sounds a lot more organic and natural. A lot of phaser pedals can be overwhelming and I like that this one lets you fine-tune it without dialing out all of your dry signal."

"I’ve been using a Mad Professor Simble pre-driver pedal when I need to drive the amplifier a little more. I think it’s a brilliant, simple pedal. It’s just got two options—loud and louder—and a footswitch."

"I might have had a TC Electronic Hall of Fame for a little reverb, but that track is basically just those two amps and that Telecaster."