After the Satch-inspired post a few days ago, I made a personal reflection of why I go with the stuff I prefer:
- Pickups. I'm still a firm Seymour Duncan camper. People would tell me time & again, if you like Ibanez, DiMarzio would sound better for you. Yes, I have an Ibanez inclination but I still stick to what I like to hear, not some commercial guitar-pickups hype endorsed by the respective brand's artists. Duncans give me that brash but clear tone for intense music & this is my tone domain, primarily. I'm also a pedal minimalist & Duncans give me the most effective guitar-to-amp experience thusfar so I stick to what works for me. Yes, I do keep things open & have other pickup brands in other guitars on days when I need to put things in perspective, tone-wise. The pickups you see above are Seymour Duncan's Custom & '59 in a G&L Skyhawk. Regardless of which guitar they are in, Duncans will always give me what I wanna hear & that's important.
- Picks. Over the years, my experiences with picks got a little too personal. I reject certain brand names & thickness, once again, to fulfil my needs. As mentioned above, I tend to remain in the intense music domain so wimpy picks that would flex when in use are totally out of my consideration. Also, I have grown accustomed to a certain pick thickness therefore anything too thin & do not contribute to my picking style / effectiveness (even on days when I don't play aggressive music) are also out of the question. The pick you see above is the Northern Ghost Planchette. It's not available off the shelf & takes time (3 weeks or later via normal, untracked mail) to reach me once I've committed to purchase. Why bother? Because they make picks according to my preferences. Simple.
- Pedal. Yes, as mentioned above - pedal minimalist, that's me. The irony is, I keep buying pedals to keep me entertained on days when I am bored. OK back to the point, on any playing occasion, I only have the tuner pedal & one drive / distortion unit to boost proceedings. All the primary aggression comes from the amplifier, the pedal is there to make me feel angrier 😅 I've cycled through may pedals but have recently stood by the Elektrik Head Snakestortion you see above. No, you can't get this anywhere, it's custom made by good friends over at Malaysia 🇲🇾 Anything extra special about the pedal? Not really, other than the fact that it offers 4 different clipping modes which I find very useful for various applications. More importantly, I need those features for my playing style.
Over the years, I've learnt to let go of this feeling of insecurity; I don't feel out of place by not playing a certain brand name when it becomes the flavour of the moment. I enjoy being me more than joining the next guy in exalting the hype.
