Arthur Neilson "Guitar Rig Breakdown"

Guitar Rig Breakdown

Arthur Neilson
Guitar "Shemekia Copeland, Blue Angel, The Committments, Big Ed Sullivan"

Interview by Roger Zee (07/11/19)

Roger Zee: Talk about your love for guitar.
Arthur Neilson: I’ve loved the guitar ever since I can remember. I actually didn’t get one until I turned fifteen because my parents thought it would be a passing fad. That guitar, a Teisco Del Rey electric solid body, cost $19.95 and I learned how to play on it. I really dug the Stones and Beatles. But I was also into the folk music of Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs so I bought a Harmony H162 acoustic for $36 and learned to finger pick. Then I heard Albert King and BB King and that was it! I bought a used 1965 Gibson ES335 for $210 and never looked back!

Roger Zee: Tell me about your guitars.
Arthur Neilson: I own so many guitars! Gibson, Fender, Gretsch, Dean, Epiphone, Guild, Kay, Ibanez, Regal, Yamaha, Harmony, Memphis, Silvertone, Danelectro, and a few more brands I can’t even remember! I spread them all over my house so I can pick one up and play it at any time and I do! When it comes to gigging, I guess I’m basically a Gibson/Fender kind of player. I love Teles and Strats and own four of each. I made one Tele with an ESP neck/body that I call my “Elviscaster” because I covered it with seven pages of Elvis stamps!

I have three Gibson/Orville Les Pauls that I play a lot. Other favorites include a 1964 Firebird, a 1962 SG Special, a 1952 ES175, and I still own my 1965 ES335. I also have a 1979 Dean ML and two Epiphone Flying V's. One's a 1958 reissue that I've modded quite a bit including pickups, electronics, frets, and tuners. I named that one “Lucy” after Albert King’s "Lucy." The other one's a "Popa Chubby V”. It came originally with two P90s and I added a third. I like Dimarzio PAF style pickups and put them in a few of my Les Pauls as well as "Lucy." I love to tinker when it comes to pickups. Three of my Strats contain Dimarzio hum-canceling pickups. Great pickups!

Roger Zee: Which guitars do you bring to a Shemekia Copeland performance?
Arthur Neilson: I usually bring two guitars when I play with Shemekia -- one of my Les Pauls that I keep in standard tuning and a Strat that I tune to open G. I would love to bring more, but we fly a lot and carrying more that two's just not practical. When we gig in NYC, I sometimes bring more.

Roger Zee: What strings and picks do you like?
Arthur Neilson: I use DR Veritas 11-50 strings on my guitars and I love them. They last forever! For picks I like Jim Dunlop Nylon 1mm with the rough grip. I turn the pick sideways and play with the rounded side.

Roger Zee: Talk to me about your guitar amps and cabinets.
Arthur Neilson: I’m a Fender amp guy. I've got a 1966 Deluxe Reverb, 1967 Super Reverb, a 1962 brown Super Amp and a Blues Jr. When I play fly dates, my backline amp's either a Hot Rod Deville or a Hot Rod Deluxe.

Roger Zee: What effects do you use?
Arthur Neilson: I’m not too big on effects. I mostly use a little overdrive, reverb, delay, and tremolo. With Shemekia, I bring a Zoom G3n multi-effects pedal. It fits in my gig bag along with my cables which I carry on the plane when I fly. If they lose my luggage, I can still do the gig. I program different patches for her songs so that the delay and tremolo tempo settings work in time. For all my other gigs, I use a Zoom MS100 BT set for reverb and a little overdrive. I just leave it sitting on my amp, "set and forget," and make all adjustments from my guitar. People act surprised, or even upset, when I tell them I’m using a Zoom pedal. Zoom has come a long way with their effects. I believe if you know how to play well enough and can work the pedal, that’s really all that matters. I’m always gonna sound like me!

Roger Zee: What about basses?
Arthur Neilson: I work as a bass player as well and own a bunch of them including a 1948 Kay upright! My electric basses include a 1971 Fender Jazz Bass, 1966 Mustang Bass, 1995 Precision Bass, 1989 Yamaha Nathan East 5 String Bass, and a reissue Danelectro Longhorn Bass. I use flatwound strings on my Fenders and the Longhorn, but I put roundwound strings on the Yamaha. I use Superior Bassworks synthetic gut strings on my Kay Upright which has an Upton Revolution Solo Upright pickup installed. I run that into a Fishman Pro EQ Platinum Bass DI. I plug them all into a Gallien-Krueger MB500 Bass head with an Eden 1x12 cabinet.

Do you see the light at the end of your equipment tunnel?
Arthur Neilson: There’s an old saying, "You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy guitars and that’s sort of the same thing." So the answer to that is "No!"