Guitar Rig Breakdown
Eugene McLeer
Guitar "Third Stone Band"
Interview by Roger Zee (04/18/19)
Roger Zee: Tell me about your gear.
Eugene McLeer:
I’ve always been a gear head, just not in the traditional automotive sense. Guitars obsess me. But it took a few years to get me up and running. For my sixteenth birthday in 1980, I ordered my first guitar out of the Fingerhut catalog. An acoustic guitar that came with both nylon and steel strings, three picks, a pitch pipe, nylon gig bag, and the Glen Campbell Guitar Method book which I used to teach myself. I played that guitar with the strings about an inch off the neck for the better part of a year until I bought my first electric, a Montaya short scale guitar for $70. I started taking lessons and joined my first band in the summer of 1981. It soon became obvious that the Montaya wouldn't cut it, so I moved on to a Red Epiphone T270 with a black pick guard. In 1983, I traded the Epi and purchased a D’Agostino Hot Lixx, basically a lawsuit era Strat built to the 1963 Fender specs in a color very close to Lake Placid Blue. That guitar's my prized possession and became my one and only for many years. It’s semi-retired now, but I still break it out once in a while for special occasions. Along the way, I’ve owned a bunch of Strats, Teles, LP’s, a Parker Nitefly, Brian May Red Special, etc, but have either sold or traded them to re-invest in the current lineup.
Roger Zee: Talk about your instruments.
Eugene McLeer:
I'll start with the most recent. I just picked up the highlight of my collection, a Knaggs Burgundy Mist Kenai Doug Rappoport Signature Model. This hand-made gem's an absolute work of art and unlike any other guitar I’ve ever owned or even played. It contains a Seymour Duncan ‘59 (neck) and a SD Custom Shop ‘78 (bridge). Plays and sounds amazing. It came completely stock and will remain so. My next favorite's a 2017 Gibson SG in Alpine White that I modified by adding Duncan Saturday Night Specials to it. That really put it over the top. It's served as the workhorse of my collection for the last two years. On the Stratocaster front, in addition to the D’Agostino that I mentioned above, I possess a 1999 Fender American Standard Strat in tri-color sunburst with an EMG DG20 pickup set. That's the harness that David Gilmour put in his red Strat. I also own a 1997 California Series Strat in Fiesta Red that I updated with the SD Jimi Hendrix pickup set. The harness has the pickups wired backward to simulate the guitar being played upside down.
As to Gibsons, I play two Les Pauls, a 2016 Gibson 60’s Tribute in Honeyburst which I rewired and upgraded the pickups to Fralin noise canceling P-90’s. My other LP, my friends have affectionately christened “The Green Monster.” It's an Emerald Green LP that I built myself from a bunch of parts. It has a Duncan ‘59 in the neck and a Custom 5 (SH-14) in the bridge. Combining the bright green with zebra pickups, cream accent pieces, and gold knobs really makes it visually stunning. Sounds pretty killer too! On the hollow/semi front, I've got a blonde Epiphone Casino. Think John Lennon Apple Rooftop for this one. Great guitar, but howls with feedback like a banshee if you let it. I recently addressed that by stuffing the pickup cavities with dense foam rubber, which really did the trick. Thank you to Lindy Fralin for helping me with that one! I also changed from the stock trapeze style tailpiece and tune-o-matic bridge to a Bigsby B7 and a Wilkinson roller bridge to help with tuning stability. In addition to these, I recently bought an Epiphone ES-335 Pro in Heritage Cherry, a total impulse buy. It played and sounded great until the stock pickups went microphonic after about a month. Since I really like the way the guitar plays, I decided to rip out the electronics and upgrade it. I replaced the pickups with a Duncan JB/Jazz combo and a Mojotone pre-wired harness. Came out really great.
As for the rest, I own two Telecasters. One's an ash Butterscotch MIM Fender with reverse controls. I additionally swapped out the traditional three position blade switch for a four position switch to give me the extra “series” position which provides all of those great Keith Richards tones from the Stones classics of the 70’s and 80’s. My other Tele's a parts caster that I built myself. It contains a Duncan Vintage Stack in the neck and a Little ‘59 in the bridge. It also features a Bigsby style tremolo. My other guitars include a 2017 PRS SE Custom/24, an early 90’s Fender Talon V, a 2018 Taylor Academy 10e, and a Hofner Violin Bass. In total, that makes fifteen guitars! They're building number sixteen as we speak, a Phred Liger, basically a replica of Jerry Garcia’s Tiger Rose/Rosebud guitars that he played throughout the 80’s and into the 90’s. Comes complete with three Dimarzio Super Distortion 2 pickups, with a coil split toggle on each, and an On Board Effects Loop, just like on Garcia’s original. I expect delivery of the guitar at some point around June or July -- hopefully!
Roger Zee: Which guitars do you bring to a Third Stone performance?
Eugene McLeer:
I typically bring two instruments to most gigs. I do my best to rotate them in and out as much as I can, although currently you'll most likely see me play the Knaggs, SG, or Green Monster.
Roger Zee: What strings and picks do you like?
Eugene McLeer:
For strings, I mainly use D’Addario NYXL (10-46)s. I’ve dabbled with Ernie Ball Cobalt strings too, which aren’t bad, but I always find myself coming back to the NYXLs. I use V-Picks -- the Tradition 4.0 and the Mummy. Heavy and with a beveled edge, they provide a whole new level of dynamics and attack that I could never get with a regular flat pick. I use Walker and Williams straps, Snark tuners, and I drive a Honda!
Roger Zee: Tell me about your amps and cabinets.
Eugene McLeer:
For many years, I used Line 6 but grew tired of it and went back to the real thing! For gigs in the last seven years, I've played through a Vox AC30 due to it's unmatched sound. But it's heavy as Hell! I also use an Orange Crush Pro 60 (solid state) for smaller jobs. It’s loud enough to actually use as a backup for the Vox should I ever need to. I get asked all the time if this great sounding small amp uses tubes. For rehearsal, I use a Crate Palomino V16. I keep a few other small amps around the house that I mess with from time to time. My old Line 6 AXS212 2x12 combo sits in its road case in the garage, and my Pod XT Pro lives in a rack in my home studio, so I guess I haven’t completely left the digital realm!
Roger Zee: What effects pedals move you?
Eugene McLeer:
My main pedal board lives in a constant state of flux. For a while now, I’ve experimented with a lot of inexpensive mini effects. They impress me with how good of a job they do. My board's split into ‘front of amp’ and ‘effects loop’. On the bottom row, which goes into the front of the amp, I put a full-size Korg Pitchblack tuner into an Electro-Harmonix QTron Envelope Filter. From there it goes into three gain stages. First, an Outlaw Hangman Overdrive, followed by a Donner Distortion, and into an Outlaw Boiler Maker clean boost. After that, it goes into an old DOD FX-40B Graphic EQ to further shape the sound. The Hangman and the EQ stay on most of the time with the others used as needed. The top row includes a Donner Jet Convolution Flanger, a Donner Pearl Tremor Phaser, a Boss CE-3 Chorus, an Outlaw Quick Draw Delay, and a Digitech iStomp set up as a Continuum Reverb. For jams, I usually just bring a Boss Overdrive/Distortion OS-2 stomp box along with a clip on Snark tuner. The OS-2 controls give me the ability to work with most amp setups without having to tweak the amp as long as it's reasonably dialed in. I don’t like playing around with other players amp settings. The OS-2 has a great set of controls that make just about anything work. That’s why, most of the time, you won’t see my pedal on the floor at a jam. It’s usually on top of the amp or on a tabletop nearby where I can get to it quick and easy. Once in a while I use a Boss ME-80 multi-effects board.
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