Guitar Rig Breakdown
Keith Fulsher
Guitar "HeadFirst Band"
Interview by Roger Zee (04/08/19)
Roger Zee: How did you come by your current gear?
Keith Fulsher:
My sole inspiration was the Beatles. I switched from trombone to guitar, and never looked back! I bought my first guitar, a blue Gibson Melody Maker, with my paper route money in 1966. After owning that guitar for one year, I sold it to purchase a Fender Jazzmaster in Lake Placid Blue. My buddy had bought a red Jaguar, so we were good to go! About a year later, after being inspired by all the up and coming bands, I traded in the Jazzmaster for a 1968 Gibson Les Paul Standard Goldtop at Sam Ash. In 1979, my wife bought me a natural color Stratocaster with a maple neck for Christmas. In 1984, I bought a black Gibson Explorer which I traded in 1987 towards a Gibson SG standard in cherry red. I played those three guitars exclusively -– the Les Paul, Strat and SG -- until 2012, when I set a 2013 work retirement date. At that point, I decided to start buying on average about one guitar a year, and added some new amps. Still doing it too!
Roger Zee: Tell me about your instruments.
Keith Fulsher:
First, my three oldest guitars. With the 1968 Goldtop (“The General”), I replaced the original P90’s with Fralin hum cancelling P90’s and had Pat Clark redo the frets and replace the bridge. With the 1978 Strat, I kept the original electronics, but in addition to Pat replacing the bridge, I swapped out the 7.25 radius neck with a Warmoth compound neck (10-14) as I couldn’t get comfortable playing leads on the guitar. The SG remains all original. Then came the new guitars –- a 2012 Les Paul Traditional in desert burst with Throbak SLE 101 plus pickups; a 2013 Duesenberg Starplayer TV Rebound (semi hollow) in fireburst with “little toaster” pickups (like filtertrons); a 2015 Caparison TAT Special in black; a 2016 Teye El Toro with custom wound Lollar pickups; a 2018 B&G Stepsister (semi hollow) in honeyburst with Fralin hum cancelling P90’s; a 2019 Knaggs SSC model in midnight blue burst with Fralin Pure PAF’s; and a 2019 Taylor 214ce. I've ordered a Suhr Classic JM Pro with a Gotoh bridge and S90 pickups in sonic blue. All these guitars are great in their own right, and each has a “sonic footprint” that I really like. In total, I own one acoustic and nine electrics, with number ten on the way. I play them all!
Roger Zee: Which guitars do you bring to a HeadFirst performance?
Keith Fulsher:
For a HeadFirst gig, I take two guitars. The first's always the workhorse of the night –- either one of my Les Pauls, the Teye, Knaggs, SG, or B&G because they fit in well with the Southern Rock sound. I bring a second guitar with a tremolo bar that I use in some of our songs –- the Duesy, Strat, or TAT Special. I change which two guitars I use each gig.
Roger Zee: What strings and picks do you like?
Keith Fulsher:
I put D’Addario NYXL 10-46 on all my short scale guitars (24.75), and 9.5-44 on all long scale guitars (25.5). I use very heavy picks -– my favorite at this point's the V- Picks Tradition 4.0, 4.0mm thick. I tend to like higher, narrower frets for bends. My favorite's the Jescar 55090 or Dunlop 6105, which measures .055 high and .090 wide, but am comfortable with any fret .047 or higher.
Roger Zee: Talk to me about your amps and cabinets.
Keith Fulsher:
When I gig with HeadFirst, I choose between two main rigs. For big rooms, I use a Friedman BE 100 (100 watts) with a Friedman 4X12 cabinet. For smaller rooms, I go with a Victory V30 Countess head (30 watts) with a Victory 2X12 cabinet. For other stand-in gigs, I use either a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2X12 (60 watts) or a Peavy Classic 50 4X10 (50 watts). For jams, I go with my workhorse Peavy Classic 30 1X12. I practice through a Marshall MG15DFX amp. I also own a Sunn Model T with two Marshall 4X12 cabs which I stopped using that in 2003 -– too heavy, too loud. It sits in the basement today.
Roger Zee: What effects do you use?
Keith Fulsher:
I've got two pedal boards – one that I use with HeadFirst, and another for jams and other gigs. For HeadFirst, I start with a TC Electronics Hall of Fame reverb that stays on all the time. I also use a Boss RV-6 reverb unit to piggyback for extra reverb; an MXR Carbon Copy; a Boss PS-2 Pitch Shifter/Delay set to a very quick second delay; a Boss CH-1 Super Chorus; and a Boss TU-2 Tuner. They all go through the effects loop, except the tuner which goes through the front of the amp and I plug into a Dunlop volume pedal. I do not use any overdrive pedals, as I prefer the amp overdrive. For jams, I set the amp to clean and use the Boss RV-6 Reverb, Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, and Boss BC-2 Combo Drive pedal.
Roger Zee: Do you see the light at the end of your equipment tunnel?
Keith Fulsher:
The Fractal Audio systems intrigue me. I'm not quite ready yet to put my amps aside, but I think these systems have come a long way. As far as guitars go, ha ha ha ha!
©2019 Roger Zee