Meet “Rusty,” my Gibson ES-333. It’s essentially a 335 without the jewelry (pickup covers [which I don’t like anyways], pick guard, translucent volume and tone knobs, mother of pearl inlays, etc). In other words, Rusty’s a straight-up, no-frills guitar, and out of all my guitars, he’s the most playable and most tonally diverse. I can go from sweet and clean, to gritty, to singing super-sustained distortion – with just the volume knob!
Recently, I was actually thinking about selling Rusty and using the proceeds to get another guitar, but Rusty sings so well, that I just couldn’t think of parting with him. You can hear Rusty as the main rhythm parts in this song:
Praise the Lord My Soul:
In that song, Rusty was plugged straight into my amp, and I recorded him using a Nady RM200 ribbon mic. I actually used him in both rhythm parts: The main G7-C9 riff, and the little funky ditty that’s played over the riff. With the main riff, I’ve got Rusty just at the edge of breakup so I can get a bit of a dirty sound. With the overlay, he’s played completely clean with just a touch of spring reverb. He’s got such a sweet, clean voice with just the touch of an edge. Very cool.
Rock on, Rusty!!!
Guitar Gear 
Leave a comment