What Gear Does

Billy Strings Use?

I’m a geek for guitar and music gear. One of my favorite YouTube series, Rig Rundown by Premier Guitar, interviews musicians pre-show to chat in-depth about gear and the choices behind them. 

Billy Strings gave an interview last year (one of many), talking about his arsenal of guitars, pickups, pedals, and other goodies. 

It’s a favorite of mine, so for this blog I thought I’d share my thoughts on some of Billy’s choices, and generally nerd-out over his gear.

Billy Strings’ Thompson DBA “Frankstein”

Billy’s #1 stage guitar is a 2017 Thompson DBA “Frankenstein”. The Brazilian rosewood dreadnought is one of several Thompson used for touring, and despite being nearly destroyed at Nashville’s BNA airport, it remains his go-to instrument for on-stage performances. 

I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of Thompson guitars prior to his interview, but now I find myself regularly checking out their website and drooling over options. 

But what gives the sunburst-finished guitar the “Frankenstein” moniker? Billy explains: 

“ It’s been through hell. It’s been smashed and it’s been put back together. But it always sounds the best plugged in.”

“The Bride” is the “Frankenstein’s” backup, which has similar specs but with a “smokey” sunburst finish. 

The Thompson guitars are for stage performances, but Billy mentions various Martins, including a well-aged 1940 Martin D-28 in the interview. 

His pickup system is a combo of two different pickups/microphones:

K and K Soundpure Pickup 

AND a

Shure WB98H/C Cardioid Clip-on Instrument Microphone

Billy goes into a lot of detail about how the two pickup systems work together, and how he switches between them. Make sure to check out the interview to learn more about it.

Another interesting tidbit from the interview:

Billy mentions he prefers mahogany-made guitars over Brazilian in bluegrass settings, citing that they’re able to punch through banjos and other instruments in a bluegrass jam better than Brazilian-made boxes…for for thought if you’re thinking about a new bluegrass axe.

D’Addario XS Strings

This sort of surprised me. 

First, I’m a long-time fan of Elixir strings. I find them to be easy on my fingers, great sounding, long-lasting, and durable (great value, in my opinion)

But in the interview, Billy talks about constantly breaking g-strings when he used Elixirs, and eventually made the switch to D’Addario; using coated strings for plugged-in guitars Thompsons, citing that the pickups don’t work well with dead or heavily worn strings. 

But what’s crazy is that Billy often changes strings between every set, meaning that he goes through 2-3 sets of strings in one show. 

I try to make it AT least a month…

BlueChip TP 48 Picks

BlueChips are the preferred picks for most flat-pickers. 

They’re “professionally machined, hand beveled, and laser etched,” and come 

Bluechips are great. Really! I’ve played several, and are always impressed with their feel, comfort, and most importantly, their sound. 

Here’s my problem:

JUST like sunglasses, I always lose them, so they’re out of the question. 

I opt for Dunlop Primetones 1.5mm.