collection that features heavily modified and bespoke
custom-built pieces made to meet her specifications.
There are a few common features shared between
most of them, including a preference for the offset-
body style as well as the requisite Jazzmaster-style
vibrato. For Vanessa, having a good vibrato unit such
as the Mastery gives breath to her music. “It adds
colour to the tone where it’s emanating pitch, but
it’s also like a sigh.” She also cites the length of string
behind the bridge with notable enthusiasm: “I love
those overtones in the back.”
The guitar that helped her home in on her
particular tonal needs is called Porpoise, a pink
Fender Pawn Shop Offset Special from the early
2010s that started out stock, but quickly became a
testbed for new ideas. “My first love,” she interjects
with a chuckle; she seems genuinely grateful for the
guitar’s patience over the years. This semi-hollow
Fender led her down a windy road of discovery
to some surprising conclusions, such as finding
the perfect pickup for her unique style, the Lollar
Thunderbird bass pickup.
“It was a suggestion by Jason Lollar. I wanted
Firebird pickups in Jazzmaster housings, but the
string spacing wasn’t ideal. He recommended usingthe larger coil of his Thunderbird pickup instead.
I often find the bridge position of most hollowbodies
thin and nasal and I wanted a beefier sound. It’s
perfect.” Porpoise has been outfitted with two of
these massive-sounding Lollar pickups, Mastery
hardware and Gotoh locking tuners.
Of her sparkly Chartreuse Harvester, Vanessa
excitedly declares: “Catbyrd is the oldest-feeling new
guitar I have ever played.” To her, it’s as if Australian
builder Anthony Paine imparts 30 years of wear into
his work, but that’s not to say it’s relic’d from the
factory or otherwise abused: it’s the feel of the neck,
the way the guitar’s lively character pokes out
of a mix, the way the pickups complement the
semi-hollow construction from locally sourced
Australian woods.
The guitar deviates a bit from her usual
preferences, with its 23.5-inch scale length, Lance
Amplification Wide Range mini-humbuckers,
exclamation point f-hole and chopped Bigsby
B-16 vibrato – a suggestion made by Anthony that
Vanessa wholeheartedly embraced. “Anthony is such
a mastermind, I didn’t feel comfortable deviating
from his aesthetic,” she explains. “I value freedom in
artistry, I don’t want to take that away from a luthier.”THIS PAGE Wheeler’s
Chartreuse Harvester, named
‘Catbyrd’, is a shorter-scale
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Bigsby created by luthier
Anthony Paine
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