Reader's Rig

Fingerstylist and singer-songwriter William Smith doesn't gig anywhere without his Pendulum SPS-1 preamp.

WHO HE IS William Smith is a performing singer-songwriter and full-time high-school English teacher from Wall Township, New Jersey, who has released two CDs of original acoustic folk-pop. Though he played drums in cover bands through high school and college, Smith says “the inherent limitations of composing on a drum kit” and the playing of jazz icon Pat Metheny inspired him to pick up electric guitar during college. After two semesters of lessons, Smith decided that the way an acoustic guitar’s woods react to an individual player’s touch gave him more compositional possibilities. “Tweaking amps is fun, but there’s something very organic and transparent about fingerpicking an acoustic guitar.” Fusing the influences of James Taylor, Michael Hedges, and David Wilcox, Smith uses a variety of alternate tunings and capo techniques for his predominantly fingerstyle work. He performs in cafés, bookstores, and other acoustic venues throughout the coastal New Jersey region. MAIN GIG GUITAR Taylor 912c grand concert with Engelmann spruce top and rosewood back and sides, strung with D’Addario EJ16 lights. A wedding gift from his wife, Smith says this guitar is “amazingly versatile for its size.” SECONDARY AXES James Goodall jumbo with a cutaway, Engelmann spruce top, and mahogany back and sides and strung with light-gauge phosphor-bronze Elixirs. Taylor 420 dreadnought with Sitka spruce top and rosewood back and sides, Taylor Baby Koa, and Ibanez Artcore AF75 maple semi-hollow-body. ONBOARD AMPLIFICATION Taylor 912c and Baby Koa: Fishman Matrix Natural and occasionally an external MiniFlex soundhole mic. Goodall: B-Band Core saddle pickup and B-Band internal condenser mic. Taylor 420: Fishman Matrix Natural (modified to accept power from a Pendulum SPS-1 preamp instead of an onboard battery) and a Joe Mills internal microphone. OUTBOARD GEAR Pendulum SPS-1 preamp with parametric EQ. “It’s absolutely essential,” says Smith, “It’s pristine and it allows me total control over the signal. I tame the pickup and mic signals around 60–80 Hz and 300 Hz, and boost the mic at 3.2 kHz to coax some sparkle out of the high end.” A dbx 166A compressor is inserted on each of the Pendulum’s channels before the signal is sent to a Mackie 1202-VLZ mixer—where reverb from a Yamaha REV500 (fed by the effects send but returned to two mixer channels) gives the signal dimension—and then to a BBE 362 Sonic Maximizer and a Crate PA-4 sound system. FAVORITE GIG “My Friday- and Saturday-night gigs at the Café Beethoven in Chatham, New Jersey,” Smith says. “They have a dimly lit back room with a dozen tables, so every gig feels like a house concert.” HEAR HIS MUSIC www.williamsmithmusic.com

This article also appears in Acoustic Guitar magazine, December 2005, No.156

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