Premier Guitar | 7 years ago
Article & photos: http://bit.ly/SharkmuffinRR
PG’s Chris Kies spent some time with Tarra Thiessen, Natalie Kurch (above right), and Chris Nunez of Sharkmuffin before their rambunctious set at Nashville’s Radio Cafe.
Most of the band’s recorded material has been created thanks to Tarra’s beloved (and battered) 2009 Fender Jaguar Special HH. As she put it, “The Jaguar has been through a lot of shit,” and it’s become a headache on the road with tuning issues and having to shim the pickups, so she’s currently touring with this MIM Fender Standard Telecaster that she bought in college. The only thing she’s done to the blonde Tele was she repainted it with silver fingernail polish. She uses Augustine Spectra Light Electric strings (.011–.048) and blue Fender 1 mm picks.
Natalie’s lone bass for this tour was a gift from Tarra. She surprised Natalie for her 26th birthday by having Richie the Guitar Doctor—who only takes on clients by word-of-mouth reference and operates out of his lower-eastside Manhattan apartment—build this P-style bass that has replaced her longtime No.1, which was a semi-hollow Series 10 model. She prefers to use the thickest bass strings from Augustine because she plays with a pick and Kirch feels that gives her tone some added aggression and bite.
Back in 2007, guitarist Chris Nunez scored this 60th Anniversary Fender Stratocaster at a local pawnshop for around 200 bones. He hasn’t done anything special to make it his own and he prefers Augustine strings that are gauged either .010 or .011. This was the first guitar he bought and felt like he was a musician, so this one will hopefully stay in his possession for many gigs to come.
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