Ask the Experts | September 25, 2024
Drew Foppe: Touring Guitar & Amp Technician
These questions aim to delve into various aspects of acoustic guitar care and maintenance, travel tips, unique situations, and funny stories from the road. We hope to offer insights and inspiration for both beginners and experienced players alike.
What is your official title?
Touring Guitar & Amp Technician.
What artists have you worked with?
I’ve been a touring guitar tech for almost 25 years now, so I’ve been blessed to work with some amazing artists over the years. Some of these artists include: Shinedown, The Smashing Pumpkins, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks, Deftones, Shakira, Slipknot, Sheryl Crow, Evanescence, Faith No More, Whitesnake, Staind, Korn, The Used, My Chemical Romance, Rise Against, and many more.
Can you share some insights into your daily responsibilities when working with high-profile artists and their acoustic guitars?
Every artist has their own personal preference regarding what they would call the “perfect setup.” This includes the amount of neck relief, action (string height), gauge of strings, tuning temperaments, etc. The truth of the matter is, there aren’t many artists who can tell you exactly what those measurements or settings are, they can only tell you that a guitar doesn’t quite “feel right.”
When I first start working with any high-profile client/artist, I usually ask them to tell me which one of their guitars feels and plays the best out of the bunch. From here, I’ll measure everything on that particular guitar and create a baseline to check against all their other guitars to ensure they’re all as close to each other as possible. Every artist wants to be able to pick up any one of their guitars and have them feel, play, and sound as close as the next.
On tour, I’ll always change strings on acoustic guitars every day (unless the artist prefers a darker/dull tone). Fresh strings only to add to the consistency of tonality and feel night after night. After changing strings, I’ll make any necessary adjustments to the truss rod to ensure the neck is exactly where it should be. If it has built-in electronics, I’ll measure the batteries with a multimeter daily as well. A slightly drained battery will often change the tone on an internal preamp system.
While the strings are off the guitar, I’ll also polish the frets, oil the fretboard, check the tuning machine nuts, screws, and output jack are all tight, and then give the guitar a deep-clean/polish to look and feel its best for the show.
What are one or two essential tips you would give to beginner guitar players regarding acoustic guitar care and maintenance?
There are a couple of little things that often get overlooked with acoustic guitar maintenance from beginner to pro level musicians. First, the summer and winter months are always the most common times of year when acoustic guitars want to crack from becoming too dry. Sometimes your fret ends will start to stick out from the fretboard shrinking as well, called “fret sprout.”
Dry and shrinking wood is usually due to constantly running the air conditioner or heater/furnace inside which dries out the air. Always make sure to use a humidification system, especially during these months, to avoid any damage from the guitar drying out too much. It's the best investment you can make to protect your instrument (other than having a case, of course)!
Second, if your guitar is difficult to play, the strings are hard to push down, it buzzes, or it’s become uncomfortable in any way, it’s probably time to take it in for a full setup. Just like changing the oil in a car, your guitar needs to be regularly serviced and adjusted for optimum playability.
Could you elaborate on the common issues or challenges you encounter with acoustic guitars while on tour, and how you address them?
I’d say one of the most common challenges I encounter with acoustic guitars on tour is trying to tune them on a really loud stage. When you work for a band or artist that is extremely loud on stage/live, a tuner doesn’t always recognize the notes clearly as the guitar vibrates and becomes a bass trap for all low-end frequencies, especially with undersaddle piezo pickups. Sometimes clip-on headstock tuners are a better option in loud environments, however, the best way to tune an acoustic guitar on a loud stage is by using an external humbucker pickup. I use a pickup mounted into an effects pedal enclosure with a 1/4” jack output to tune the guitar. Instead of plugging the cable from the guitar to a tuner, I plug the cable into the pickup box, then to the tuner. I have this pickup mounted to the outside drawer of my workbox and can open the drawer bringing the pickup directly to the guitar as close to the strings as I need it to be. It will clearly recognize the notes instantly, just like on an electric guitar.
What specific steps do you take to protect acoustic guitars from environmental factors such as humidity and temperature changes, especially during travel?
How to protect acoustic guitars from environmental factors while on tour is always one of the most common questions I get. It also happens to be one of the most difficult to answer.
Most of the time, artists and bands will tour a particular region of the world for a couple weeks at a time. In the U.S., a tour might start on the East Coast, go north through Canada, back down through the West Coast and might end somewhere in the Midwest or South. All acoustic guitars (electrics as well) will start to acclimate to the climate and environment you’re in if you’re there longer than a couple days. Think of your guitar like a wood door frame in a house. As the weather gets colder, the wood starts to contract and shrink. As the weather gets warmer, the wood will begin to expand back to normal.
The same thing happens with an acoustic guitar on tour. A great-sounding acoustic guitar will breathe and move slightly with the changes in climate and altitude. This is normal. I always make sure any unfinished dark woods get oiled and conditioned to prevent anything from cracking. If an acoustic has a nitro finish, it’s more prone to crack or check versus a poly finish in extreme cold weather. For guitars that live in guitar vaults on tour (basically big closets for the guitars instead of individual cases), you want to make sure the temperature inside the vaults is close to the temperature inside the venue.
With Fleetwood Mac, we had 20+ acoustic guitars on tour, all living in vaults. While touring Canada in the winter, it would be -20 degrees Fahrenheit outside, which means the gear inside the semi-trucks was just as cold. If we just took the lids off the vaults as soon as they came inside the arenas, it would most likely cause some serious damage to the instruments. I would roll up a towel and slightly open one corner of each of my vaults to let the cold air inside gently escape instead of shocking them with a 40-degree (or more) temperature difference. I’d have to leave the towels in the vaults like this for at least an hour or two as the gear came inside each day just to play it safe.
Can you share any memorable anecdotes or experiences you've had while working with touring musicians and their acoustic guitars?
There are a couple tricks I use on acoustic guitars played live that I don’t necessarily use on acoustic guitars in the studio. One of these tricks is to install an end pin that accommodates a strap lock instead of attaching the strap to the output jack. Taking the stress off the output jack prolongs the life of the jack itself and allows the strap to be secured to the guitar with a strap lock.
The easiest way to do this is to drill for the strap lock vertically under the output jack so it anchors into the wood block on the lower bout. This method allows you to secure your guitar strap with a strap lock and still plug in a cable without any interference to either. If you want to take the strap off, you also no longer have to unplug the guitar to remove the strap.
How do you approach troubleshooting and resolving technical issues with acoustic guitars during live performances or recording sessions?
During a live show, the most important thing a tech can do is always be several steps ahead mentally for any given scenario. Things do break on tour, that’s why we have jobs. More often than not, it’s something accidental and it’s not something you can predict until it happens!
Always having a spare guitar ready to go at all times during a show is definitely key. If an acoustic stops working or a preamp starts to crackle and make noise, you have to be prepared to make an instant swap with the artist. The most seamless guitar swaps happen when both the tech and the artist are in sync and working together to swap out guitars without making it an ordeal.
What advice would you give to aspiring guitar techs on how to get started in the role?
The best advice I could give to any aspiring guitar techs out there would be to start locally. Small town, or big city, it doesn’t really matter. The resources available to everyone out there these days are quite incredible and easy to find. I think the biggest shock to people who come from a repair shop environment to a touring environment is how much faster the pace and intense work on the road actually is. A touring guitar tech has to have all the knowledge of a shop technician, but also has to be able to often find a super-creative solution (outside-the-box mentality) to problem solve instantly, and be able to perform emergency repairs on the spot, while also doing everything else you’re required to do as a tech during the show.
Social media is also another wonderful place for people interested in becoming a guitar tech to learn from other touring techs about the music industry, touring in general, and a great place to see real-life tour repair stories.
I’m always happy to help answer guitar and gear-related questions via my Instagram page as well (@foppstar). I regularly post “how-to” guitar repair videos with tips and tricks of the trade, mixed with some behind-the-scenes antics from time to time.
What's the most valuable lesson you've learned throughout your career as a guitar tech, and how can it benefit guitar players of all levels?
The most valuable lesson I’ve learned over the past 25 years as a guitar tech is to always have as much fun as possible or none of this work is worth it in the end. I’ve been really lucky to work with plenty of artists who have fun playing on stage night after night. I’ve also worked for a rare few who, quite frankly, hated everything about being on stage, touring, and simply didn’t enjoy playing in a band at all.
You have to find that middle ground of work and play because touring definitely isn’t for everyone. The days can be long, and you can’t ever call in sick. I’m away from my family for 8-10 months out of the year on average, and trying to keep everything perfect on stage night after night can be somewhat stressful at times. All that being said, I love my job and everything that comes along with it.
If you don’t love what you do and you aren’t having as much fun as possible (whether as a tech, or as a musician), the road tends to wear people down pretty fast. Whenever I need a pick-me-up while on tour, I just remind myself that I’m getting paid to travel the world and repair guitars and amps for a living. All the hard work, personal sacrifices, and years I’ve dedicated to my craft have definitely been worth it in the end.
What's the most unusual or unconventional venue you've had to set up for a performance, and how did you adapt to the unique circumstances?
I don’t know about the most unusual, but the most unconventional venue I’ve ever had to set up for a performance was with Sheryl Crow and her band. We were doing a private show on the tarmac of the USS Midway aircraft carrier, and it will forever be one of those shows I’ll never soon forget!
What are some lesser-known factors or techniques that can significantly impact the tone and playability of acoustic guitars?
One of the lesser-known factors that significantly impacts the tone on an acoustic guitar is something as simple as using a guitar pick. The thickness, material, and shape of a pick will all drastically change your tone on an acoustic. Guitar picks are made out of quite a few materials these days.
Lighter/thinner picks flex more and give you less attack and a bit brighter tone overall, which are great for strumming. Heavier/thicker picks create a slightly darker tone and are great for soloing and single note runs, etc. You can find picks made from all sorts of materials these days, such as stainless steel, titanium, polished rocks, hardened felt, plastic, petrified dinosaur bone, and even meteorite… those last two are NOT cheap though!
Can you recall a funny or lighthearted moment involving a famous musician and their acoustic guitar while on tour that still brings a smile to your face?
In 2019, while on tour with The Smashing Pumpkins in Europe, Billy Corgan and his tech flew with one of his main stage acoustic guitars to do some radio promos before starting up rehearsals. Unfortunately, the airlines had smashed his guitar in transit to Poland and there wasn’t time to get a replacement signature acoustic before their headlining set at the Open’er Festival in Gdynia, Poland.
I was the guitar tech for Jeff Schroeder at the time, but Billy’s tech had asked me to help him fix the acoustic if possible. Only catch was I had to do the entire repair overnight, which meant not getting any sleep at all that night. I took on the challenge and completed the entire repair (including re-finishing/painting) in my hotel room about an hour after the sun had come up. I had the guitar fully repaired and stage-ready in less than 12 hours. This is still one of the top three most difficult overnight hotel room tour repairs I’ve had to do in all my years as a guitar tech.
Every time I see Billy Corgan on stage with his black signature acoustic with a silver star, it makes me smile knowing that I was able to save it that night and it’s still getting played live on stage to this day!
What's the most unexpected or unconventional request you've received from a musician regarding their acoustic guitar setup or maintenance?
I don’t get very many unconventional requests in my shop or on tour with acoustic guitars. I’d say the most unexpected request I’ve had for an acoustic guitar was to add a cutaway to a vintage Dreadnought guitar. However, I declined the work at the time because I wasn’t going to be the one to de-value a vintage instrument that was in amazing condition for its age and sounded incredible without any modifications.
Drew Foppe
Foppstar Amplification
(602) 334-5394
FoppstarTech@gmail.com
IG - @foppstar