Russ Parrish: Steel Panther guitar international interview

Matt: Did you use your Kramer guitar on the new record?

Satchel: Yeah, I still have several Kramer’s that I’m playing and they are full metal, they’re awesome. The first time I heard about Kramer was in the early ‘80s when I saw Eddie Van Halen playing one. I figured if it looked good on Eddie then it would have to look good on me, because I look a lot like Eddie Van Halen except I’m a little bit cuter. I didn’t even know that they were still making them until a few years ago, but they asked me to endorse them and I said sure.

They sent me a couple guitars to play and they sound great with the Seymour Duncan pickups and original Floyd Rose whammy bars. There are few things in this world that have been perfect since the day they were made, but the Floyd Rose has never had to be changed because they’ve been perfect since day one. Isn’t that weird? They still make them exactly the way they did 30 years ago and they still work perfectly and stay exactly in tune, they’re awesome. The Kramer’s are great too.

Matt: You’re known for playing huge bends and always being perfectly in tune. Are you using really light strings?

Satchel: I use 9 through 42s, D’Addarios. I’ve always used 9s, just because when you’re trying to shred and you get thicker than that, it hurts to play. I’m getting old, my hips are going and stuff, so anything bigger than 9s would be too hard for me to really shred. They’re not too thin where you can’t lay into it, rock out and play some chords. For the new record I might have used some 10s on a rhythm track here and there, but for the most part it’s 9s through 42s. I haven’t really changed that much with my strings over the last 35 years. more