The National’s Gearbox
Guitars
Assorted 6- and 12-string semi-hollowbodies by Reuben
Cox, 1979 Epiphone Sheraton, 1963 Fender Jaguar, 1977
Fender Telecaster, 1970 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, early ’70s
Gibson SG, two 1958 Silvertone semi-hollowbodies, 1965
Guild M- 20, 1996 Jeremy Locke classical, 1991 Greg
Smallman classical, 1969 and 1973 Fender Precision basses,
1972 Fender Telecaster bass
Amps
Fender Bassman, blackface Fender Super Reverb,
1970s Fender Twin Reverb, Fender ’ 65 Twin Reverb reissue,
Penn Pennalizer 3x10 and 4x10 combos
Effects
Boss DD- 5 Digital Delay, Boss TR- 2 Tremolo,
Crowther Hot Cake, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb,
Electro-Harmonix POG Polyphonic Octave Generator,
Ibanez Tube Screamer, Klon Centaur, Line 6 DL4
Delay Modeler, Pro Co RAT, Heet Sound EBow
Strings and Picks
D’Addario EXL115 sets for most electrics,
D’Addario EXL140 sets for the Fender Jaguar,
D’Addario EJ40 Silk & Steel (acoustics),
Dunlop . 75 mm Tortex (Aaron),
Dunlop . 88 mm Tortex (Bryce)
Aaron Dessner’s 1979 Epiphone Sheraton has a trapeze tailpiece with drastically different string lengths for the top and bottom three strings. He often picks behind the bridge for other-worldly sounds. Photo by Keith Klenowski
Bryce Dessner’s naturally relic’d 1963 Fender Jaguar. Photo by Keith Klenowski
