Me & My Guitar: And So I Watch You From Afar
Rory Friers and Niall Kennedy from the Northern Irish instrumentalists explain why they’re both toting Shergold’s new Provocateur
1 Rory: “We knew the company and a few friends of ours who played them. We ran into them at a festival we were playing a couple of summers ago and they invited us to come try out some of their latest models. They told us there was a new line on the way and asked whether we’d be interested in getting a couple ahead of the launch to try out.”
Niall: “They’ve since become favourites for live and recording demos.”
2 Rory: “Like the best designs it’s simple and classy looking. It feels super-balanced and the way the neck sits into the body it feels compact which I love. It’s well balanced and not too weighty so I can wear it all day and not feel my shoulder getting sore.”
Niall: “Well I’ve heard chefs say, ‘You eat with your eyes first,’ and it’s like that with guitars – you have to like the way they look first, then it’s about what they sound like after. I’m never going to play an amazing-sounding guitar that looks really dorky. The sweet spot is when it looks super-cool and sounds awesome too and luckily the Provocateur fits that bill.”
3 Niall: “The neck feels so nice, the perfect fit for my hand and I love the way the Seymour Duncans [’59 humbuckers with push/pull coil split] react with my Orange. Also, the locking machine heads are just a lovely touch that makes string changing so much less hassle… it’s the little things!”
Rory: “It sounds great, plenty of the top-end detail I need, but without losing its roundness. I can get a really bright loud clean tone and it’s not twangy or thin, and through my gain channel on my Orange Thunderverb it’s creamy and thick.”
4 Niall: “The ones we play are the ones you will play if you buy one, straight out of the box awesome…”
Rory: “Only mine is already full of chips from playing it live… you’ll have to make your own chips!”