Pic: Arianna Govoni
This article series is about the tools of popular guitarists. What are their favorite guitars and how is it related to them? This time with Francesco Savino (False Memories, T3nors, Demons Down).
Pic: Dario De Marco
When did first start playing guitar, and do you remember your first guitar?
Maybe my story is a little bit different from other guitarists who started playing at a young age. I played my first guitar – a cheap second/triple hand „Ibanez whatever“ – in my early 30s and then only to arrange the songs that I had written. At that time, my focus was to write music in general and not to learn one instrument in particular. The result was that I played different instruments… but all badly! Eventually, when I started my band „False Memories“, I couldn’t find a guitarist who understood exactly what I was searching for so I decided to become a guitarist myself. I started to study and learn seriously about how to play and – the most important thing in my opinion – how to develop my guitar vision. This happened when I was 38/39! The guitar has become is my first (and much beloved) instrument.
What are your influences and which guitar players are your favs
When I started to study, I focused all my energy on learning how to play „emotions“ instead of trying to learn the fastest technique on the planet. My goal was to play in the David Gilmour way! After I achieved some results in that style, I moved forward to learn other techniques that were perfectly synthesized in one of my favorite guitarists: Nick Johnston.
Pic: Jorge Pereira.
How many guitars do you own and what are your favourite models?
I have seven electric guitars (plus one acoustic that I unfortunately play rarely), but most of them are modified in one or more ways. I made changes to them to find the right solution in terms of sound and playability. I work with rock/metal music both as a producer, songwriter, and as session guitarist. Those different roles allow me to make different choices amongst my guitars with active/passive pickups and floating/fixed bridges. My favorite models are the strat-shape with neck thru and floyd rose.
What do you think makes the perfect guitar and amp?
The perfect guitar and amp combination is the one that produces the sound you want to create: rock, metal, whatever. It doesn’t matter if this combo is cheap or expensive, vintage or modern.
Pic: Fran Rivas
How do you feel about the question of modeler or tube amp?
Both are great, but In my experience the best choice depends from the context. My long answer is: I prefer the profiler (Kemper) rather than the modeler because of how I work. I choose the best (real) combo guitar/amp that fits well with the music or project that I’m working on — then, I make the profiles for my Kemper Stage. The result has been awesome because you can play with the same guitar sound from your last album but with your little pedal board! I guess that many guitarists also choose this because – for example – during the our last European tour nobody had an amp. They’re too heavy and fragile for the demands of a tour. My short answer would be: amp in the studio and Kemper live / at home.
Which guitars and amps were used for recordings?
For the „T3NOR“ record (AOR – releasing this month via Frontiers Records ), I chose my strat HSS with Plexy amp. For my brand new band „Demons Down“ (Hard Rock – releasing in March 2023 via Frontiers Records) I used a Les Paul with Marshall JCM800 for almost the entire album. I made a totally different choice for the last „False Memories“ album (Dark Prog Metal – releasing in 2023 via Frontiers Records ). For that, I used my Jackson Soloist with EVH 5150 together with an ENGL cabinet
When you can only choose one guitar, which one will you take?
I’m in love with my Jackson Soloist made in the USA. It’s exactly what I had been searching for in a guitar and — in fact — has been one of the few guitars that I kept exactly the same as the original.
