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 Tore Østby (Conception, ARK).
When you start guitar playing and do you remember your first guitar?
T: We had an acoustic nylon string guitar that I started to play around with when I was about 11 – 12 years old. I wanted it to sound like a distorted electric guitar, so the first thing I did was to cut out a plectrum from a vinyl record and experimented with how the guitar sounded when played in various ways. I found that the most «electric» sound was produced by hitting the pick hard right next to the bridge. Today I have electric guitars, so I don’t have to do that anymore, ha ha. «Metal heart» by Accept had just come out, and one of their solos included the main theme from «Für Elise». I figured out how to play it on one string. Then I learnt the D major chord, and quickly found I could resemble flamenco by moving this finger setting up and down the frets. Around this time, I got to know Ronni Le Tekrø from the band TNT. He taught me the main riffs for «Hell’s Bells» and «Back In Black», played me various music and I got to speak with him about guitars and music from time to time. You can imagine how inspired and proud I was! But it was first in 1988 that I decided to make the move to buy my first electric guitar and really start practicing. That was an Ibanez. From this day on I could hardly be separated from my guitar.
What are your influences and which guitar players are your faves?
My influences are quite broad. Musically it spans from classical music to traditional to flamenco and latin to classic rock to metal. “It’s hard to pick favorites. There are so many guitarists that have been of great inspiration. The most influential are Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Paco de Lucia, Al Di Meola, Randy Rhodes, Ronni Le Tekrø, Zack Wylde, Jimmy Page, Tomatito and Lightning Hopkins.”
How many guitars do you own and what are your favorite models?
Far from enough! Since both my wife and myself are guitarists, and we share the philosophy that one can not have enough guitars, we have collected quite a few over the years. Favorite models are depending on which style or expression I want to create. I love Gibson Les Paul guitars for rhythm, and how they blend when dubbed with Gibson ES-335s. I have a Heritage Les Paul from the early days that really rocks, and which has been featured on all my records since mid nineties. It still tends to be a favorite along with my wife’s incredible Les Paul Studio from 1983. Alsop got a couple of Les Paul Customs from 1971 and 1982 that sounds fantastic for rhythm guitars. Sometimes I also like to throw in one of our Telecasters. For leads my favorite is a white Guitar Workshop Strat I got back in 1989. It has fantastic response and warm tone. It really sings. I also tend to go with a custom made ESP Strat, a Fender Stratocaster, Telecasters and Gibson 335s for leads. The 335s being semi acoustic gives a different dimension, dynamic and dirt that I really like.
What do you think makes the perfect guitar and amp?
The perfect guitar would be a guitar that responds strongly to the expression I want to communicate. It needs definition, body and tone. If the guitar is perfect for me, I will connect with it in a special way, and the guitar will make me play in a certain way. It’s all about to be one with the instrument. The same goes for amps, but the guitars are even more personal to me.
How do you feel about the question of modeler or tube amp?
I love old tube amps and have a couple of old customized Marshall amps that really rock. Especially the one I used for the ARK record, Burn The Sun, which is modified to be able to switch between classic Marshall setting and Soldano like setting with different sets of tubes. All recent recordings with Conception and my new solo tracks are done with a Kemper amp. I really like all the possibilities you have with different sounds, and think it blends very well with other instruments. It is also quite practical to have on tour, where I can make presets for each song.
Which guitars and amps were used on the new album or for recordings?
For the acoustics I use my Takamine TC132SC guitars, added with a little steel string guitar. Rhythm guitars for «Snowflake» is recorded with a Heritage Les Paul (the one that can be seen in the In Your Multitude album cover) and Gibson ES-335. The leads are done with a Guitar Workshop Stratocaster. I have been using the same guitars for the last Conception albums, as well as a Gibson Les Paul Custom 1971, Gibson Les Paul Custom 1982, Gibson Les Paul Studio 1983 (my wife’s favorite guitar), Fender Telecaster, ESP custom made stratocaster, Fender Stratocaster. All electric guitars are recorded with a Kemper amp going through a Universal Audio Apollo 6 unit.
When you only can choose one guitar, which one will you take?
That will be my white Guitar Workshop Stratocaster, which resonates extremely well with my playing. It was my second electric guitar, which I believe I bought in 1989. I changed the humbucker and pickup. I believe the humbucker is Seymour Duncan SH-4 and the nick pickup is Lace. I had a few generous offers for this guitar, but this guitar is never for sale!
