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 Ollie T (Olli Tukiainen), a Finnish guitar player best known for his work with the bands Poets of the Fall and Old Gods of Asgard.
When did you start playing guitar and do you remember your first guitar?
I started playing at the age of 12 after trying different instruments such as violin, piano & cello. I chose the guitar because I wanted to play pop & rock as well as classical, which I had to start with. My first guitar was a beat-up classical guitar which I bought from my school.
What are your influences and which guitar players are your faves?
I first started listening to pop music, then moved on to rock and finally found jazz in my late teens. There are so many artists and bands to name as my influences, but I can say Van Halen has always been my number one band. I have many favorite guitar players but I’ll name four: Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Allan Holdsworth and Pat Metheny.
How many guitars do you own and what are your favorite models?
I have roughly 25 to 30 guitars. I have always loved to play Ibanez. My first electric guitar was an Ibanez RG750 which is still my favorite guitar. I also love Telecasters and Strat. For traveling I have two Steinberger guitars which also sound great! When touring with Poets of the Fall, I use Ibanez 7-string guitars modified to my needs. I also love the sound of a 12-string acoustic, but it’s a lot of work to get it in tune.
What do you think makes the perfect guitar and amp?
The obvious answer is: A good player of course 🙂 It’s no joke to say that the sound comes from the fingers, but of course the perfect guitar for me is the one that is easy to play. I also use a sustainer a lot so it’s always good to have. A good amp has loads of power but works well with low gain as well. If the amp sounds good without touching any knobs except for the volume, it’s a good one.
How do you feel about the question of modeler or tube amp?
I use PC and Mac, so for me, it has always been both!
Which guitars and amps were used on the new album or for recordings?
For my solo album I used mainly my RG750 and Steinberger Spirit GT-Pro just to keep things simple. For Poets’ albums I tend to use almost all the guitars that I own to have as much variety in sound as possible.I rarely use real amps on albums. I like the fact that you can tweak the sound later on if the song changes during the production process. I mainly use Neural DSP, Guitar Rig and Amplitube plugins.
When you only can choose one guitar, which one will you take?
My RG750. It has always been the one for me!
