Rig Rundown - Brian Setzer 

I met this fellow at a recent Brian Setzer appearance at the Ryman. I have to say this is a super nice guy and certainly knows what he's doing. Very personable and very on top of taking care of Setzers gear. The show was flawless. I shouted at him before the show from the edge of the stage. He graciously came over an engaged with my 12 year old son and I. He answered my questions and said hold on a sec. He went back stage and got my son a couple of Setzers picks without my asking for a thing. That was awesome for my kid. Cut the guy some slack, Brian wouldn't use this guy if he didn't know what he was doing.

The internet.....gives people the opportunity to insult people because they are simply bitter, nasty and talentless. This chap comes across genuine, informative and a nice guy.

Don't know why people are hating on this guy in this comment section. This dude is pretty chill and down to earth. He absolutely seems to know what he's doing because he is still with Setzer as far as I know! Cool video!

Dude absolutely knows his stuff. he's just not the most exciting interview. He's an old school tech. Brian trusts him so he's gotta be good.

"What kind of gum are you chewing there Tyler?"......"uh not sure probably just some juicy fruit or something like that .... whatever Brian had lying around maybe trident"

Awesome. Young guys please remember his tour tech has been around a while and is trusted by the player. Sometimes fans are much more technical than the players.

I came back to watch this again purely for that custom green sparkle, it is a work of art.

being a rockabilly myself I thought this was very cool and both gentlemen did great!

Awesome interview..!! You asked all the right questions, this was a real pleasure to watch. Thank you. JM

I love how those techs only care about how good a guitar stays in tune and don't care at all about history, tone, looks or anything else. "It's a great guitar, it stays in tune well" - every tech ever

Oh, that sparkle green!!! On a '32 Ford, chopped & dropped! THAT would be one HOT rod. ;)

This rig rundown guy is GREAT!

Loved the IView. He really doesn't have much to tell. It's THE Guitar & THE Amp & THE Space Echo. What ever this guy does he does it well because Setzer sounded great last night at the casino! Amazing show.

I really enjoy this series of videos. thanks

In the mid to late eighties, if you looked, you could find these Bassman's for less that 400 bucks.

Man I really enjoy these Rig Rundown's good stuff guys. thanks!

Love this information and rundown on his equipment! That gretsch is so beautiful 🧡💚❤️

Really enjoyable rundown, Shawn sounds like he knows his stuff.

I love to listen to every single sound of this guy's breathing. It's great. Just what I wanted.

Good interview...Tyler knows his stuff!

Hopefully, today is the day I finally achieve a small dream and step into the shop to pick up my first gretsch. Spending the morning looking at Setzer's guitars is the perfect way to get in the mood!

Yeah, best one(rig rundown) i've seen yet. Damn now i want all that stuff!!

Now that's a relic job! And a great story to go with it!

enjoyed the insight. good job

I love this stuff!

Nice job Shawn. A great interview. I wish he'd have picked a few bars on each one.. THANX so much. I enjoy all the work you guys do.

Tyler ! Great seeing you at the Hoods show. I got some great video of you !

Great stuff!! Loved this RR!

He really does man! Even the heavy inhalation sound identical!

He was digging deep. Good info. do this more often please.

Seen the Cats in Germany at the Longhorn in Stuggart in 1988. The first guitar shown was the one he was playing that night! Awesome to see he still has it!

Shawn, I really liked this. I love to hear all the in-depth details about the taped bridges and trestle bracings, vs. the new signature models, etc. You gotta stop and admire original '59s, and take them in a bit. And you go into a lot of detail about the years and models of the Bassmans. This was very informative. Thanks for the detail. I appreciate your interviews a lot more than Rebecca's because I find her diction hard to understand.

The rig rundowns that feature the actual performer are so much better. Steve Stevens' interview, for example.

I like how the interviewer knows more than the tech about Brian's gear! haha

This video is especially cool for me, as I have a 1965 Gretsch Chet Atkins model, similar to his 59 guitar. Same color, same Bigsby tailpiece, same pick ups. Mine is double cutaway w/ painted (false) S-holes. It has a mechanical mute + a black leather snap-on pad on the back of the guitar covering the access panel. Bought it used in 1968 for $300. Used it in my high school band. Still plays awesome + sounds amazing. Never had any major work done. You can see the guitar in my profile photo.

Thomas V. Jones is a guitarist and luthier best known for manufacturing vintage-style Filtertron pickups. TV Jones pickups attempt to recreate the sound of vintage Gretsch guitars by using American-made materials and a manufacturing process similar to what was used in the late ‘50’s and 1960’s by Gretsch. The company was founded in 1993.

Interviewer (Shawn Hammond) is totally geekin' out. Awesome !!! I would too. Super Fan !!!

i have never seen an interviewer have to work so hard to get a guitar tech to talk and fill in the the answer to the questions...the interviewer sounds like he knows the answer and has to get him to just say it...

This is SO Cool. Thankyou so much. Awesome.

I do remember being in a music shop in Birmingham UK when the sales assistant demonstrated the just launched space echo, scary to think how long ago, and I wish I could've afforded it,

I really think we've have to come to terms with the fact they like it plain and simple.

Seemed like a good dude. The gum didn't bug me at all. Nice interview!

Thanks Tyler! Very Knowledgeable! Thanks PG! Very Informative.

I liked the Dude's attitude so much I named myself after him!

Love that 59' ! Got one of BS picks from Tyler the other night !

Shawn pointed out the screw head in the heel of the repaired guitar and asked if that was just missing a cap or something...the tech said, no, he didn't think they came that way....then pulls out another old one, and sure as hell, it's got a cover over a screw-hole. How did the tech never notice that considering how often he handles those guitars? And they're classics?!?

the gretch is amazing!!

Great video

Awesome 👏🏻 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Nice to see he's taken the rollers off.

This guitar with Brian Setzer is MAGIC. from France,bye !!!

I think changing the tubes that often is insane. I have preamp tubes from the 50's that still test fine.

Setzer and 6G6 Bassmans rule! But 60 hours on a tube then replace?? That's nuts. Never heard of AMS tubes, but if they're that cool I'd love to get hooked up with the discarded ones.

Great interview! I play a couple stray cat songs in my cover band pretty much note for note but on my Warmoth partscaster I built. I’m looking to pull the trigger on a Gretsch 5200/5400 series just get the bigsby and the P90 tone. I’m definitely with Brian on the leave the strings on, I’ve had them last for years and never break! The D’addarios are great, I’ll change them once the winding (generally on the D string) starts to unravel. Get a few thousand hours out of them. Haha!

Brian is apparently not too fussy about his equipment. I like that and the fact he has a laid back crew. When you are as good as Brian Setzer you could do a concert on a rusty tin ukulele.

Cables, he uses Belden. I still have an old Belden cable that I've used for 35 years. If it goes bad, I just cut off about 3-4" and put the end back on.

Brian is the best

very intelligent entertaining rig rundown

Does Brian make him wear that bowling shirt with "Tyler" stitched across the front?

great watch...! mucho kudos :)

I love this tech!

Man I would so love to be Brian's Tech! :-)

i would have been drooling all over the stage if i was that close to his stuff

Nice to have a rig rundown when its quiet- no sound checks with drums banging and lights flashing!

I want to do the interviews I would do it for free just to be around the gear. This is the best interviewer yet

Wow I am inclined to strongly disagree with 200 hours on pre-amp tubes. Some companies burn them in for nearly that long. Can't deny Mr Setzer's tone though. His playing and tone are unmatched.

Brian's tech is pretty tolerable with the goofy questions. It seemed like he had to keep him for a certain time limit. I'd hire him to take care of my equipment. Seems like a good dude to have around 👍.

I watched this Rig Rundown to get some info on Brian's strings and a few other things that I'd forgotten. I got the info I was looking for, I don't know why people are being so hard on his tech. Lighten up kids! :-)

Why were the roller saddles removed, I added them to mine and they improved tuning stability

nice!!

I want that lime sparkle Hot Rod.

Tech guy: Re-Animator! LOL Love Brian's old Gretsch!!!!

The idea behind the pinned bridge is to make it easier for the normal everyday players to not move the bridge when changing strings..A tech has to deal with real world problems on the road with climate conditions constantly affecting the intonation so therefore he uses 2 sided tape to compensate having to adjust the intonation..Most players who buy the guitar will be staying in the same place with it so a pinned bridge is preffered.

Wow. Your like Mr. Smartypants. Wish I was! Thanks for the info bro!

I think he's interviewing the janitor who is bullshitting his way thru the interview

I made it through the whole video. Damn.

Great interview, Shawn. Thanks!

Wow lots of critics out there - the fact is if you've ever been three feet away from Setzer when he plays - you would be amazed - then again, I have the feeling some of the "critics" might not

and where does he get his overdriven sound? he sometimes has a pretty amount of rock gain, and his amp doesn't seem to be cranked here, does he use any OD pedal with don't see in this video?

@sify11 I know! My tubes have been in my 65 bassman for about 2 years now doing about 4 shows a week.

a lot of people bashing here. here are my 2 cents. Look around the stage. these guys are minimalists. the fewer things in the signal chain = more organic tone. I understand what they go for. he knows which tubes they preffer. that makes a big difference. It's a very basic rig. It's not a multi amp, rack gear, midi/ amp switcher type rig.some people just don't bother themselves with details they feel they might not need to look at. perhaps Brian doesn't know or care about certain details. it plays great and sounds great. I like it.

this guitar tech sounds like he does not give a crap. the gum chewing really adds to the effect

What brand of gum is this guy smacking on in the mike? Great Tone!

The guy doing the interview didn't even bother to ask why there were sperzel tuners on a 59 Gretsch. That stood out like a sore thumb.

This tech sounds like Dave Mustaine

Shawn was acting like he was on Saturday Night Live as Chris Farley. "Remember when... you were in that movie... and you said.... That was cool..."

He's probably the drum tech.

Well, what about overdrive pedals? I've heard he likes the Expandora.

Damn that's a sexy guitar. Cool tech and interviewer also

Wasnt the corner of the neck pickup ring chipped on the original stray cats guitar? <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="25">0:25</a>

Shawn, excellent job.....Tyler did not see mto have the best personaility for interviews, but Brian uses him for his best assets we are sure.

That number 60 hours on output tubes will depend on what tube it is and how it's played. For rock'n roll played live, I can certainly believe it. However I run 807s for my stereo listening and at moderate volume, and get well over 1000 hours without noticable degredation of performance.

Cool.

really wish they had actually spoken to brian setzer himself in the interview but it was still good

The original "Stray Cats" guitar looks great. You can tell how the lacquer has darkened over the years as compared to the "Stray Cat's Strut" video. Guitars like so many other things, seem to get better with age.

THIS guy could sure use a StringRay! Cheers!

@jrenner325 I feel he knew more then the tech I would like to do the interviews I would geekout that much too. Nels Cline's rig rundown would have been two hours long if I did it

pauze @ <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="17">0:17</a> ''Hello i'm Johnny Cash''

God, that first one.... whew.

The guy is asking about the saddles because he knows that Brian used different saddles .They look like the tone o matic ones ,[not tune o matic] i think i can see those small holes that the guy drilled for extra resonance.They do give a slightly ringier sound compared to the standard tune o matic ones.