Looks of amazement are frequent on the faces of newcomers to Andy's show. While looking for the rest of the band, they slowly realize that Andy is covering both roles, lead and bass guitar, at once. "This guitar opens up worlds of possibilities. Every day I find a new avenue to explore."

Built by Ralph Novak of Novax Guitars, the Charlie Hunter model 8-string guitar is a guitarist's dream.Two courses of strings, 3 bass and 5 guitar, each have their own set of pickups with separate outputs. The separate outputs go to a bass and a guitar amp each. This setup lets Andy walk bass lines and hold down guitar parts simultaneously, both with incredible tones.

Live Rig

His current live setup are his early 1950s Gibson GA-6 and a Dr. Z MAZ Senior 38 Watt amp. The Z replaces his blackface Fender Twin Reverb. "I love the Fender sound, but the Z captures more of the Vox AC-30 vibe, which is perfect for Tele-twang," says Andy. At live shows, he switches between the Gibson for drive sounds and the Z for clean leads. Favoring the direct guitar-to-amp connection, he keeps his pedals to a minimum. While he's reportedly "playing around" with a few new toys, he hasn't found any favorites to mention. For his bass guitar sound, he uses an SWR Workingman's 10. "It's got a nice midrange crunch, like the solid-state Kustoms. I like the fur!"

Keeping with his "anachronistic gear tendencies", Andy chooses vintage drums, as well. The centerpiece is his 1964 Ludwig marching bass drum which measures 28" x 10". He often records using a variety of vintage wood snare drums. He uses two DW 7000 foot pedals for the kick and snare, and two PDP hat stands, one for the hi-hat, one for the crash cymbals. Andy reports that he changes his cymbal size and type frequently, depending on the sound needed.

In the Studio

"We recorded the 'Snake Oil' CD in a few places, which was great fun," Andy reports. "Some of the record is the Dr. Z Maz 38, and some is a Dr. Z Mini. That Mini is an awesome amp. Lot's of tone from the little guy!" Also used on the CD is Andy's blackface Twin Reverb. "We used lots of vintage mics and preamps for that fat, warm sound. We track to digital, but do a lot of the mix in analog. Everything is tracked live, I can't stand overdubs! We use digital for it's natural convenience, but treat it just like it's an analog tape recorder."