On Barenaked Ladies’ Maroon tour, racks of guitars flank both sides of the stage. On Steven Page’s side are a row of Guilds: two D-55s, a JF-55-12 12-string (used only for infrequent performances of the song "Helicopters"), and two Bluesbird electrics, one of which is outfitted with a Bigsby bar. A Telecaster rounds out the collection. The acoustics are amplified with Fishman Matrix Natural pickups run through a Nady wireless system and a Countryman DI — and no other effects. "The more no-frills, the better," posits Page; his and Robertson’s guitar techs agree emphatically that on-board controls and such only increase the odds of gear "voodoo," and sonic nuances can be handled elsewhere when you travel with a $90,000 monitor console.
At home, Page has an array of other guitars, including Guild Starfire hollow-body electrics, a ’70s Gibson Les Paul, and a small-body, all-mahogany Martin from 1930. "I love it," he says of the vintage Martin. "I got it six years ago, and I have never changed the strings. I don’t want to jinx it now. It doesn’t tune great, but it sounds really cool. I’ve also got a small Taylor that I use as a high-string guitar. I just got a National steel, and I am going to use that for home recordings and such."
Page uses a Dunlop clamp-type capo and Dean Markley strings: on the acoustics, a medium-light set (.012 to .054), and on the electrics, a custom set of .011, 014, plain .020, .030, .038, and .050. "I used to play a wound .020, but essentially because I wasn’t a very good guitar player, I would end up bending the G string every time. I was trying to find something that was heavier in the B and G area."
Ed Robertson’s stage acoustics are two recent Larrivée L-09’s, which replaced the treasured 1976 Larrivée L-09 he retired from the road and now uses only in the studio. His acoustics are amplified similarly to Page’s, with a Fishman Matrix Natural pickup running through a Shure wireless system and a Demeter tube direct box. Both guitarists use feedback-busting soundhole covers, which they remove when they do their frequent "busking sets" at radio stations, stores, and other makeshift settings. For these appearances, Robertson sometimes brings a small DI board with a line selector and tuner.
Robertson’s expanding collection of electric guitars includes several instruments by Dennis Fano (the particular model is pictured at www.fanoguitars.com), who also builds guitars for XTC and other rockers. Filling out the rack are solid- and hollow-bodies by Paul Reed Smith, Fender, and Gibson. Robertson uses Shubb capos and, like Page, Dean Markley strings: medium-lights on the acoustics and a heavy bottom/light top set on the electrics (.010 to .052).