Leads and Riffs for your new classic. Electric or Acoustic for $50

I can't wait to hear your tune and be inspired! I'll give you a sound that's unique to you and your song's personality, but that's familiar like an old friend. I specialize in a mix of improvised leads and created, defined riffs. My goal is to add a color to your song that sounds like it always belonged there.

As far as equipment goes, my Number One is a Fender Strat called "Ol Blu". Blu is, to my knowledge, the only guitar in the world that's painted Lamborghini Orange. But you don't care about that. Here's my tone recipe: I've added SRV-style overwound pickups to get a strong full sound out of the single coils. I keep them at a height that produces a warm, clean tone when minimally processed, and a choppy bite when pushed.

When I want a thick tone – the kind where a single note cuts through – I use "Monte", an Ibanez Artcore Series semi-hollow with dual humbuckers. This guitar was a love-at-first-sight situation, and I was thrilled when it had mountains of tone to back up its looks. I love the Santana-esque sustain, and I keep the action high for those times I use a glass slide to emulate Duane Allman.

A relatively new addition to the team is "Jiggy", a Squier remake of a rare six-string Fender model known as the Bass-VI. Tuned as a standard guitar but an octave lower, it's essentially a Fender Jag for giants, complete with whammy bar. I use flat wound strings on it. It creates a unique, deep sound that will have people saying, "What is that? I like it!" (this literally keeps happening to me) For an extra layer of uniqueness, I can play it with a slide.

The soul of my tone comes from the warm tubes of my Peavey Classic 30 combo amp. Usually paired with a Shure SM57. This amp gives a full, clean signal on one channel, and sweet, fuzzy distortion on the other. I use an Ibanez Tube Screamer for extra kick. I have multiple effects for added nuance if you want something specific.

If you're looking for something more unplugged, I have a few options: "The Tak" is a cedar-top cutaway acoustic, with a well-worn satin finish that has darkened with age, enriching the tone. Also, I was gifted a very old Harmony with f-holes that has a sound that you can't get on a modern guitar. Finally, there's "CFG" or Camp Fire Guitar. It's a beat up Yamaha something-or-other that strums like it's competing with an orchestra. I use a CAD GXL2200 large-diaphram mic to capture the acoustics.

All said and done, let's create a new classic!