“My Suhr looks like it was dragged behind a school bus on lava rock, and that’s just fine by me”: Jennifer Batten shares her gear epiphanies – and how she felt letting go of the Washburn she used with Jeff Beck and Michael Jackson

This month on Bought & Sold, Guitarist welcomes a true legend to share her story in gear, as Jennifer Batten discusses the most important electric guitars in her life, the ones that got away, and what we should all be looking for when auditioning a new piece of gear.

What was the first serious guitar you bought with your own money?

“That was a Sunburst Les Paul. I got a loan from my dad and paid it back for many years. I believe the inspiration was photos of Duane Allman.”

What was the last guitar you bought and why?

“The last guitar I bought was a Suhr Modern Antique. I need a great bridge/middle combo for a lot of the shows I’m playing now, but I was always compromising with my Washburn Parallaxe 24-fret. I thought I couldn’t get the sound I wanted because it was a 24-fret neck, and you couldn’t get proper Strat spacing.

“Then I was sharing the stage with the phenomenal Brazilian guitarist Leandre Gomes; he had me play his Suhr Modern Antique 24-fret guitar into my system, and the clouds parted. I soon bought my own and have never played a more comfortable neck.”

“I was timid for quite a while because I’d played with a Floyd [Rose] since the 80s, but I now find I can do some pretty extreme vibrato with the bar using the Wilkinson locking bridge WVS130. But there is no locking nut; it just stays in tune. I also use Big Bends Nut Sauce on the bridge and nut.”

What is the most incredible find or bargain you’ve had when buying gear?

“Suhrs are hella expensive, often running $3,500 to $5,000 – but I found mine on Reverb from Japan for just $2,600!”

What’s the strongest case of buyer’s remorse you’ve ever experienced?

“I’ve been using the Midi Commander [footswitch] for years to change presets. [I then decided to try the] Midi Captain, which looked very promising since I now need to change snapshots versus presets. I bought one and it toasted while updating. I returned it to Amazon and got another. 

“Same thing. No response from the company for help. I gave up on them and missed my return window and am now very happy with Morningstar MC8. Their support team is great, and the programming interface is really good.”

Have you ever sold a guitar that you now intensely regret letting go of?

“I’m only semi-sad that I sold the Washburn I used on the [Michael Jackson] HIStory Tour and Jeff Beck tours – just because of the years of mojo and the historical angle. My new Suhr kicks its ass, but it had a lot going for it, including comfort and weight. It’s now in a museum in China.

“I’m also semi-sad that I sold my King Tut Ibanez, painted by Pamelina Hovnatanian. She did an incredible job using gold leaf in Tut’s portrait across the whole body. But the guitar just sounded harsh, so it now resides in the Hard Rock [Cafe] in Myrtle Beach [South Carolina], which is a pyramid-shaped building. It’s a beautiful display in a glass case and a very appropriate home.”

“Given the amount of effort that went into the artwork, I kind of gave up on such customisations because you don’t really know a guitar until you’ve spent many hours with it. The art typically comes well before you’ve had that chance to even know if you like it or not, so it’s wasteful if it doesn’t work out.

“My current main Suhr is a relic and looks like it was dragged behind a school bus on lava rock, and that’s just fine by me. I sold one of the small Ibanez George Benson guitars years ago, and kind of wish I still had that. I don’t even know if you can get them any more. It would be a nice couch guitar because it’s a hollow body and much smaller than the average archtop.”

What’s your best guitar-buying tip?

“If you can spend some time with a guitar, it’s the best option. But with the Suhr, I went on having played someone else’s [first]. I don’t see them in local shops. The company’s reputation is well warranted, and they have a great support team. You can go on their site and detail every aspect of a custom guitar if you’re so inclined.”

When was the last time you stopped and looked in a guitar shop or browsed online, and what were you looking at?

“I find myself in guitar shops frequently on my travels and, of course, for guitar clinics, but I rarely play anything on the wall. I admire the finishes while they’re hanging up, but, honestly, I prefer secondhand instruments that have already had the break-in period and the necks are stable. My comfort zone is plugging into my own system and being alone.”

If forced to make a choice, would you rather have a really good guitar and cheap amp or a cheap electric guitar and a top-notch guitar amp?

“Personally, I would rather have a good guitar and a cheap amp. I see it as your hands are number one, the instrument is number two, and what you play through is number three.”

If you could only use humbuckers or single coils for the rest of your career, which would you choose?

“With humbuckers or single coils, I now can definitely say I’d go with single coils. Simply because of the Fishman Fluence line making them low noise.”

Jennifer’s Go-To Rig

“My rig these days consists of a BluGuitar Amp1 and BluGuitar FatCab, a Line 6 HX Stomp XL, and a Morningstar MC8 Midi Controller. I also use a Suhr Modern Antique guitar with an added Wilkinson locking bridge [WVS130] and Lock-It Straps. I also have a D’Addario XPND pedalboard and case, ASI Audio 3D Ambient in-ear monitors and RockBoard cables. As for pedals, I use a Boss FV-50L Volume Pedal and Line 6 EX-1 Expression Pedals – one for wah whammy and other specialty and the other for delay mix. 

“I’ve just added (for the HX Stomp and MC8) the Mission Engineering 529M Ultra-compact, High-Efficiency USB C-PD Converter for Effects Pedals, and Specialized cables 2.1mm to 2.5mm DC Cable for Line 6 HX (and other pedals) by SweetFoot pedals, which are impossible to find anywhere else. Most just have adaptors.”

• For more information on live appearances, see Jennifer Batten.