As lead guitarist, writer, producer, and founding member of Canadian indie rock band Metric, Jimmy Shaw has, over the years, sought out and collected a treasure trove of rare instruments. Amidst the band’s busy “Doomscroller” US tour, we asked Shaw to share some of his favorite instruments—from the coolest guitar he’s ever owned, Explorers that play like you’re “sleeping in a lazy boy”, and rare beasts currently fetching “80’s Ferrari money.”
THE MODULAR
“In 2012, I started getting into Modular synths. I found out about a company in Texas which was owned and run by an ex-robotics engineer who was making copies of old Moog Modulars. It’s called synthesizers.com and I ordered a fairly large one. It’s since grown to about three times the size as that’s the beauty (and financial temptation) of Modulars. It’s an absolutely key part of my sonic arsenal.”
YAMAHA CS-80
“This was a synth I always wanted before it became a rare beast that started fetching 80’s Ferrari money. It’s the most musical of all the synths to me because it plays with key pressure like no other synth. It genuinely feels like you’re playing an orchestra with your hands. It also weighs about 250 lbs and I read somewhere that there’s enough wiring inside to go from New York to Chicago. Not sure I believe that though.”
BUCHLA MUSIC EASEL
“Don Buchla was the west coast synthesist to the east coast of Bob Moog. It’s just a totally different architecture to the instrument than all other synths. You kinda have to be careful about your intake of psilocybin because if you mix them with the easel, you can lose days. This is my go-to when I’m looking for something that crosses across the song. Does its own thing and adds a spice that you wouldn’t expect.
Pictured below is the CS80 closest on the bottom left. The Buchla Music easel just to its left and the large format Modular synth mostly by synthesizers.com.”
THE GOLD ’61 SG
“The is the coolest guitar I’ve owned. It’s an all original 1961 Gibson SG (meaning Solid Guitar) that, at some point, someone did the raddest gold paint job on. Usually, in the guitar world, repainting a guitar will halve its value and players tend to not like it. But Gibson primarily made SGs in Cherry Red and it’s never been my favorite color. This one screams.”
1955 MARTIN D-18 ACOUSTIC GUITAR
“This thing has had so much play that it almost feels like tissue paper. It’s just worked to hell and back, and that makes it super resonant. It just sings and looks like it’s been around longer than your grandma. And honestly, maybe it has.”
MY BRAND NEW HANDMADE MATTE EXPLORER BY TOM BARTLETT
“I met Tom years ago through a friend and he was making these amazing Les Paul copies that were going for super high prices and prohibitive wait times. Luckily, I was never really a Les Paul guy. But he made me one of his originals called a Retrospec. I toured with it quite a lot, but he recently called me and said he’d made an Explorer and that it was the best guitar he’d ever made. I’m more of an indie guy and this shape had some issues for me, but I trusted him… I’m now touring with it and playing it almost exclusively. It sounds fucking amazing. It’s made from hundred(s) year old Korina wood and plays like you’re sleeping in a lazy boy. It’s pretty fabulous.”
CHECK OUT METRIC
IG @METRIC / ILOVEMETRIC.COM
