Trey Hensley

Reading Trey's Rig

Almost everything on this page traces back to one problem: a hard flatpicking right hand, amplified, in a loud room. That is the thread worth following if you are building a stage rig of your own.

The Guitar, and the Pickup Already Inside It

The Trey Hensley Gold Label 510e is the first collaborative artist model in Taylor's Gold Label collection: a deep-body square-shoulder dreadnought, torrefied Sitka top over mahogany back and sides. Mahogany is the choice worth noticing — it gives up some of rosewood's low-end bloom in exchange for a cleaner midrange, which is exactly what keeps fast crosspicking from turning to mud. Worth knowing before you shop the rest of this page: the guitar ships with an L.R. Baggs Anthem SL already onboard. The standalone Anthem SL listed here is that same system for a guitar that doesn't have one yet, and the HiFi Duet is the alternative when you want a bridge-plate transducer paired with a mic rather than the Tru-Mic arrangement. More Taylors in Taylor Guitars.

Two Sets of Mediums, and Why Both

Trey keeps two 13-56 mediums on this page, and they are not interchangeable. The XS Phosphor Bronze is coated — it holds its tone for weeks of playing and resists the hand sweat that kills a set in a night of shows. The Nickel Bronze is uncoated, with a nickel-plated phosphor bronze wrap that reads brighter and more articulate under a microphone, at the cost of a shorter life. Coated for the road, uncoated for the session, is the usual way that split goes. The .013 top string is the common factor either way: heavier plain strings hold pitch when the pick hits hard.

The Rest of the Stage Kit

The Fishman Loudbox Artist is the amp end of the chain, and the Screeching Halt soundhole cover is the unglamorous piece that makes the whole thing work — it blocks the body resonance that turns into feedback the moment a stage gets loud. Two capos cover different jobs: the Shubb C1k Capo Noir for a fast clamp between songs, the F1g FineTune Royale when you want to dial the pressure by screw and stop pulling the guitar sharp. See the rest in Guitar Capos. A Gator TSA ATA molded case gets the guitar to the airport, and the brass fingerpicks and glass slide cover the days when a flatpick isn't the right tool.