Annie Clark of St. Vincent Gear Guide

Annie Clark a.k.a. St. Vincent is widely regarded as one of the most inspiring and unique guitarists in the world of music today - which is why we had to put together a St Vincent gear guide!

Her technique, song-writing style and her choice of guitars have long been a talking point in the guitar community and she has become a guitar hero to which a lot of us look up to due to her off kilter chord progressions, cool lead lines and sonic style. So influential has her style become that Ernie Ball Music Man have even collaborated with the legendary guitarist to create her own line of signature guitars – in fact, Annie Clark of St. Vincent is actually the first woman to design her own line of signature guitars! So, we decided to take a look at the guitars St. Vincent has used throughout her career, pedals and amps she relies upon and of course take a closer look at the new Music Man St. Vincent signature guitars.

Presenting: our St. Vincent Gear Guide.

At time of this publication, Annie Clark was promoting her new album ‘Masseduction’ which reached 6 in the UK and 10 in the US. St. Vincent embarked on a worldwide tour entitled “Fear the Future” which stretched right the way through 2018 and was revered as an incrdible live show.

On said tour, the guitarist has brought along a selection of her new Ernie Ball Music Man St. Vincent signature guitars announced back in 2016. You can see her playing (and the dancers using in the background) and talking about the specs below:

Check out St. Vincent playing the guitar on the Graham Norton Show:

St. Vincent (or Annie Clark) has stated that the design was intended to be more ergonomic and easier to play based on her needs and what she thought really helped bring out the best in a player. She jokingly said in an Instagram post that it was designed for women specifically, but the asymmetrical angles of the guitar, higher access to the upper frets and overall weight of the guitar at 7lb 5oz (3.31kg) means you won’t suffer that horrible shoulder ache after hours of playing. Whether you’re sitting down or standing, it’s a beautifully designed and completely comfortable guitar to play no matter what your body shape.

Pictured below; St Vincent's announcement of her signature guitar!

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Interestingly, the entire neck of the range features a select rosewood neck and fingerboard – which is a fantastic feature especially when coupled with the gunstock oil and hand rubbed special wax blend making it a joy to play. However, to give the Stealth Black model a more menacing and snappy tonality this features a Maple Neck with Ebony fingerboard with ultra-light satin polyurethane finish.

Since the launch of the Ernie Ball Music Man St. Vincent guitars, players of all genres have flocked to get hold of one. They're now extremely hard to come by and are quickly becoming collectors items. 

If you see one available in the wild - you're pretty lucky! 

Being a particularly prolific guitarist and carving out a career for over a decade in music means that St. Vincent’s guitar collection has undoubtedly grown. As well as her signature St Vincent guitars She has appeared on the stages of the world playing a myriad of other guitar models, so to list them all would be impossible.

However, there has been a selection that she has relied upon more than others – here’s our top 5 other favourite guitars Annie Clark plays.

Before she was known as St. Vincent, Annie Clark started her touring career as a member of The Polyphonic Spree playing guitar for the band, which included anywhere from 12-24+ musicians. Here she is with a Gibson SG Standard Electric Guitar.

The 1967 Harmony Bobkat is perhaps the guitar that was most associated with the artist from around 2011 until production of the Music Man signature series in 2016, and no - St. Vincent Gear Guide would be complete without it.

Although they are out of production, this particular guitar has seen a resurgence of interest on the 2nd hand market thanks in part to her use of them. “I played a ’67 Harmony Bobkat through a Death by Audio Interstellar Overdriver Supreme pedal, usually straight into a late-’70s Fender Princeton— not lots of pedals, more driving the amp pretty hard" - St. Vincent, via an interview with Guitar Player talking about the recording process of ‘Strange Mercy’ You can see her playing the guitar at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in which Nirvana were inducted. 

Obviously as guitarists we all experiment with a myriad of different pedals, so nailing down the exact pedal board for our St. Vincent gear guide was a little difficult! Annie Clark has used a variety of different pedal board set ups, but here’s the most notable St. Vincent pedal boards and effects pedals we could find that'll get you started if you're wondering how to sound like St. Vincent.

As we can see above and in the photo with the Fender Jaguar, St. Vincent is using a myriad of different pedals. Starting at top right clockwise:

• Electro Harmonix Holy Grail
• Unknown custom pedal?
• Digitech Whammy
• Boss TU-2 (Now a TU-3)
• Line 6 DL4
• Eventide Space Reverb
• Zvex Fuzz factory (We recommend the Big Muff or Fender The Pelt Fuzz Pedal)
• Fulltone Fulldrive 2
• Ernie Ball expression/Volume pedal (Now available Ernie Ball 40th Anniversary Volume Pedal)

These days Annie Clark uses a different pedal board which was again put together by Nice Rack’s Mike Vegas. The Custom pedal board allows for multiple triggering of pedals, allowing her to focus on playing rather than hitting pedals on and off and doing that tap dance we all do on stage. Clockwise from top left:

• VoodooLabs Pedal Power 4x4
• Bixonic Expandora EXP-2000R
• 2 x Eventide H9 pedals
• Sound Sculpture Switchblade 8F Floor System
• ZVex Mastotron Fuzz Guitar Effects
• Boss PS-5 Super Shifter (alternative - Boss PS-6)

Although these days Annie Clark chooses to hide the amps out of sight when playing live or on TV, she often sites a selection of different amps to get her sound. Here’s our guide to a few of the amplifiers St. Vincent uses.

Have we missed any gear in our St. Vincent gear guide you think should be included? Let us know in the comments below!