Geared Up: Wither Away Guitarist David Young on His Fender American Professional Deluxe Telecaster Shawbucker

Released via Dreambound on May 19, 2017, the seven-track release The Words We Live By, the Actions We Don’t Take by Reading, Pennsylvania’s melodic hardcore five-piece, Wither Away, is fun for both the heavy rock and hardcore crowds. Mixing in elements heavy alternative rock, the band’s music is just as rock as it is hardcore, “expertly balancing angst and grit with explosions of melody.” We recently connected with the band’s guitarist David Young to better understand what goes into creating their sound.

What one piece of gear do you use to obtain your signature sound?
David Young: I would say my guitar, which is a Fender American Professional Deluxe Telecaster Shawbucker.

What about it makes it so important to you?
Young: It’s an extremely versatile guitar in my opinion. I just love the way it sounds and feels.

How long have you had it, how do you use it, would you ever change it?
Young: About a year. Initially I bought it for the dual humbucker format opposed to the standard single coils that come in a telecaster. My idea was to use this on song’s I predominantly played rhythm on, but it ended up working all around so I stuck with it. As far as change I’m happy with it, but… my gear is always in rotation with something new, so it all depends if something comes around that I find more suitable.

How do you recreate your album (guitar/vocal/bass) tones in your live set?
Young: Fortunately, most of the modulation or effects on guitars for the record weren’t over saturated with mysterious plugins; so I was able to pick a few of my favorite pedals chained into my 6505+ to give me what I wanted. Same thing with Jeff, our other guitar player with his Marshall JCM 900. J has all of his vocal effects rigged up through a TC Helicon Voicelive 3 extreme. Our bass player uses an Ampeg SVT 7 pro with an Ampeg SVT 8×10 cab, along with a tech21 fly rig.

What are the major pros and cons?
Young: With recreating tones, I’m blessed to have a dad who is also a guitar player. His advice on placement and emulating things came in clutch. The con is I find myself being extremely picky trying to tweak things to my liking for the best possible performance, it’s a neverending deal.

Give us your best “gear goes wrong” story.
Young: Thankfully nothing too wild has happened to either myself or anyone else in Wither Away, but I’ve had an amp fry in the middle of a set in one of the first bands I was in!

Check out the band’s lyric video for their song “The Grand Tree”