Author Description

Ever since the 1960s, fuzzboxes, wah-wahs, phase shifters and other guitar effects pedals have shaped the sound of music as we know it, indelibly imprinting our culture and our consciousness in the process. Stompbox: 100 Pedals of the World's Greatest Guitarists, is a photographic showcase of the actual effects pedals used by Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tom Morello, Billy Gibbons, Frank Zappa, Alex Lifeson, Jack White, Andy Summers, Eric Johnson, Adrian Belew, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Lita Ford, Joe Perry, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Vernon Reid, Kaki King, Nels Cline and many other iconic guitarists, with commentary from the artists themselves-including over a hundred new interviews-explaining how these fascinating devices shaped their celebrated sounds and songs. Created by photographer Eilon Paz (Dust & Grooves: Adventures in Record Collecting) and edited by Dan Epstein and James Rotondi, Stompbox gives the guitar pedal its long-overdue props, as both a creative tool and an objet d'art. Here you will find lustrous, exquisitely-textured photographs of vintage treasures, battle-scarred veterans of endless tours, and multi-faceted implements of the digital age-as well as equally colorful stories about the crucial roles they played in some of the coolest music ever made.Stompbox also features insightful essays on the history, use and design of the guitar pedal, and eye-opening interviews with pedal builders, stompbox collectors, and musicians and producers who use guitar effects for far more than just guitars. Stompbox is a book that will deeply resonate with everyone from bedroom rockers to hardcore guitar geeks, and is a must-read for anyone who wants to truly understand why these tiny devices stand so tall in the modern musical landscape.