Controlled Chaos: Francesco Artusato Gear Breakdown, Part 1

This is Francesco Artusato, I play guitar in All Shall Perish and for The Francesco Artusato Project.

I have been playing guitar for about 12 years, I had many teachers, I went to a few music schools and I graduated from Berklee College of Music.

Music is my life’s ultimate passion. Not just guitar music, of course. In fact, I grew up mostly listening to classical/orchestral music. Life experiences and circumstances got me to play rock and mostly metal, but I honestly tend to see music as a unity, a universal language, and not really as a classification of genres.

This isn't the first time I've collaborated with Guitar World, but it's my first GW column. Since I was told I had complete freedom to write about almost anything, I decided to ask the fans to see what they would suggest in terms of topics and themes. It looks like the majority of the requests were about the gear I use. So that's going to be the subject of this first column.

I'd like to start talking about my guitars, in the studio and live.

The first guitar I ever bought was an RG Ibanez. I still own that guitar; the frets are almost not existent, but I still love it. It’s probably the guitar I played the most all these years, especially because when I started playing guitar I was one of those obsessed players who play eight to 10 hours every day!

After three or four years of playing, I started exploring and trying out different brands of guitars. I ended up playing Steinberger guitars (especially when I started to get more into jazz and fusion) and Paul Reed Smith guitars. I also played a couple of custom hand-made guitars (six and seven strings) and Carvin guitars.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Gibson or Fender guitars, even though they can be great instruments. I've played, recorded and performed using both those brands, but for some reason, they never felt right for me.

On the contrary, Ibanez guitars have always exceeded my expectations. It really feels like as if those guitars were made and designed for me.

I’m currently playing Ibanez guitars exclusively. The two guitars I've been playing the most lately are an RGA7 (7 string) and an RG 2228 Prestige (8 string). Those are the two I used in the new All Shall Perish album. I recently had the chance to play an RG 2011SC Limited Edition that has 30 frets, a guitar that blew my mind for comfort and playability, and I'm waiting to get a couple more of custom Ibanez guitars.

To talk about types of woods, I am mostly a fan of rosewood and maple fingerboards, maple necks and both mahogany and basswood bodies. All my guitars have Jumbo frets.

I’ll be talking about the rest of my gear next week!

The first album from the Francesco Artusato project, Chaos and the Primordial, will be released on June 28 via Sumerian Records. The new All Shall Perish album, This Is Where It Ends, will be released on July 27 through Nuclear Blast.