From his musical contributions to Highlands Worship ( Church of the Highlands ’ music collective ) to his fantastic YouTube tutorials , Wesley Winford epitomizes the modern worship guitar player . Per our story on Church of the Highlands in this issue , we didn ’ t want to miss this opportunity to spotlight Wesley ’ s contributions !
[ WM ] Let ’ s roll things all that way back ! Was the guitar your first instrument ?
[ Wesley Winford ] It was !
[ WM ] What was your first guitar , and do you still have it ?
[ Wesley ] Peavey Raptor Plus . I still have it !
[ WM ] When I think of you , the image that comes to mind is of you holding that green Gretsch G6118T-60GE ! But that ’ s not the only instrument in your collection . Can you tell us about your arsenal , including what makes each of these instruments special to you ?
[ Wesley ] I ’ ve got about six guitars that I ’ ll rotate in and out for playing services at church and doing YouTube videos . I ’ ve got a few others at home in my studio that I ’ ll play in the videos as well .
My Gretsch is the one I probably play the most . I ’ ve had it for over a decade now and it works really well for those clean tones as well as dirty too . It ’ s all stock and just a really special guitar to me ! I ’ ve also got a Fender Mustang Pawnshop Special that I play a good bit as well . I replaced the pickups with Lindy Fralin Unbuckers and love being able to have all the coil splitting options . Next is my Eric Johnson Strat which is all stock and just that classic Strat sound ! I ’ ve also got an American Limited Edition Jazzmaster with Bigsby . I ’ m about to install ( or might already have by the time this article comes out ) a Lollar Jazzmaster pickup in the neck , and a Lollar Regal Jazzmaster in the bridge .
Next is a ‘ partscaster ’ Tele with a Bigsby that has been through a ton of upgrades over the years . I ’ ve landed on Fender Nocaster pickups in it and all Mastery hardware . Can ’ t say enough about Mastery bridges ! They are such great quality and improve tuning stability so much . I picked up a Fender Classic Player Triple Tele a few years ago and it is a fun little guitar . It ’ s kinda odd with having three tele bridge pickups in it with a 5-way selector switch , but it ’ ll do the ‘ Strat quack ’ pretty well .
My most recent guitar is my 1989 Squire Contemporary Strat with Floyd Rose . I ’ ve always wanted a shredder guitar , and this one popped up on Reverb for a good price , so I grabbed it and threw in a DiMarzio Super Distortion humbucker in the bridge position . I ’ m a Van Halen fan , so this got me pretty excited ! Last , but not least I have a 2000 American Standard Strat that I ’ ve heavily modified . I intentionally scuffed it all up to look road worn and put Eric Johnson pickups in it . Don ’ t play that one as much anymore , but it is very sentimental to me because it was the first Strat I ever owned .
[ WM ] You seem to be spending a lot of time playing Strats these days . Curious why you think we don ’ t see more of them being used for worship ?