We’ve spent a lot of time talking about Taylor Swift’s pianos during her Eras Tour - particularly when they’ve malfunctioned - but what about her choice of guitars? Swift has been rocking several Gibson models as she’s trekked around the world’s stages, and now the company’s VP of product has been discussing what they are and how they were created.
Perhaps the most iconic Eras Tour guitar is Swift’s Lover era Gibson acoustic. Or should we say ‘acoustics’, because this was actually supplied in two slightly different pastel shades. This explains why fans ended up debating whether the guitar she was playing was pink or purple.
“There were indeed two distinct colours made for her Eras tour, a dusty pink and a light lavender, so she has one of each,” Gibson’s Mat Koehler told Guitar World.
“We made a pastel pink one with a matching headstock and unique body artwork for her Lover tour [this ended up being cancelled due to the Covid pandemic]. It was a custom mixed colour and the target was a dusty pink with some purple undertones. That is what we used for her Eras pink as well. But we did other pastel colours for her including a light lavender finish.”
Koehler goes on to say that Swift’s model and spec demands are slightly unusual: “Taylor favours a fairly unique Gibson model - a J-180 acoustic with a long scale length,” he reports. “The J-180 is famous for its striking star inlays, and it has been played by everyone from the Everly Brothers to Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day.”
Explaining why Swift might have a preference for this configuration, Koehler says that “the long scale length of the J-180 adds power and presence to be able to cut through a mix, which is especially useful when playing live on stage. I can't speak for her reasons, but my guess is that it has the perfect balance of style, comfort, fit, and projection for her playing.”
Alongside J-180s in various other finishes, Swift has also been spotted playing a red crystal-studded Gibson J-45, a wine red J-45, an aged Murphy Lab 1960 Hummingbird, and a red crystal-studded Les Paul.
While it appears that Swift doesn’t speak directly to Gibson about her guitars, Koehler says that the company works with her team, “who execute her vision down to the smallest details”.
As things stand, there’s no Taylor Swift signature Gibson - unsurprisingly, Koehler says that they would love to have such a model - but if you want to get pretty close to the Eras look, you can buy Epiphone's J-180 LS, which just so happens to come in lavender and pink finishes.
