Me and my guitar: Employed To Serve's Sammy Urwin

(Image credit: Olly Curtis/Future)

Employed To Serve’s guitarist Sammy Urwin chooses Fender to deliver the band’s slabs of low-tuned metallic hardcore...

Jazzman

“I use a Fender Jazzmaster. You don’t usually associate Fenders with heavier bands, you might think ESP or something like that, but I just really wanted a guitar with some real bite to it. And Fenders are renowned for having that bright, more rocky tone. So that’s why I decided to go with it, something a bit against the norm.

I wanted to rock up with something that was different so people were like, ‘What’s this band about?’

“I wanted something that was very different. I love guitars like ESPs, and even BC Richs as well. But I wanted to rock up with something that was different so people were like, ‘What’s this band about? What do they sound like?’ Don’t give it away up front, be a dark horse.”

Bare Knuckle Nailbomb

“The only thing I modded was putting in a Bare Knuckle Nailbomb pickup. The stock pickups were good but the output wasn’t hot enough and I needed something with a bit more gain on it for more raunch, basically. I took the neck pickup out because I never used it to be honest.”

Scale length

When I bought it I didn’t think about the scale length at all, but it’s quite long so it keeps in tune really well

“I got lucky. We play in drop G# and A# standard for the most part, so quite low tunings. And when I bought it I didn’t think about the scale length at all, but it’s quite a long scale length so it keeps in tune really well. I’ve got this one and a Squire baritone, which is a slightly longer scale and also holds the tuning very well. If I tried to do our tuning on a Telecaster, for instance, I don’t think it would really work. But the Jazzmaster is just very robust and can handle it.”

Strings

“Because of the lower tuning we play in, I’ve got quite a thick gauge strings on it with a 62 so I had to file down the saddle a bit. Because when I first started putting these strings on, we’d start playing live and the string would pop out of the saddle. Literally just a little bit of filing down and no problems. Does the job.”