O.H. Lee, one of the founders of Santa Barbara California’s The Right Hand recently took time to talk to Gearwire about the band's studio set up. We also chatted with him about some specific--and in some cases unusual--gear they use. Mostly a studio project with a focus on dark electronic music with a classical tinge, the band uses a few instruments that you do not see everyday. One of these is a nylon string Samick guitar..

Last time we chatted with O.H. Lee of Santa Barbara's The Right Hand we were discussing Samick acoustic guitars and Korg Tritons. The band--an amalgamation of goth, classical and electronica, have more in their aural arsenal than synths and geetars. One new tool they use is the Suzuki QChord.

The website for this instrument calls it a "digital soundcard guitar"--a designation that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. It also makes statements like "from zero to musician in nine seconds flat!" and says the instrument is designed to be usable for a variety of skill levels--from beginner to pro. It sells for around $250 and is a newer version of the Omnichord which first appeared in the early 1980s.

"I bought that thing mainly as a songwriting tool. I noticed that certain chords are easier to play on the guitar than others, so when I'd write a song on the guitar it would tend to utilize a limited set of chords. I wanted to expand my songwriting a bit, so what the QChord allows is essentially easy access to all the basic chords (major, minor, 7th, diminished and augmented) with the push of a button," says Lee. "There's also this thing called a "strum plate" that you move your fingers across, and it plays corresponding notes within that chord. It's very useful for songwriting because it frees your mind of having to think about how to play the chord progression you're experimenting with, so you can just focus on how it sounds."

Lee does have some criticism for the QChord. One being that your options for expressive playing are limited. Which is something to be expected looking at the specs.

"You can't really put any dynamics into your performance because the strum plate does not measure pressure," he says. "For this reason, I'd be hesitant to use it live, except maybe as a background instrument."

When it comes to amps The Right Hand is a Crate-only operation.

"I happened to buy a Crate GFX-15 because I liked the idea of having a few basic effects built into the amp itself, like reverb, delay, flange and chorus. Being only 15 Watts, you wouldn't think it would have very much bite, but it really does," he says. "It's more than loud enough for my purposes. I don't mic amps anyway for recording - I do all that stuff in software with Pro Tools plugins like AmpliTube. I like to leave my options open by recording clean signals so I can tweak the effects later."

The Right Hand are currently awaiting the release of their debut recording Fate, My Enemy on iTunes, Rhapsody, SNOCAP, and other locations. Their second album is being written and an ep is also forthcoming.

"It will feature brand new songs by me, N8 and Caz, and more vocals by Camilla Stenmark who is now officially a member of the band!" says Lee. " I can personally guarantee already that our second album will be even better than our first."

Keep an eye open for these recordings by The Right Hand