Olli Lohmann

What is your purpose at session and how long have you been there?
I've been here since 2001 and my purpose at session is to explain and classify things. Especially when sales are about one or the other, the cheaper or the more expensive. To explain things in such a way that it somehow makes sense to decide for one or against the other. It doesn't matter whether it's an email or a video or in the store. It's always about classifying and examining things and sorting them in comparison so that you somehow get one step further in what you imagine.

What kind of instrument do you play?
I play GIBSON and FENDER. For me, HSS Strats are the coolest thing there is. The humbucker, which normally belongs in a GIBSON and sounds fat and warm, sounds completely different in a Strat. It's a great sound that's a bit like Van Halen. But it has to be an HSS Strat from FENDER with Vintage single coils because that also gives me the classic sounds .

How long have you been making music?

So I got my first electric guitar when I was 13 or 14 and I haven't really stopped playing guitar since then. I was immediately in a band, even if we only played three chords. But when I listen to the cassette recorders from back then, I actually play the same way I do today, just less. Much less repertoire, just three or four licks, but they sound the same as they do today.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
I'm incredibly curious and want to find out everything. This is not only the case when playing the guitar, but actually always. If I have a recipe for a good cake or a good salad dressing, I want to know how it works. And when I hear, for example, some solo or some guitarist doing things that I can't really follow, then I want to crack that code. Then I sit down in the evening and try to find out what he is thinking and try to explain it to myself.

What genre do you feel at home in?
For me it started with AC/DC, that's the center of everything. From there it went on to the classic metal stuff like the New Wave of British Heavy Metal but also Yngwie Malmsteen, Nevermore and various 7-string metal. But always paired with the classic path, i.e. ZZ Top, Rory Gallagher, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Bonamassa or John Mayer. Metal is incredibly cool, but also very composed. There isn't much improvisation and that always bothered me a bit. Of course it's completely different in the blues. In the end, I'm into rock and anything that's nice to listen to and has a lot of energy.

Tell us three of your favorite artists.
Yngwie is definitely a huge role model because his playing technique is so incredibly difficult to achieve. This tone, this vibrato and this type have always influenced and driven me so much. Of course Angus has to be mentioned as my whole childhood room was full of Angus Young posters. The most complete and accomplished guitarist I know is Brent Mason. His album Hot Wired is also one of my absolute favorite records. This is the craziest, most complete and crazy thing I can imagine.

Which album would you have liked to have played on?
Albums are always carried by the people who made them. I'd rather create my own album or universe myself than presume to wish myself into some already established context. I don't want that.

Do you play in a band or something similar?
I've always been in bands since I started at 13, but at the moment I'm still waiting for new challenges.

What is your favorite piece of equipment?
My MARSHALL JCM 800. This is the center of the universe, it continues from there.

The most important thing when making music is...?
...that you achieve what you have in head and want, imagine and want to play. That you try to make what you bought a guitar for audible and true to yourself.

You are also known, among other things, for your love of various custom shops. what does that mean to you?
As a rule, instruments that come from a custom shop are built with a goal in mind, without considering the price. Everything that is possible is exploited there, regardless of the price. There is a lot of discussion about whether a guitar should or should be so expensive. But what is forgotten is that the love for an instrument and also the love for a certain way it is made has a price. And with a guitar from the FENDER custom shop that you order yourself, you have the opportunity to really let off steam. This way you can also take your dream guitar into account. And of course I'm also happy when companies with such a history as Fender and Gibson feel committed and connected to this and want to realize it in the best possible way. And I'd rather buy one less guitar, but a real one and be happy that the guitar is really the way it should be.