Greg Leisz plays a Weissenborn Style 2, Style 1, and teardrop model with an original metal tailpiece (anyone seen another?). He uses phosphor bronze light strings and tunes to open D (D A D F# A D).

In a converted two-car garage a few blocks from his home, Greg Leisz maintains an impressive arsenal of tools. His acoustic guitars include a '40s Martin D-18, an 0-18, a Ram’rez classical, two Dobros made in the '30s, a National tricone and Duolian, and a handful of Weissenborns. These share space with Fender, Danelectro (baritone), Gibson, Gretsch, and Rickenbacker electrics; walls of amplifiers; and steels made by Emmons, Fender, Rickenbacker, and National. He also has two '20s Gibson mandolins and a late '30s/early '40s Gibson H-0 mandola. His Lloyd Loar-signed Gibson L-5 archtop (acquired in the early '70s for the same amount--$300 or so--that he got from selling a Guild dreadnought) was heard on k.d. lang's latest release. "But it was someone else playing it," he says. "I don't usually take that one out."