David Lindley's "A-Team" Hawaiians are two Weissenborn Style 2's, one Style 1, a thin maple and spruce Style 2, and a Kona Style 3. A Bronson Brazilian rosewood square-neck sometimes substitutes for the Kona.

For strings, he uses Guild bronze lights or mediums, depending on the tuning. Instruments tuned with the sixth string lower than D have .059 Darcos ("I have a nice stash of these," he says) on the sixth string.

Lindley's tunings include F (F C F A C F); G (D G D G B D); an open-G variant, G G D G B D (used on "The Jimmy Hoffa Memorial Building Blues"), with a mandocello sixth string tuned an octave below the fifth string; C6 (C G C G C A); and D6 (D A D A D B).


(From swer.net, Ben Harper explains David Lindley´s help on "In the Lords Arms" studio recording):
Ben Harper : "I knew he had stopped doing session work, and I was like, damn, the only person that can really bring this song to life in the way that I hear it is David Lindley. I mean, I did have some David Lindley clout, if you want to call it that, so I figured OK, I'll give it a shot. I was nervous as hell and I left the message on his machine. A day or two went by and I got a call, "Hey, man. It's Lindley. I'd love to do it." I couldn't believe it-I was floored. When he came into the studio, he brought the most incredible selection of instruments-the most amazing Gibson mandolin, the most amazing fiddle-tuned every one of them by ear to A440, perfect pitch, like nothing I've ever seen, and we laid it down. And it was one of the best musical experiences of my life to date." (From swer.net, Ben Harper explains David Lindley´s help on "In the Lords Arms"(Burn to Shine)).