Emily Harris is one of the internet's most recognizable and trusted voices in offset guitars. Her YouTube channel and podcast, Get Offset, covering all things guitar gear, have made her a prolific and popular figure among today's lively ecosystem of guitar builders, players, and creators.
We sat down with Harris for a chat all about offset guitars, preamps and cabsims, French pastry TikTok, '90s Nickelodeon, and appreciating every step of the creative process.
Check Out Get Offset on YouTube
Russo Music: Can you give us an introduction of who you are, what you do, and where someone might find you doing it?
Emily Harris: Hi, my name is Emily. I have a YouTube channel and other social profiles under the name "Get Offset." I do a lot of guitar gear demos and I've been doing it since about 2019. It's been a lot of fun.
Can you give us a rundown of what first brought you to creating your YouTube channel, Get Offset?
Harris: I had been really getting back into gear and guitar after a few years of being away from it, from prioritizing other things that didn't make me so happy. I had seen some of my friends and people I had become friends with, they had these gear channels I thought seemed interesting and I was kind of curious about it. I started with the podcast and had been thinking about it for a while. Another YouTuber had made some comment that he was hosting some sort of guitar gear YouTuber event and he did not invite a single woman. He said that there just weren't any, and I wanted to make it harder for him to say that with a straight face. So, let's say a little bit of spite.
What was your life with music looking like before your YouTube channel?
Harris: I've played guitar since I got my first guitar for Christmas when I was eight years old. I really got into it pretty heavily when I was probably ten. I spent most of my life playing guitar in different capacities, just kind of on my own, doing some songwriter-y stuff when I was younger, being in jazz bands. When it was time to go to college, I opted to move to Nashville and I got a degree in music business at Belmont University there.
There have been lulls in my life with regards to playing guitar and all that, but since the end of college, there have been way fewer breaks. It's been this ever-present thing in my life that I've always gotten a lot of value from. The thing about guitar is, say you're sitting down to learn a piece, and it's hard, I just love that feeling of sucking at something, keeping at it, and then having that feeling of, "Oh, this is easy, anybody can do this." I just love that feeling.
Yeah, and sucking at something is the first step to being sort of good at something.
Harris: Adults are bad at sucking at things, man.
Who was the first player you can remember whose offset guitar caught your eye?
Harris: Elvis Costello. Easy.
I was fifteen years old and my parents had season tickets to a venue called the Fraze Pavilion up in Kettering, Ohio. Emmylou Harris was playing with Elvis Costello. We all thought it'd be fun to see Emmylou. She is, you know, a country legend.
I had no idea who Elvis Costello was, really. My parents came and picked me up from working a morning shift at the theme park and that show changed my life. He was so amazing. The songs were so good. I didn't know any of them. I think the only song I knew that they played the whole night was they did a cover of that Gram Parsons tune — I know it from Gram Parsons, I don't remember if he wrote it — "Luxury Liner." I have had a healthy obsession with Elvis Costello ever since.
What's your favorite Elvis Costello song?
Harris: "Crimes of Paris" is probably one of my favorites. "The Other End of the Telescope" is another personal favorite.
How does the Elvis Costello signature Fender Jazzmaster rank for you among the many Fender signature Jazzmasters of time?
Harris: Oh, I have one. It ranks pretty high. As far as signature Jazzmasters, it might be the only signature Jazzmaster I've played. It's a great guitar. It's way too nice for me to feel great playing it out, especially since they don't make it anymore. I have made one kind of in the same vein, same sort of natural dark wood finish that he had because I think that his guitar was finished in a shoe polish kind of thing. Yeah, it's a great guitar.
What makes a great offset guitar?
Harris: Oh, "great" is in the eye of the beholder. I think for offsets in particular, though, if we want to get into the nitty-gritty, I think stability with regards to the vibrato and the bridge are pretty major things. Obviously, if you know how to set up a Jazzmaster, you can make most of them feel and play good. I think something with upgraded hardware, this day and age, is probably better for most players. I like, for Jazzmasters in particular, a slightly '50s kind of sound in the pickups, a little bit darker, a little less bright. I just think that if a guitar inspires you, it makes you happy, it makes you want to play it, then it's good.
"The thing about guitar is, say you're sitting down to learn a piece, and it's hard, I just love that feeling of sucking at something, keeping at it, and then having that feeling of, "Oh, this is easy, anybody can do this." I just love that feeling." - Emily Harris
In some of your videos, you can be found doing a "this-or-that" rapid-fire questionnaire with many notable pedal brand heads, industry veterans, and gear content creators. With that, I'd like to give you the mic on a "this-or-that" all about, what else, offset guitars.
Fender Offset Telecaster or Fender Starcaster?
Harris: Starcaster.
Fender Starcaster or Black Bobbin Phantone?
Harris: Black Bobbin Phantone.
Black Bobbin Phantone or Fender Jag-Stang?
Harris: Phantone.
Black Bobbin Phantone or G&L Fallout?
Harris: Ah... Phantone. Ouch.
Black Bobbin Phantone or Kauer Gripen?
Harris: Phantone. Sorry, Doug!
Black Bobbin Phantone or Gibson Firebird?
Harris: Phantone.
Black Bobbin Phantone or Fender Mustang?
Harris: Phantone.
Black Bobbin Phantone or PRS S2 Vela Semi-Hollow?
Harris: I think I'm one of the two people who has a demo on that Vela. It's a nice guitar, but the Phantone.
Black Bobbin Phantone or Fender Jaguar?
Harris: Phantone.
Black Bobbin Phantone or Fender Jazzmaster?
Harris: Jazzmaster.
I had a feeling!
Harris: Everyone was waiting for it.
Have you ever heard how I came up with that one? I stole it from French pastry TikTok. I was going to France and I took five years of French and I was like, "Maybe I can manipulate my timeline into being French," and it worked. I wasn't expecting to see so many of those fun interview-style games, but one they had was pastries. So, it would say, "Pain au chocolat ou un croissant?"
I just was like, "I can actually do this for guitar." I do take inspiration from other niches, but I try not to steal/-crib from my other guitar YouTubers and influencers.
A conspicuous inclusion on many of the boards you've shared publicly is the Heather Brown Electronicals Volga. What is it about that pedal that keeps it around?
Harris: There are a few things. A lot of those preamp pedals, it's kind of a misnomer. They call them "preamps," but they're really low-to-medium-gain overdrives. Heather's is a true preamp. Yes, you can absolutely get some crazy fun gain sounds from it, but you can also just get some subtle tone shaping. A big reason I use the Volga so much is I tend to run, not necessarily a direct rig, but I like to use her preamp pedal as my amp.
I use that with a speaker cab I've had for years, which has got a really nice-sounding Jupiter ceramic speaker in it. Then, I use a Seymour Duncan PowerStage, which also has an XLR cabsim out. If the front-of-house just wants me to go direct, I can, even though I don't necessarily prefer that. That cab is a lot lighter than an amp. I'm already bringing so much shit to a lot of these shows. My main band, right now, I have to bring electrics and acoustics, sometimes a lap steel.
It helps me carry less to have the Heather Brown Volga with a cabsim pedal or just using whatever cab is available. But also, it just sounds great. If you ever met Heather, she is so cool and chill, but she's also very mindful and takes a lot of care and has some really fun and cool ideas and takes a lot of pride in making a really, really awesome bunch of pedals. I just really respect everything that she does and I don't think she's really put out a stinker. I just think the Volga is one of my favorite pedals of all time. Right now, I have three of them. I know that it's a lot of a thing to have, but I think I still might have more Hawaiian Pizzas by Caroline Guitar Company.
How did you start working with God's mom?
Harris: We were both in The Pedal Movie, the reverb.com Pedal Movie. We were featured during COVID. They had to kind of reconfigure how they were filming those interviews, so they started doing a lot of them remote, which opened up more people. She and I were both in it. I think we saw each other and she reached out to me. We've just been talking ever since, friends ever since. That's how it works a lot of the time, is you see somebody doing something cool and you reach out to them and you decide if they actually are cool, and she actually is cool. So, that's pretty fun.
It's no secret your fondness for the theme for the Nickelodeon original, The Adventures of Pete and Pete. With that, I'd like to dedicate a few questions to the '90s classic.
Of its early '90s contemporaries, one's gotta go: Clarissa Explains It All, Hey Dude, or Salute Your Shorts.
Harris: You know, I like Clarissa, so I'll keep that. I want to get rid of Hey Dude. I think I learned more things from Salute Your Shorts, weirdly. I learned giraffes have black tongues from Salute Your Shorts. I don't remember watching Hey Dude very much.
Of its alt rock guest stars, one's gotta stay: Blondie's Debbie Harry, R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, the B-52s' Kate Pierson.
Harris: Kate Pierson.
If its iconic theme had to be kicked from your videos tomorrow, what Nickelodeon musical motif would you use next?
Harris: God, I keep meaning to learn the Hey Arnold theme song. That's probably it. I'm also a big fan of Rocko's Modern Life, so perhaps that one.
You're a popular guest at many guitar and pedal events and conventions. What is it about these kinds of shows that gets you most excited?
Harris: Well, that's nice of you to say! Interacting with human beings in person. There's nothing like it. I think that, especially considering what I do, I film my videos in my office, in my home. I have the benefit of playing several live shows a year, which is really nice. Fewer shows than I played in recent years, but I'm fine with that. There's nothing like being with people. I find it energizing. I used to think I was an introvert. I'm not. I just like talking to people, meeting new people, catching up with old friends, just bonding. I mean, I think that we could all do better about going out and being among other people, so I'm just trying to do my part.
You've described Marquee Moon, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Parade, and Blue Rev as albums highly influential to you. Those are all clearly very different albums, but is there anything you describe as common between them?
Harris: First and foremost, great songwriting. Some of those are very keystone albums in their respective genres, for sure. The first time I heard "See No Evil" was just one of those moments where you remember exactly where you were. You remember exactly why you were hearing it. You remember how you felt. I feel that way about all of those albums.
A lot of the times the instrumentation is fantastic. You can tell that the people who put those albums together were very thoughtful in trying to create something that was fantastic. They're "all killer, no filler" albums, each one of them.
Though Seattle's most famous musical touchstone is grunge, what's been your experience there playing alternative country and Americana music?
Harris: People respond pretty well to it. Seattle actually has a pretty decent country and Americana scene. I would say that they have little pockets. It's little pockets of places. So, I've played in a few bands in Seattle. One was an indie pop band, a little psychedelia, but some country influences because the singer was from Texas.
Right now, I would call it "rock Americana," my main band, Golden West. I used to do annually, a couple of shows in a series, a tribute to the women of country music and those always do really well. A lot of times they sell out. You have to remember, I live in a very urban area, but Washington state is very rural with a lot of mountains, a lot of farming, a lot of logging. One of Washington's greatest modern songwriters, Brandi Carlisle, has at least a little country edge to her music. The other Brandy is Brandy Clark, who has written hit country songs, so there's a lot of country in Washington state.
What keeps you pushing for the next big thing that excites you?
Harris: I try to come up with ideas that I think are fun, that people will like and respond well to. I think ultimately, and this goes for everyone in the creative sphere, I think you have to like the process. You have to like every part of the process from coming up with an idea, to enacting it, scripting, filming, editing, you have to like the process because you're going to have absolute failures. Things are going to bomb and it's going to hurt your feelings. If you hate the process and the video does badly, man, that sucks. That's a really bad feeling. It's probably going to be really discouraging.
So, trying to maintain some sort of love for the process regardless of the outcome is important.
How has your outlook on offsets changed after so many years around them, if at all?
Harris: I still love them. I really do. I love Telecasters a lot now, too. One of my other go-tos is a Telecaster my friend Nicole made for me, Nicole Alosinac up in Vancouver, BC. I love that guitar. When it comes to offsets, I find that I'm still surprised by them, still tickled by them, and I still find them extremely comfortable.
I've played a lot of guitars and pedals, and to still to find times when you are delighted is really cool. I don't want to be a pessimist in my life. I don't want to feel bored. I don't want to take this all for granted because it's an amazing thing that I think a younger me would be so tickled that I'm sitting in my office right now and I'm looking around at a dozen guitars.
