# Robert Johnson Acoustic Rig 1936: Full Gear List & Setup

> Robert Johnson recorded his first session in a San Antonio hotel room in November 1936: acoustic guitar and voice into the room setup, no electronics at all.

- Canonical page: https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/robert-johnson/san-antonio-session-1936/
- Machine-readable index of the archive: https://pedalboardarchive.com/llms.txt
- Evidence and reconstruction conventions: https://pedalboardarchive.com/methodology/

## At a glance

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Artist | Robert Johnson |
| Board | San Antonio acoustic recording path |
| Date | 1936-11-23 — 23 November 1936 (day precision) |
| Context | Gunter Hotel temporary studio, San Antonio |
| Scope | Core signal path |
| Signal path | Acoustic · Guitar to microphone |
| Routing | Not applicable |
| Unit evidence | Documented |
| Order evidence | Not applicable |
| Status | Documented acoustic signal · no electronics |
| Audited | 2026-07-18 |
| Sources | 2 |

Robert Johnson recorded his first session in a San Antonio hotel room in November 1936: acoustic guitar and voice into the room setup, no electronics at all.

## Signal chain

**Order evidence — Not applicable.** No floor effects to order.

No pedals are documented in this signal path.

## Reconstruction note

The acoustic-to-microphone path is documented, but the precise guitar used across every San Antonio take remains disputed. No specific instrument model or speculative room-processing stage is inserted into the chain.

## Questions

### Did Robert Johnson use effects pedals in 1936?

No effects pedals are documented in this path. The archive records the guitar going to a microphone, so the sound comes from the instrument, the room and the way it was captured.

### When and where was this acoustic rig used?

23 November 1936. Gunter Hotel temporary studio, San Antonio. This is the core signal path documented for that period, not a career-wide gear list.

### How does the archive know what was on this acoustic rig?

2 cited sources, listed above with the date each was read, including Texas State Historical Association, MusicRadar. Among them an archive record and a written article. The units are recorded as documented equipment, and the page was last audited on 2026-07-18.

## Sources

2 cited sources across 2 independent groups. Two sources sharing an independent group report the same observation and count once.

1. [Johnson, Robert](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/johnson-robert) — Texas State Historical Association (Specialist source · archive), accessed 2026-07-18, independent group `texas-state-historical-association`
2. [Under the microscope: Gibson Kalamazoo KG-14](https://www.musicradar.com/news/under-the-microscope-gibson-kalamazoo-kg-14) — MusicRadar (Specialist source · article), accessed 2026-07-18, independent group `musicradar`

## Related pages

- Every documented board by Robert Johnson: [Robert Johnson board history](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/robert-johnson/)
- Previous board in archive order: [Robert Fripp — King Crimson surround processing rig](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/robert-fripp/king-crimson-surround-rig-2019/)
- Next board in archive order: [Robert Quine — Lean live chain](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/robert-quine/lean-live-chain-2004/)