“The pair is also known for their near-obsessive perfectionism in the recording studio..”
Indeed. In an interview from long ago they named Rick Derringer as their favorite studio guitarist. Beyond being extremely talented, he played exactly what they asked on every song. The other guitar players they used over the years, very talented also, apparently kept adding their own licks, which drove Becker and Fagen crazy.
And Roger Nichols was an incredible recording engineer.
Rick Derringer was formerly known as Rick Zehringer when he formed “The McCoys” - a local (my hometown) Dayton, OH band. They had a small hit with “Hang On Sloopy”. Rick went on to be quite the studio musician on many tracks including Weird Al’s “Eat It” as well as being a part of Edgar Winter’s group.
Back in the day, the McCoys were the opening act for Simon & Garfunkle at a local teen night club with a stage about 1 foot high. The McCoys stayed on as the backing band for S&G during their PSR&T tour. Not a bad show for $1 admission.