David Rhodes

Since joining Peter Gabriel, David Rhodes has relied on an arsenal of guitars and effects. To begin with, there’s his trusty ’63 Fender Jazzmaster, which he describes as “a very lovely guitar. It’s very wooden, with a beautiful, mellow tone. On So, when Daniel Lanois was playing – we’d often put things down together – he’d play the Jazzmaster.”

David Rhodes: Used on all Peter Gabriel tours of the eighties and early nineties. Used during the recording of So and Up, and for those tours. Can be heard and seen on the live version of Digging In The Dirt, (Secret World Live).

Rhodes’ main guitars are three Steinbergers: a 12-string, a model with a TransTerm transposing tremolo, and a very early prototype. He also owns a ’62 Fender Jazzmaster (“an old friend”), and a ’66 Gibson 355 fitted with an early-model Sustaniac, a feedback device made by Maniac Music, which mounted on the guitar’s headstock, allows the player to use a foot pedal to determine which harmonics will feed back. A Chet Atkins semi-acoustic, a ’54 Gibson Les Paul Junior, a ’62 Fender Stratocaster, a 12-string Ovation acoustic, and a K. Yairi acoustic with a violin-style headstock round out Rhodes’ collection.

Another member of Rhodes’ Fender family is a ’62 Strat.

Among his acoustics are an Ovation Adams 12-string and a couple of Ovation 6-strings; he also has an old Fender XII electric 12-string.

Rhodes’ main guitars are three Steinbergers: a 12-string, a model with a TransTerm transposing tremolo, and a very early prototype. He also owns a ’62 Fender Jazzmaster (“an old friend”), and a ’66 Gibson 355 fitted with an early-model Sustaniac, a feedback device made by Maniac Music, which mounted on the guitar’s headstock, allows the player to use a foot pedal to determine which harmonics will feed back. A Chet Atkins semi-acoustic, a ’54 Gibson Les Paul Junior, a ’62 Fender Stratocaster, a 12-string Ovation acoustic, and a K. Yairi acoustic with a violin-style headstock round out Rhodes’ collection.

“But for my solo show I just have a laptop running Native Instruments Guitar Rig, the Guitar Rig foot controller, and a Gibson Les Paul Robot guitar with motorized tuning pegs, which let me switch tunings easily without bringing more than one guitar. On some songs I’ll also loop a chord sequence or a bass part as I’m playing and singing and then solo on top of that, which allows me to get quite a muscular sound. People are often surprised when they see one bloke making such a fearful din!”

The Kate Bush section of David's website indicates that he played a "Robot" version of an LP Studio while working with Kate Bush.

The Kate Bush section of David's website indicates that he played an SG with Min-E Tune while working with Kate Bush.

https://david-rhodes.uk/gear/The Kate Bush section of David's website indicates that he played a nylon-stringed Multiac while working with Kate Bush.

In a 1987 interview with Guitar Player Magazine, David Rhodes confirmed that he utilized a Shergold 12-String guitar during the recording of "Red Rain" with Peter Gabriel, as archived on the David Rhodes Archive website.