Steve Farris

Back in the mid 80's on back, Charvel was a CUSTOM builder of guitars, and their main model was called the "San Dimas" - after their home time (San Dimas California). Back then, the San Dimas was not a actual set model, and most performing artists had their own custom versions of said guitars - Steve Farris, a session guy, and lead guitarist for Mr. Mister - was no exception.

Steve's model of Charvel San Dimas was an ash bodied vintage-style Stratocaster with a "strat-head" maple neck, Floyd Rose locking Vibrato, rails style humbuckers in the neck and middle positions, and a Humbucker at the bridge. Little is known about these guitars. These were what he appeared to used through most of his time in Mr. Mister. He had at least 2 of these, one in more of a transparent blonde color, and the other in Sienna Sunburst.

A guy that knows Steve on this forum says He used a CE-1 Chorus Ensemble on the early Mr. Mister recordings in the mid 80's.

Postby markmod » Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:58 pm Hey Guys,

Steve is a pal of mine and I thought I could give you some information. Yes, he recently moved to Nashville, and he goes back and forth to Nebraska, where he owns a hunting preserve. Steve is an avid hunter and sportsman.

His early Mr. Mister rig consisted of Jim Kelley and Dumble combos, split into stereo via a modified BOSS CE-1, with a Korg rack delay into the FX loop of the Dumble. A BOSS HM-2 (Heavy Metal) pedal was used on "Broken Wings," among other Mr. songs. This was all before his first Bradshaw rack. Steve mentioned that his big influence during the Mr. Mister years was guitarist, Jamie Oram-West of the FIXX. All those splashy, effected, and compressed chords came from that influence.

Some years ago, I did a couple of tech jobs for Steve when he played out around Los Angeles. He had a small rack with pedals (fulltone stuff, a red snapper, among other things) through a modified Bogner Shiva head and 4X12 cab. His guitars were usually a white reissue Strat and a reissue goldtop Les Paul. Switching was done via Bradshaw 2X4 and RS-10 MK II.

His studio rig is another story, he uses a larger rack and multiple heads and cabinets. Steve is pretty secretive of his set-up and doesn't give up much information. However, I have seen it many times and have played through it. Out of respect for Steve's wishes, I will not give up any of that info, just the older rigs I can discuss. Thanks for understanding. Last edited by markmod on Sat Jun 28, 2014 7:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

Steve used the BOSS HM-2 Heavy Metal Pedal on Broken Wings and some other songs on 1985's "Welcome to the Real World" album.

Postby markmod » Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:58 pm Hey Guys,

Steve is a pal of mine and I thought I could give you some information. Yes, he recently moved to Nashville, and he goes back and forth to Nebraska, where he owns a hunting preserve. Steve is an avid hunter and sportsman.

His early Mr. Mister rig consisted of Jim Kelley and Dumble combos, split into stereo via a modified BOSS CE-1, with a Korg rack delay into the FX loop of the Dumble. A BOSS HM-2 (Heavy Metal) pedal was used on "Broken Wings," among other Mr. songs. This was all before his first Bradshaw rack. Steve mentioned that his big influence during the Mr. Mister years was guitarist, Jamie Oram-West of the FIXX. All those splashy, effected, and compressed chords came from that influence.

Some years ago, I did a couple of tech jobs for Steve when he played out around Los Angeles. He had a small rack with pedals (fulltone stuff, a red snapper, among other things) through a modified Bogner Shiva head and 4X12 cab. His guitars were usually a white reissue Strat and a reissue goldtop Les Paul. Switching was done via Bradshaw 2X4 and RS-10 MK II.

His studio rig is another story, he uses a larger rack and multiple heads and cabinets. Steve is pretty secretive of his set-up and doesn't give up much information. However, I have seen it many times and have played through it. Out of respect for Steve's wishes, I will not give up any of that info, just the older rigs I can discuss. Thanks for understanding. Last edited by markmod on Sat Jun 28, 2014 7:21 am, edited 1 time in total.