Steve Stevens

In this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Shawn Hammond talks with Steve about his gear setup. At 7:32 Steve says about his Godin guitar "this is the nylon string Godin which is - I only play during my solo, I do semi pseudo flamenco solo but I use it...I've used these for well over twelve years now. And I like this - this one they were kind enough do the neck with lacquer...which the standard ones aren't. I like the feel of it, like a classic neck. So, I only play that during my solo and this is their LGXT."

Steve also has a second LGXT that he talks about at 8:17 in the video "this is all standard except for my goofy little pink thing - reminds that is the synth volume. So, synth volume, guitar volume and guitar tone and this one does have coil tapping on it. So, I'm able to drive synths - in "Flesh for Fantasy," I'm triggering some horns and horns stabs, as well as full on Humbucker and obviously these are Seymour Duncan’s".

"I was brought to Roland Corporation and in that meeting they've brought out the GR-707. I refused to leave the office without taking it and bringing it back to the States with me. The deal I struck was that we would use it in the next video which was Flesh for Fantasy. And I still get e-mail and facebook questions: "What was that guitar for Flesh for Fantasy?" I'm proud to say that I toured the entire Rebel Yell tour which was ten months long, with one of GR-707 and the floor unit. I still have it, and I have it because it is a bit of history to me. There's not many instruments that I held on to that long but that really meant something to me, to be the first in the Unites States with that ( Roland GR-707) instrument and to maybe help promote guitar synthesizers. I've always been a big synth fan."

In this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Shawn Hammond talks with Steve about his gear setup. At 1:58 in the video, Steve talks about his Goldtop Les Paul saying "this Les Paul kind of taught me a lot of things that I really liked about having a one piece wraparound bridge. It's got a big chunky neck on it. So I kind of took my cue from this guitar, and we have developed some ideas about this. I like a - I'm not really into chambered guitars, especially at the volume I play at. Chambering is something that - it's okay in the studio, but once you're up here, the guitar starts ringing - there's nothing you could do with it".

In the accompanying article Shawn writes "His main recording axe for the last few years has been this goldtop Les Paul, which has the same aluminum wraparound bridge and Motor City PAF-style pickups".

"I also brought out of retirement my old my old San Dimas Charvel ... the guitar really needed to be re-setup so I thought that would be a good opportunity to throw a Bare Knuckles in there, so that’s what we put the Van Halen pickup in."

In this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Shawn Hammond talks with Steve about his gear setup. At 2:55 in the video Steve says "this is actually the Knaggs that's publicly available, and it has their bridge on it. Which is like a tune-o-matic here on a one piece. So it's got a one piece plate on it".

In the accompanying article Shawn writes "Stevens’ “main rock ’n’ roll” guitar—the second prototype of his Knaggs signature model—weighs about 8.6 pounds and features a maple-topped mahogany body, a solid-aluminum bridge, and custom, vintage-voiced Bare Knuckle pickups".

At 10:58 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Steve says "any of the old school Idol stuff like 'Rebel Yell' or 'Blue Highway' or any of the super whammy bar stuff - this guitar gets used. And it's a Suhr Modern and it is a 24 fret guitar string, stainless steel frets."

Guitar Geek shows in this diagram that Steve uses a Godin Multiac with a natural finish.

This was his first signature guitar when he began endorsing Hamer guitars in 1984. It was originally called the "Prototype SS" but the name was changed to the "Steve Stevens Model" in late '84.

At 12:46 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Steve mentions this guitar saying "this was done by Robert Kanter, this started as a meager Les Paul silver burst that on the last Billy Idol tour, I - through facebook I saw the guitars for - Lady Gaga had one of these done up. So I, I said to him, "Is it gonna affect the weight?" And he said, 'No it won't and doesn't affect the tone or anything. Guitar still sounds great.' And it's just - it's ridiculous but..."

His wife Josie bought him one..

On this page from an April 1993 issue of Guitar World magazine, Steve Stevens can be seen with a Washburn SS100 electric guitar.

Steve Stevens is seen using the Knaggs Severn SS/XF, a guitar customized with Bare Knuckle pickups, locking Sperzel tuners, and a Gotoh Floyd Rose tremolo, in a video by Chicago Music Exchange. This model features a unique design with purple inlays and a ray gun at the 12th fret, similar to the guitars Stevens tours with.

In this user-uploaded photo, Steve Stevens is seen holding a Peavey EVH Wolfgang Electric Guitar, which he frequently uses on tour.

In this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Shawn Hammond talks with Steve about his gear setup. At 9:22 Steve picks up this custom Chena and says "I wanted kind of a sloppier guitar, almost uncontrollable - and I thought that this semi hollow Knaggs, which is I think a Chena. The only thing I had is - the factory version comes with little bit more beveling, and I wanted my, I like my guitars thicker, just out of creature of habit or whatever. So, they did me this one and it's really easy to get notes to sustain, and it is sloppy sounding if I want it to be".

At 10:19 of this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar Steve pulls out this guitar and says "for that song I kind of described that I really wanted super clean, very Strat like tones and - just three single coil pickups. Not even sure what pickups they are, I just trust Joe. And this is really a beautiful guitar that I used for one of the new songs."

At 12:00 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Steve talks about this guitar saying "there's a - Les Paul we were using for one of the songs in the set that had an E flat tuning, and this one has LEDs in the neck that Sims had done me at a company out of England. These are Bare Knuckles. I'm not sure which model, but I wanted this to be a sort of metal guitar."

"I probably used about ten different guitars. Four different Les Pauls loaded with different Bare Knuckle pickups and a Suhr Strat that was built for Scott Henderson. He wasn’t happy with it. I called John and told him I needed a Strat. I had gone out to the factory and he had showed me that technology that he has, that hum-canceling pickup. Yeah, that’s why I’ve always shied away from using Strats, because they just buzz and then the ones that have the pickups in them where they don’t buzz, they don’t sound like a Strat anymore. But with this it’s still single coil pickups, and you’ve got that coil wound into the body of the guitar and that cancels out any noise. And it really works; it keeps the sound of the guitar. So, John sent me this Strat that Scott Henderson didn’t want and I loved it. [laughs] But then again, I’m not that much of a Strat guy; I’m not a stickler on that stuff."

He said he used an old 1961 Gibson Barney Kessel on “Ghosts in My Guitar" from Billy Idol's "Kings & Queens of the Underground".

This was Steve Stevens second signature Hamer model, introduced in 1986.

At 0:10, he using this Flamed Maple Music Man Axis for play the song Rebel Yell on tour

" I also brought my Knaggs signature guitar—the only one I had at the time—as well as a really good Les Paul goldtop reissue with a wraparound bridge, a Music Man Armada that has a chunk that sounds so great for rhythm, and a John Suhr Strat."

Steve Stevens demonstrates the Roland G-5 VG Stratocaster®.

Steve Stevens posted a photo of this guitar on Facebook and stated he used it (a 1983 Kramer Pacer) to record 90% of the album Rebel Yell. Based on the two humbucker configuration and the year, this would be a Pacer Imperial.

Steve Stevens isn't one of those musicians who need a separate country estate just to house their guitars — he estimates that at most he owns 30 — but his collection is noteworthy for its eclecticism and its customised peculiarities. Though his main instrument is the Hamer that bears his name, each of his Steve Stevens models is modified in fanciful, almost eccentric fashion.

Most extraordinary is the Raygun guitar, finished in black metal flake. Why is it called the Raygun? Hamer's Jol Dantzig explains: "Steve has this huge collection of toys, including robots and rayguns. We put one of the rayguns into the guitar and created a separate compartment in the back for the electronics so that you could actually 'play' the raygun through the amplifier. There are three momentary buttons and a slide switch on the face, arranged just behind the bridge. The varying combinations of buttons give you different pulse patterns. Steve played it for the first time at Live Aid with the Thompson Twins, and I'm sure that most people thought it was a synthesiser."

Pickups are a Seymour Duncan custom Allan Holdsworth model in the bridge and two Duncan APS-Is in the neck and middle positions.

The original Prototype SS Stevens is called "the Pac Man guitar with the Barney Rubble paint job," because its cracked day-glo finish has reminded some of Barney Rubble's shirt, according to Dantzig. It's gone through so many mutations by the finicky Stevens, JD Dworkow refers to it as "the testing pad." Pickups are the same as those on the Raygun. "We also just threw on an old non-fine-tuning Floyd Rose tremolo," says Dworkow, "one of the very first ever made." Much of Stevens' work is done by Manhattan luthier John Suhr, who's serviced instruments for the likes of Mark Knopfler, Mick Jagger, Brian Setzec, and Eddie Martinez.

Other unique examples of guitars that combine practicality and self-indulgence are a phosphorescent seafoam-green Hamer with a built-in Roland GR-700 controller; "the Christmas Tree," a three-quarter-size, three pickup Jackson Soloist painted in what Dworkow calls "this ridiculously grotesque purple-maroon metal-flake and strange green colour"; and a 1976 Ramirez Spanish acoustic "built before they stopped using the really good Rosewood. Steve picked it up in Chicago, and it's a beautiful guitar."

Rumours that Stevens is currently devising an electric six-string with portable bar, rotisserie, electric can opener and Waterpick are entirely unfounded. For now.

Steve Stevens isn't one of those musicians who need a separate country estate just to house their guitars — he estimates that at most he owns 30 — but his collection is noteworthy for its eclecticism and its customised peculiarities. Though his main instrument is the Hamer that bears his name, each of his Steve Stevens models is modified in fanciful, almost eccentric fashion.

Most extraordinary is the Raygun guitar, finished in black metal flake. Why is it called the Raygun? Hamer's Jol Dantzig explains: "Steve has this huge collection of toys, including robots and rayguns. We put one of the rayguns into the guitar and created a separate compartment in the back for the electronics so that you could actually 'play' the raygun through the amplifier. There are three momentary buttons and a slide switch on the face, arranged just behind the bridge. The varying combinations of buttons give you different pulse patterns. Steve played it for the first time at Live Aid with the Thompson Twins, and I'm sure that most people thought it was a synthesiser."

Pickups are a Seymour Duncan custom Allan Holdsworth model in the bridge and two Duncan APS-Is in the neck and middle positions.

The original Prototype SS Stevens is called "the Pac Man guitar with the Barney Rubble paint job," because its cracked day-glo finish has reminded some of Barney Rubble's shirt, according to Dantzig. It's gone through so many mutations by the finicky Stevens, JD Dworkow refers to it as "the testing pad." Pickups are the same as those on the Raygun. "We also just threw on an old non-fine-tuning Floyd Rose tremolo," says Dworkow, "one of the very first ever made." Much of Stevens' work is done by Manhattan luthier John Suhr, who's serviced instruments for the likes of Mark Knopfler, Mick Jagger, Brian Setzec, and Eddie Martinez.

Other unique examples of guitars that combine practicality and self-indulgence are a phosphorescent seafoam-green Hamer with a built-in Roland GR-700 controller; "the Christmas Tree," a three-quarter-size, three pickup Jackson Soloist painted in what Dworkow calls "this ridiculously grotesque purple-maroon metal-flake and strange green colour"; and a 1976 Ramirez Spanish acoustic "built before they stopped using the really good Rosewood. Steve picked it up in Chicago, and it's a beautiful guitar."

Rumours that Stevens is currently devising an electric six-string with portable bar, rotisserie, electric can opener and Waterpick are entirely unfounded. For now.

Steve Stevens is an endorsee of the Godin Multiac ACS-SA, specifically the unique black nylon-string model. This is confirmed by a user-uploaded photo.

During a live performance, as featured in a video by Premier Guitar, Steve Stevens is seen playing a Godin ACS-SA Slim Nylon String Acoustic-Electric guitar at 7:58.

In a video by Premier Guitar titled "Steve Stevens Rig Rundown Guitar Gear Tour for Billy Idol's 'It's A Nice Day To... Tour Again!'", Steve Stevens is observed using a Godin LGXT guitar during a live performance at the 5:38 mark.

At 0:59 in the Premier Guitar video titled "Steve Stevens Rig Rundown Guitar Gear Tour for Billy Idol's 'It's A Nice Day To... Tour Again!'", Steve Stevens' guitar technician, Frank Falbo, is shown presenting the Knaggs Steve Stevens Severn SSC guitar, confirming its use by the artist.

In the video titled "Steve Stevens Rig Rundown Guitar Gear Tour for Billy Idol's 'It's A Nice Day To... Tour Again!'" by Premier Guitar, at the 9:41 mark, Steve Stevens' guitar tech, Frank Falbo, is shown demonstrating the portable folding Ciari Steve Stevens Signature Ascender Premier Guitar.