Steve Vai

Ibanez Universe 90th Anniversary Prototype Serial #: F9822053 This beautiful guitar is the only 90th Anniversary Universe ever built. It is in excellent condition and is kept in The Harmony Hut - Steve's home studio in Encino.

This photo of Steve Vai's Fender Electric XII 12-String electric guitar is taken from his official site. The "Steve’s Guitars" section lists his "Other Electric" guitars, which includes the Fender Electric XII.

Steve Vai's site can be found here.

This Fender 5 String Banjo model FB-54 in black finish is a part of Vai's extensive collection of various instruments.

During the Fire Garden tour, Vai used a PL8 as part of his effects rack.

During the 1996 G3/Fire Garden tour, Vai used the R450 in an offstage rack.

During the 1988 David Lee Roth and 1990 Whitesnake world tours, Vai used a DS201 as part of his offstage effects rack.

For the 1988 David Lee Roth and 1990 Whitesnake world tours, Vai used this MIDI storage and retrieval unit as part of his offstage effects rack.

During the Sex and Religion tour, Vai used a Mu-tron III in an offstage effects rack.

During the Europe leg of the 2005 Real Illusions tour, Vai had a Peterson StroboStomp on his onstage pedalboard.

TonePrint session with the one and only Steve Vai

In this video, Steve Vai goes to Ibanez HQ and requests a new guitar, the "Woody"

This mic is used "for recording of lead vocals and solo instruments in studio and on stage", according to AKG's official website.

Listed on Steve's official Roland page.

Listed on Steve's official Roland page.

Guitar icon Steve Vai had this to say about the Korg Pitchblack Poly pedal tuner: "The Pitchblack Poly tuner by Korg is a great example of how Korg is always looking around the corner to create gear that is practical, user friendly, and almost magic. I had to scratch my head and think, ‘How did they do this?’ Tuning on the fly has never been easier."

In the booklet for "G3 Live in Concert 1997," Steve Vai is shown using the Morley "Bad Horsie" Steve Vai Signature Wah-Wah (1st Generation).

In this video, Steve Vai was seen using a Synergy SYN2 rackmount preamp and a 5050 power amp along with a bunch of Synergy preamps.

In a Premier Guitar demo at NAMM 2019, Steve Vai is shown using the Synergy Diezel VH4 Modular Preamp, along with the Synergy SYN2 rackmount preamp and 5050 power amp, highlighting his engagement with Synergy's modular amp systems.

In this video, Steve Vai was seen using a Synergy SYN2 rackmount preamp and a 5050 power amp along with a bunch of Synergy preamps.

In this video, at 2:00, we can see Vai recording with an Ernie Ball 7-String electric Sitar.

This instrument is also listed in Vai's guitar collection on his official website:

ERNIE BALL CUSTOM 7 STRING SITAR W/ HARP

Type: MULTI-NECK

Status: IN POSESSION

SV number: SV 254

Pet name: Sterling

Year: 2014

Serial: F26464

Receive date: [N/A]

Comments:
"This guitar was custom built by Sterling Ball as a gift for Steve. It’s unique with a 7 string sitar style neck and sympathetic resonating strings. The fact that it’s a 7 string, with a whammy bar, and a “Sitar damper” to create that choral sitar sound, makes this guitar a first of its kind. Steve uses this guitar on "Upanishads" from the record Modern Primitive."

-Vai.com

Wrote the foreword, as featured on the front cover.

In this video, Steve Vai explains that he uses the Fryette 2902 power amp for his Synergy SYN-2 and Fractal Axe-FX III setup.

In this June 2022 rig rundown with Thomann's Guitar & Basses, at 2:24, Steve Vai's guitar tech Doug pulls down an Ibanez John Scofield Hollowbody guitar stating:

[Doug]: "This is a song-specific guitar, this is the John Scofield Ibanez model for "Little Pretty" and it's got a great sound, Steve really likes the way this guitar sounds, and for that song it's just perfect. But y'know normal, this one has a slightly heavier bottom string, it's 9-46, but then a conventional normal.

[Thomann]: Still tuned standard? E-Standard?

[Doug]: Still tuned standard... with a very puffy strap.

In this June 2022 rig rundown with Thomann's Guitar & Basses, at 2:24, Steve Vai's guitar tech Doug pulls down an Ibanez John Scofield Hollowbody guitar stating:

[Doug]: "This is a song-specific guitar, this is the John Scofield Ibanez model for "Little Pretty" and it's got a great sound, Steve really likes the way this guitar sounds, and for that song it's just perfect. But y'know normal, this one has a slightly heavier bottom string, it's 9-46, but then a conventional normal.

[Thomann]: Still tuned standard? E-Standard?

[Doug]: Still tuned standard... with a very puffy strap.

In this June 2022 rig rundown with Thomann's Guitar & Basses, at 7:35, Steve Vai's guitar tech Doug pulls down a Burnt finish Ibanez 7-String stating:

[Doug]: "This is another classic one: "Bruno" this is a-"

[Thomann]: [laughing] "-Bruno!"

[Doug]: "-Yeah, you'll recognise this from the "For the Love of God" music video. This is the 7-String guitar Steve is using on this tour for "Zeus in Chains" and it's setup with 9-52 gauge strings tuned to Drop-A and this is a really great sounding guitar pretty much stock..."

[Thomann]: "Yeah, no scallop here?"

[Doug]: "No scallop here yeah, the 7-Strings we don't scallop."

Later at 9:50, Doug sets down the Whitesnake-era 7-String and states:

[Doug]: "...And there you have it."

[Thomann]: "Which tuning do you have for- This is like a backup for- [Bruno]?"

[Doug]: "Exactly yeah, backup, 9-52 Drop-A."

In this video, Steve Vai's guitar tech Doug explains the different degrees of scalloping that Vai uses for different guitars:

"Flo": 3:29

"And here's another old guitar, this is the original "Flo" which has made a reappearence. This is a newer neck, it's a stock Ibanez neck that we lightly scalloped, and yeah, Steve sort of prefers a light scallop these days, and EVO Gold fretwire which is the jumbo size, not too big, not too small... and yeah this is a very cool guitar, classic Vai."

"Flo III": 3:58

"And here's another workhorse, here's "Flo III" which has been Steve's main guitar for maybe the past decade, maybe ten, twelve years. Y'know stock, it has the Fernandes Sustainer, slightly scalloped EVO Gold frets..."

"PIA": 4:53

"Here's a newer main guitar, yeah this is one of the new PIAs, and the PIAs are really great, they feel excellent, Steve's really happy with them. These have stainless steel frets, which you can't wear them out, y'know they're very durable, and they have a very glassy feel for vibrato, and this guitar it's slightly scalloped, it has a Sustainiac, which is something we're still kinda exparamenting with, it's fantastic, but Steve's just getting used to them, because he's been using Fernandes [sustainers] for, 20+ years, yeah? This guitar we're using on "Giant Balls of Gold"."

"ENVY": 6:26, 7:15

This is sort of the sister to "BO", "ENVY"! which is another PIA. This guitar, it's setup a little differently, this one has the kinda offset L.E.D.s. Yeah, this one's setup for "Bad Horsie", there's a slide, Thomas' classic velcro-slide situation lock, which works great, it's fantastic, it's never failed. Again Sustainiac, y'know 'cause he uses it for those songs...

...This one's scalloped a little deeper, and has Jumbo EVO Gold frets.

"Bruno"/"For the Love of God" Guitar: 7:40

...Yeah, you'll recognise this from the "For the Love of God" music video. This is the 7-String guitar Steve is using on this tour for "Zeus in Chains" and it's setup with 9-52 gauge strings tuned to Drop-A and this is a really great sounding guitar pretty much stock...

...No scallop here yeah, the 7-Strings we don't scallop.

On Vai's official website, listed amongst his guitar collection we can see an Ernie Ball JP 8-String Majesty, the page reads:

ERNIE BALL PETRUCCI

Type: 8-STRING ELECTRICS

Status: IN POSESSION

SV number: SV 426

Pet name: [N/A]

Year: 2022

Serial: [M015610]

Receive date: 19/01/2022

-Vai.com

He also uses Empress Chorus according to Red Witch website .

This page from Vai.com: reads:

TEISCO DEL REY

Type: MISC 6 STR.

Status: IN POSESSION

SV number: SV 77

Pet name: Ori

Year: 1960"s

Serial: [None]

Receive date: 11/04/1960

Comments:

"My first guitar was a red Teisco Del rey that I purchased from my friend, Richard Jankowski for the sum of $5. It hung on the wall of his teenage bedroom and did nothing. I could not believe when I finally got this guitar. It was the best. It had 3 pickups a lot of switches, a small body, a bigsby whammy bar, and it was red. I loved this guitar so so much. I loaned it to one of my students at the time, Richard Meadows, and never got it back. This blue Teisco I purchased on E*bay for $350 and is a reminder of my original red one which I will continue to try and find for the rest of my life. This guitar is a blue 1960″s vintage Teisco Del Rey made in Japan with a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. I bought it of E*Bay." [-S.V.]

He endorses the Vanilla Sky and its limited "Vai edition"