Steve’s original guitar sound is characterised by a lack of processing. That doesn’t mean a lot of care has not been taken to achieve a harmony between his equipment and the music he makes. His sound  is powerful and beautiful allowing him to move between both the sweetest of sounds and gritty edgiest of tones using his hands rather than stepping on effects pedals and loopers. His primary guitar, the 1980 ‘Fender Bullet’,  is stereo and feeds the three bass strings the ‘WEM Dominator’ and the trebles strings to the ‘Marshall Valvestate’

Steve’s primary guitar is his ‘1980s Fender Bullet’. He purchased this guitar back in 1979 and has used it ever since. There is more information how Steve came to own this guitar on the ‘Interview’ page of this website. The Bullet has been heavily modified over the years . I have fitted a ‘Hipshot Trilogy’ (see below). This gives three preset tunings to each string. The original steel plate to which all the electronics were attached has been replaced by an aluminium plate. The neck pickup is stereo and was made for me by ‘Kent Armstrong’. The guitar uses a stereo lead that is split before the amplifiers sending the bass strings to the ‘WEM Dominator’ and the treble strings to the ‘Marshall Valvestate’. The bridge pickup was given to me by a friend.

I have become a fan of ‘Daddario’ strings because of their durability and the crispness of their sound. In the main I use the ‘Fender Bullet’ for gigs and change tunings every two or three songs. This constant tightening & loosening of strings is demanding. Together with my preference not to use a new set of strings (i prefer to change them in rotation) means that i need the strings to last but also to keep a brightness to their tone.

The ‘WEM Dominator’ has two channels and is all vlave.  The speaker is a 100 watt Fender Guitar speaker. This amp is primarily used for the 3 bass strings on the Fender Bullet. The opportunity to use valves and a clean warm sound for my bass is an essential part of my guitar sound.

WEM Dominator

The Marshall ‘Valvestate’ is my lead-guitar amplifier of chioce. It’s versatilve, clean and has fine tuning on the drive channels. I use this amp for the treble strings on the Fender Bullet. It’s fitted with a 300 watt Celestion PA speaker

The ‘HIPSHOT Trilogy’ has become an essential part of my ‘kit’ for performing. It  has been fitted to my Fender ‘Bullet’ for more than 20 years now and allows me to switch between the half dozen or so open-chord tunings with ease. I have set my ‘HIPSHOT’ to give easy access to my favourite open-chord tunings such as:

Open D major & D minor tuning - Open G tuning - Open C & C minor tuning - Open A9 tuning & Drop D tuning