Steve's Live Guitars Pickups

[Jaymz D]

Hey folks, new here but longtime Vai fan. I am wondering about Steve's touring guitars and what pickups he is using live.
I'm guessing that EVO still has the original Evolutions, but I wonder about the other axes. Is he using the new Gravity Storm PU's in any of them? What is the single sized HB in the Jimi-esque painted one? Does he have any loaded with Evo2's or Breed? Thanks in advance!

[Jeries]

Evo has an Evolution Bridge in the Bridge, and in the neck an evolution bridge pickup upside down (i just learned about this)

FLO/FLOII/FLOIII/whatever has a sustainer has an EVO2 in the bridge

Bo- the mirrortop/bld the church- i think has BREEDS in it

Idk what if anything on tour has new gravity storms

The strat- has 'custom dimarzio' they look like a chopper or cruiser but are probably fined tuned

I have a strat with an AREA set of dimarzio single coils- and they are absolutely the damn best pickups i've ever heard in my life.
61/67/58 I think

[ocxcxd]

Evo has an Evolution Bridge in the Bridge, and in the neck an evolution bridge pickup upside down (i just learned about this)

FLO/FLOII/FLOIII/whatever has a sustainer has an EVO2 in the bridge

Bo- the mirrortop/bld the church- i think has BREEDS in it

Idk what if anything on tour has new gravity storms

The strat- has 'custom dimarzio' they look like a chopper or cruiser but are probably fined tuned

I have a strat with an AREA set of dimarzio single coils- and they are absolutely the damn best pickups i've ever heard in my life.
61/67/58 I think

According to Jeroen, FLO III has a PAF Pro in the bridge position.

[Jaymz D]

Cool, thanks for that info guys! That is interesting about the PAF Pro in FLOIII, I wonder if Steve is using that PU because of the Sustainer System's effect on the sound? I have a 2000 RG570 with an Evo2 and a Fernandes FSK101 system and to me, it seems a bit darker sounding than my other RG with the same PU and no Sustainer, plus the Evo2 is definitely hotter than the Fernandes neck PU/driver (even with the gain cranked for the neck PU/driver). Maybe the PAF Pro balances better with the Sustainer.
I always thought that EVO had a fabulous sounding neck PU that seemed hotter than the standard DP158 Evolution neck PU, and now we know why! Perhaps when Dimarzio made the prototypes for Steve to try out they only made the bridge version and put it in both neck and bridge for him to evaluate. Any of you guys put an EVO bridge PU in the neck position yet to check it out?
About the Gravity Storms though, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that said Steve used them on the tune Racing The World. However in all the clips I've seen of him rocking that song he is playing EVO. Does anyone know if Steve brought one of the EVO replica/tribute guitars with him on tour?
Thanks again. \m/

[Jeries]

i think the sustainer driver has a good sound- good tone overall as a pickup on its own-
definitely doesn't go well with dimarzios- but on its own sounded good

idk if the bridge in neck position is a good idea- the string output is much higher in the neck area- so the pickups are a little weaker- so the evolution neck has less output than the bridge so they sound even- putting the bridge in the neck position might be bad- sound bad be clippy and overdriven in a bad way- and just have a lot of output
idk - i never tried it. but i've been advised not to do that

i think Alder+evolutions and basswood+evo2 are great combinations

i think he uses a real evo on tour- and not the replica- although i wouldn't be suprised if at some poitn he keeps evo home and uses replicas

i haven't tried a gravity storm- i'm going to get some new dimarzios soon- idk what i'm going to do- what pickups/what guitar/etc

i may get another sustainer guitar next--
i'm looking forward to getting an evolution with the new sustainer system guitar- make it scream

[Jeroen]

i think he uses a real evo on tour- and not the replica- although i wouldn't be suprised if at some poitn he keeps evo home and uses replicas

He used the real Evo and two replica's. One of the replica's was a loaner he got from Hoshino EU for the G3 tour, and was left in Holland during the SOL tour (I had it here at home for about a week before I had the chance to drop it off @ Hoshino NL).
The other is one of his own, which has a custom (slightly scalloped) neck bolted onto it.

J

[Jaymz D]

Right on, thanks Jeroen! Hopefully EVO will hold together for more adventures with Steve. Seems like Steve is getting into the lightly scalloped more and more these days. Do you know if he is using the new Gravity Storm PU's? Also, did he name his seafoam green jem yet? Thanks!

[Jeroen]

Actually, the sea foam green with sustainer that was on tour was another loaner from Hoshino EU, but he kept it on for the remainder of the tour. Not sure if it will be sent back or remain in his collection. To be quite honest, I'm not sure how many Sea foam green's he currently has, but I'll find out.

[ocxcxd]

I noticed that FLO III has a push-pull volume pot. How is it wired?

[Jeroen]

As a high-pass filter. Evo has one too now.
j

[ocxcxd]

This really surprised me, because Evo was like untouchable (from the perspective of sound - hardware that changes it). How is that dummy coil fixed next to the sustainer? (To me, it looks like FLO III has a black tape under the holes of the cover, but Xavia seems to have a metal thing under there.)

[Jeroen]

Where are you seeing this?

[anuj]

Evo used to have the hi-pass filter always-on, like stock 7vWHs. I guess he went push-pull like the JSes.

I always leave my JS's pot pulled to keep it engaged.

[ocxcxd]

That would be the metal under the cover. (same on the JEM70V custom)


And FLO III's cover.


Still wondering how is that cover fixed there.

[Jaymz D]

Thanks for the info Jeroen! I know this next question might seem like heresy, , but I often wonder, does EVO still have the original Evolution pickups from back in the day? (or have they secretly been changed....)