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Steve Stevens Glow Charvel #4790

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  • Steve Stevens Glow Charvel #4790

    Hello all here at JCF. I am involved in researching the 1985 San Dimas Charvel Strat Head Dinky custom made for Steve Stevens by Grover and the team. This guitar was used by SS for virtually every recording he was involved with from 1985 onwards until final retirement in 1993.
    This amazing guitar was all over Whiplash Smile and toured with Steve for that tour in 1987 which is where I first saw Steve/Idol and that guitar. The tone of this guitar when I first heard it at the Philadelphia Spectrum was just incredible and was something that has been permanently burned into my memory banks ever since.
    One of the unique qualities of this guitar is that it was a key aspect of Steve's live sound as well as being his main recording guitar. This truly represents a Charvel at it's best, just a fantastic well built versatile working guitarists main tool in his arsenal!
    Another facet of the guitars history is that it is not well known just how significant this San Dimas birthed monster has been in rock music.
    Among the highlights would be it being the guitar Steve used in the Top Gun sessions, which he participated in while in the middle of the Whiplash Smile recording session. Everyone has heard this tune the Top Gun Anthem in fact it won a Grammy for Steve and Harold Faltermeyer.
    Also it was in the studio with Micheal Jackson and Bubbles the chimp for the great track Dirty Diana. Steve's brilliant project in my opinion The Atomic Playboys which he initiated post his leaving Idol after the Whiplash Smile tour.
    The album has Glow all over it. Steve was involved in many many sessions for people as diverse as Rick Ocasek, Robert Palmer and The Thompson Twins.
    What many metal/rock fans would have heard this beast on would be the legendary album with The Vince Neil Band.
    Released in 1993 this record Exposed is regarded by many as one of the zeniths of recorded Super Strat humbucker Original Floyd Rose Marshall Plexi TONE!
    After many years of touring the guitar was 'retired' then, SS using primarily the EB MM EVH guitars given to him by close buddy Edward Van Halen on the tour they jointly did in '93.
    Also in all of the videos of Steve, whether with Idol, Playboys, Top Gun, MJ, he is seen playing his signature Hamers SS-2 and SS-3's.
    In reality, the Charvel was the guitar recorded with..
    The Glow was the direct inspiration in fact for the bolt on neck Hamer SS-3 and the 1993 Washburn Steve Stevens Signature SS80 and SS100 guitars.
    You can read all about it in the history of the Washburn Steve Stevens guitars that I wrote in 2010 featured on the website Vintage Washburn.
    Here is the link: http://www.vintagewashburn.com/Elect...veStevens.html
    That site has really gone viral with huge view numbers and I am really proud that I was able to present the story of these guitars which are even more unknown than the Glow as they basically were only made for a few months in 1993.
    The configuration of the guitar is reverse angled single coil in the neck and reverse angled humbucker in the bridge with pickup mounting ring.
    The hardware is in black, with of course Steve's favorite (and many others as well) top mount Original Floyd rose which is slammed onto the basswood body literally!
    Also the original pickups were provided by Seymour Duncan, a SSL type in the neck and a JB in the bridge.
    Currently the guitar has awesome Bare Knuckles pickups fitted with cream colored covers. These were specially wound for SS by Tim Mills around 5 years or so ago. Details of the pickups I will reveal in the future.
    Steve used Glow on one track of his last solo album Memory Crash as well.


    I am in contact with Charvel for information and would appreciate any stories old photos, ect. related to the guitar

    Thanks
    Dave

    Last edited by Emerald; 05-26-2012, 12:15 PM.
    http://www.treblebooster.net/bolin.html
    http://www.vintagewashburn.com/Elect...veStevens.html
    http://www.garymoorefc.com/guitars_heritage
    http://www.garymoorefc.com/guitars_hamer

  • #2
    That is a sweet guitar, and a hell of a player.

    Comment


    • #3
      Great guitarist! And cool guitar and background info.

      Comment


      • #4
        Awesome read and great research!!

        Comment


        • #5
          Cool man! That guy us a monster. Very unrated I would say. sweet axe too!!
          -Now....shut up n play yer guitar

          Comment


          • #6
            So SS's SD Charvel was basswood?
            Only one I have heard of.Most were alder or maple.
            Oh my bad he was referring to the Washburns.
            Last edited by straycat; 04-17-2012, 01:45 PM.
            Really? well screw Mark Twain.

            Comment


            • #7
              didn't he also have a cool B&W skeletons graphic jackson dinky, IIRC it had an odd hand done logo that matched the graphic.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by straycat View Post
                So SS's SD Charvel was basswood?
                Only one I have heard of.Most were alder or maple.
                Oh my bad he was referring to the Washburns.
                Actually Steve told me it was basswood. The Washburns were all poplar, you can read my popular history of Steve's Washburn's

                Emerald
                http://www.treblebooster.net/bolin.html
                http://www.vintagewashburn.com/Elect...veStevens.html
                http://www.garymoorefc.com/guitars_heritage
                http://www.garymoorefc.com/guitars_hamer

                Comment


                • #9
                  Nothing cooler than a vintage GID Jackson/Charvel!
                  _________________________________________________
                  "Artists should be free to spend their days mastering their craft so that working people can toil away in a more beautiful world."
                  - Ken M

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by j2379 View Post
                    didn't he also have a cool B&W skeletons graphic jackson dinky, IIRC it had an odd hand done logo that matched the graphic.
                    Steve owned the Monsters Ball of 1493 graphic Jackson Dinky Strat Head. He owned it at least until 1991, it was sold to that guy in Switzerland who owns the "Jackson Museum"
                    You can read about the history of this guitar, graphic wise on my web blog: http://daveonrock.com/?paged=2



                    A short interview & and performance on both electric & acoustic guitars by Steve Stevens. Circa 1991-1992? when he was working with Michael Monroe, in betwe...

                    Steve also has a Soloist 'Glow' that he brought out again recently

                    From back in the day....

                    Emerald
                    Last edited by Emerald; 10-23-2015, 10:53 PM.
                    http://www.treblebooster.net/bolin.html
                    http://www.vintagewashburn.com/Elect...veStevens.html
                    http://www.garymoorefc.com/guitars_heritage
                    http://www.garymoorefc.com/guitars_hamer

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      The 1985 Glow in action, the bridge pickup is actually closer to a Riff Raff, than the VH II as the angling towards the bass side and Steve wanted to change some of the brightness, so Tim Mills custom wound the pickup in the clip:
                      Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

                      Emerald
                      Last edited by Emerald; 04-19-2012, 04:34 PM.
                      http://www.treblebooster.net/bolin.html
                      http://www.vintagewashburn.com/Elect...veStevens.html
                      http://www.garymoorefc.com/guitars_heritage
                      http://www.garymoorefc.com/guitars_hamer

                      Comment


                      • #14
                        Hey Emerald, thanks for this thread the info on the Glow Charvel was informative. Also, your article on the SS Washburn guitar was awesome. It's so hard to find info on that guitar, which is an incredibly underrated guitar, and your article seemed to cover just about everything. Thanks!

                        Comment


                        • #15
                          Steve Stevens once took a bubblebath with Eddie Van Halen.
                          "Bill, Smoke a Bowl and Crank Van Halen I, Life is better when I do that"
                          Donnie Swanstrom 01/25/06..miss ya!

                          "Well, your friend would have Bell's Palsy, which is a facial paralysis, not "Balls Pelsy" like we're joking about here." Toejam's attempt at sensitivity.

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