Steve's setup

[capnkrk]

Someone out there in our community must be able to help me on this one. I'm looking for any info on Steve Howe's setup as far as effects employed, string guages preferred, amps, etc. How 'bout it?

[dwass]

Steve has a lot of information on his own setup and personal preferences on his web site www.stevehowe.com in the "alls a chord" section.

Of course, his setup changes from tour to tour, depending on the setlist and which guitars he brings. There are a few things I can tell you, though:

Effects - This is going to vary from tour to tour. The one thing I know is that Steve ALWAYS uses a volume pedal. This is essential to reduce feedback when he is using a hollow bodied guitar (like the ES175D).

Amp - Steve uses a pair of Fender Twins, wired in stereo

String gauges - This is going to vary from guitar to guitar. I do know that on his ES175 he uses fairly heavy strings in these guages: 12, 12, 16, 26, 42, 52. Yes, he does use 2 12's.

Here are a few links to articles which have described Steve's setup at one time or another:
http://home.att.net/~yesguitar/howesetup.html
http://homepage.mac.com/wheat/journalism/journalism/howe99/howearticle.html

On the current (European) tour Steve is using the following guitars:
Gibson Les Paul Jr.
Gibson Les Paul Studio
Gibson ES175D
Gibson ES 345TD
Fender Telecaster
Fender Stratocaster
Steinberger 12 string
Coral Sitar
Kohno model 10 (classical acoustic)
Martin 12 string (acoustic)
Martin 6 string (acoustic)
Scharpach SKD (acoustic)
Portuguese 12 string
Fender Dual Professional Steel Guitar

-DWass