Steve had two guitars as his main tour guitars for the Pyromania tour: A Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Gibson Les Paul XR-1
He also used an acoustic guitar (with single cutaway body) for parts of his live set.
The Les Paul XR-1 was introduced by Gibson in 1981 and discontinued in 1983.
The XR-1 has a mahogany body with a carved maple top. The pick-ups are two exposed black/white coil "Dirty Fingers" humbucker pick-ups with individual volume and tone controls. It has the 3 way toggle switch for pick-up selection and also features a coil tap switch located near the volume/tone controls which splits the pick-up to a single coil tonal option.
The neck is a three-piece maple construction with a rosewood fretboard featuring pearl dot inlays. The XR-1 features chrome hardware and machine heads.
Steve's Les Paul Standard is a standard factory issue guitar except for the chrome Grover tuners fitted; therefore it is assumed that this guitar would have Gibson PAF humbucker pick-ups installed. However, Japan's Young Guitar magazine makes reference to this guitar having possibly high output pick-ups fitted so it's possible that Steve may have had a dirty fingers or similar powerful pick-up installed. Finished in tobacco sunburst this Les Paul Standard features trapezoid inlays on the rosewood fretboard. Steve used this Les Paul Standard on the High 'n' Dry tour as well.
Above: Steve playing his Gibson Les Paul XR-1 live on the Pyromania tour
Above photo copyright - Ross Halfin
Below: Steve playing the single cutaway acoustic guitar on the Pyromania tour
Above photo copyright - Ross Halfin
Steve's amplification equipment and effects on the Pyromania tour consisted of Marshall JCM heads driving 4x12 cabinets. The cabinets had been modified slightly so that the speakers were placed at slight angles.
In the above photo of Steve's rack the four Marshall heads on the left coming down from top to bottom are: 1 = JMP, 2 = JMP, 3 = JCM800, 4 = JMP.
And three effects Steve used on this tour were a Boss Chorus, Boss Delay and a Morley Pre-amp Booster. (see photo left)
Steve's Gibson Les Paul Standard featuring a three-piece maple top, high output pick-ups & the Grover tuners on the headstock
Steve's Gibson Les Paul XR-1 featuring pearl dot inlays, no binding, Dirty Fingers zebra pick-ups & Grover tuners on the headstock
Related article: Interview with Steve from Young Guitar magazine - 1984 - Click here to read.
