During the course of Steve’s career he would be pictured in various press and media sources and music magazines with a guitar that was not one of his main tour guitars, or even perhaps one of his own.
Having had an endorsement with Gibson and connections with Hamer and other names in the industry he would acquire many other instruments over time. On the odd occasion he’d be seen playing a guitar that we would never see him with again anywhere else. This is the section where you can find out more about some of those guitars.
THE GIBSON LES PAUL FIREBRAND
This guitar is one of those guitars that we only got to see Steve with on one occasion, which was at Italy’s Sanremo Festival in 1988. It is possible that this guitar was not one of Steve’s own Gibson’s, but was provided by the organisers of the event for him to use on the show.
Production ran from 1980 to 1983(?) for the Firebrand model out of Nashville.
(There was a similar guitar from Gibson which started production a little earlier [circa 1978] known as “The Paul”. The Standard version was made from Walnut and the Deluxe version from Mahogany.)
The Gibson Les Paul Firebrand model features a solid mahogany body with natural finish. It’s a non-lacquered (gloss) finish giving the guitar a vintage rustic appearance. No binding. The neck is mahogany with an ebony fretboard and 22 jumbo frets and pearl-dot inlays. The headstock has the Gibson branded logo burned into it and on most Firebrands the truss rod cover would have “LP Firebrand” on it. I think Steve’s Sanremo one would have this but it is hard to be sure as I have not yet come across an image with a clear enough view of the headstock.
The hardware on the Firebrand is all chrome finished and they came with Grover tuners and two Gibson “T-Top” black exposed humbucker pick-ups with black surround and black control knobs.
The other notable difference with this guitar is that the 3-way selector switch is located down beside the volume and tone controls instead of its usual spot at the top front (neck) area of a Les Paul.
Having read some customer reviews over the years about this guitar it is believed to have a solid heavy natural tone and great sustain qualities making it an all-round fine rock guitar.
THE BLACK DEAN CADILLAC
This is one of the Dean guitars that Steve owned but I have never seen him on stage with it anywhere. He donated it to the Hard Rock Cafe where it was proudly displayed in London’s HRC for some years in the early 90’s.
Steve Clark: Dean
Serial No. 8307530
“It’s a custom three-pickup” is what Tap’s Nigel Tufnel might tell you, but there’s more to this Dean than just its triple humbuckers. Formerly owned by renowned guitar collector, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, this pointy Dean, which features a Kahler tremolo system, found its way into the hands of Brit rocker Steve Clark.
Steve’s work on Def Leppard’s ‘Hysteria‘ and ‘Pyromania‘ albums will serve as a constant reminder of his talents. This Dean was donated to the Hard Rock by Steve just two weeks before he died.
SOURCE: Guitarist Magazine
The guitar also features gold hardware, an ebony fingerboard, pearl block inlays and the “shrimp fork” headstock design.
THE BLACK FENDER STRATOCASTER
The guitar Steve is holding in this photo is a Fender Stratocaster built circa 1978 – 1981 according to it’s serial number. It is a “Made In USA” and has all the features of a 70’s Stratocaster including the larger headstock and 3-bolt neck pocket, ash body, and a fast maple full gloss neck. Modifications include the Kahler tremolo system, and the bridge pickup which is a Seymour Duncan Hot Strat Stack – for high output & sustain… so you could say he had this one “hot-rodded”. The neck and middle pickups are stock Fender. This was a guitar that Steve used in the studio and/or for personal use.
To the left side of the photo you can see some of the collection of guitars that Steve had built up. If you look closely you may spot his Gibson Les Paul XR-1 between two black Les Paul Customs. Note that here [post Pyromania tour] the XR-1 has had a Kahler tremolo unit fitted. You can also see the black Dean Cadillac in this photo too.
THE RED DEAN E’LITE
Another of Steve’s own guitars is the red Dean E’Lite (pronounced E-Light).
Steve was seen with this guitar in the Def Leppard video clip for the song Me And My Wine. I don’t recall seeing him with it at any other time, however it is in the photo above with the black Strat. If you look closely towards the back wall you can make out a bit of the body and headstock.
The E’Lite originated in about 1978 and was loosely based on the style of the Les Paul, coming in many configurations. We can see that Steve’s guitar has a triple zebra humbucker pickup set, Kahler tremolo and it also features the ‘shrimp fork’ headstock as per the Dean Cadillac above. People can often get confused as to whether one of these guitars is an E’Lite or a Cadillac. I believe that traditionally, the main differences between the two guitar models is that the Cadillac tends to feature gold hardware, has multi-ply body and headstock binding and mother of pearl block inlays. Having said that, Steve’s E’Lite looks to have gold hardware and binding, but it is labelled as an E’Lite so that’s what we’re going with here. See the gallery below for more photos.
THE GIBSON LES PAUL CUSTOM 35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
One of the ‘newest’ guitars that Steve owned would be a 1989 Les Paul, when he got one of the 35th Anniversary Les Paul Custom’s which Gibson issued that year to celebrate 35 years of the birth of the Les Paul – the first one being produced in 1954. This one, in typical Steve Clark style, would adorn the triple humbucker pickup configuration as well. From the photos and footage we have seen of this guitar, it appears to be stock.
Steve used this guitar for the performance on the MTV Awards show in Los Angeles, California in 1989 and was photographed with it on a number of occasions. One of the easiest ways to tell that this is a special edition model is by the inscription of “35th Anniversary” on the centre band of the split diamond inlay on the headstock. These guitars also have a special vintage style serial number starting with a 9 I believe. Traditional Black Beauty class, this guitar has the usual Gibson appointments including gold hardware, ebony fretboard, mother of pearl inlays, vintage style tulip tuning pegs, multi-ply binding.
MORE GUITARS GALLERY
Some of the photos in this gallery appear by kind permission of Lorelei Shellist.
David Plastik
