Sheepdog1969 Posted September 2 Share Posted September 2 Here are two articles about Steve's love for his Gibson ES-175D. Steve Howe of Yes revealed which guitar he considered the "ultimate" choice, and spoke up on the importance of keeping your instrument clean. In an interview with Cumulus Podcasts, the interviewer remarked on Howe's penchant for using many different clean tones while the rest of the competition in that era was chasing mastery of distortion. Howe noted that the biggest reason for his tone was the Gibson ES-175, which he considers to be the ultimate axe to play on (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar): "The 175 is the ultimate. I made it sound like any guitar I wanted, but fundamentally it sounded like a guitar that was quality, and the clean sound was good. That was an influence of people like Chet [Atkins] and less so of people who were using distortion." "I don't mean to say I didn't like it, but I knew that my playing, and especially if I'm playing more than one time, there's a cleanness that you have to have in your sound to really make that ring. Otherwise, it isn't very satisfying." "What I was really doing was throwing in as many tangent styles. I mean, I was multiples of guitarists, but just using those textures at that particular time in the song, that was just a natural process." Howe continued, remembering the confusion he'd caused by cleaning his instrument after a show, and remarked on the importance of such an act: "I did tell a friend the other day when I was cleaning my 175, I said when I first got this guitar and I was like in The 100 Club in Oxford Street or something. And we'd come off stage, and there'd be bands and people running around, and they go, 'Steve, what are you doing?' And I'd go, 'What? I'm cleaning my guitar.'" "I was an odd body, in a way, because nobody had just a guitar in case, out of here, scarf, a can of beer, but I was cleaning this guitar. There was something about keeping a guitar pristine, that I still firmly believe in." "It's not just that it looks pretty. No, the secret to that is that it plays pretty. If you've got a guitar that looks nice, that's a plus, but it ain't a plus if you don't play good." Howe ended by once again praising the Gibson ES-175: "So the 175 is the ultimate number one - the ultimate guitar for me to play. That's why I record it so often. It's on lots of records, and I record it here a lot as well, especially since it resides more or less with my guitars and pseudo because it doesn't go anywhere else." https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/gear/this_model_is_the_ultimate_guitar_yes_legend_steve_howe_says_its_not_just_that_it_looks_pretty.html The ES-175D is not a conventional rock guitar, but then Steve Howe is far from a conventional rock guitarist. Long synonymous with the classic Gibson archtop Howe bought his first 175 many moons ago. And though he prefers not to travel with it these days, this electric guitar remains his main squeeze. In fact, he recently recorded a bulk of the new Yes album – The Quest – with it. Gibsons weren’t easy to come by in England in 1964, when you acquired your first ES-175. How did you get it? It had to be ordered. I went to Selmer on Charing Cross Road and said, “I want a 175,” and they went, “Well, we haven’t got any of those.” But they said not to worry, as they could get me one as long as I ordered it. They ordered it, and two months later I went and picked it up. One of the guitarists that I admired at the time was Kenny Burrell. I got back home, plugged it into a Fender Tremolux and played “Chitlins Con Carne,” or something, and…that’s Kenny Burrell! That’s his sound. He did play a 175, but his main guitar was a Super 400. How do you tame the 175 onstage? It might be just about where you set your bass level on your amp. If you’ve got that too high, this guitar is going to give you all the trouble it’s known for. Have you ever had it refretted? Once. Tim Stark from Mansons Guitars, Exeter, was the only person ever allowed to do anything of that nature. People used to be amazed that I’d gone about 40 years on this guitar and it hadn’t been refretted. I got used to the flat frets. In fact, they were marvelous, but there were a few little problems. The 14th fret on the G got very buzzy. Tim said, “Well, look, I know you don’t want to have it refretted, but it’s the only way.” I’ve always been very possessive of this guitar. I used to do my own guitars, right through the ’70s. I’d restring and tune them. I’d have 10 guitars and I’d do that every day. I wouldn’t restring all of them, but the 175 was always restrung, every day. So, basically, I was a bit of a lunatic! But if you love something, you should nurture it. https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/i-was-a-bit-of-a-lunatic-steve-howe-speaks-about-his-number-one-ax#:~:text=The Yes legend reflects on,with the Gibson ES-175D.&text=The ES-175D is not,first 175 many moons ago. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted September 2 Share Posted September 2 (edited) There are plenty of pics with Steve and his 175 all over the net. I think Gibson even did a SH ES-175 sig model. I saw him with Asia x2 and GTR (remember them, Steve Hackett was in the band) once. He may have whipped out his 175 for Roundabout when they played it. That was way back in the 80’s. Edited September 2 by Sgt. Pepper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted September 2 Share Posted September 2 In action, a few years ago. The ES-175 sounds fantastic. Geddy Lee was brilliant, as usual. 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted September 11 Share Posted September 11 A new set of strings every day... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted September 11 Share Posted September 11 Crazy and wasteful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted September 14 Share Posted September 14 Steve Howe wasn't always so pretty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted September 14 Share Posted September 14 (edited) 49 minutes ago, DanvillRob said: Steve Howe wasn't always so pretty! Never is the word. Only reason he got any was cause he was in the band. Ugly musicians get laid. Rik Ocasik and Billy Joel. These 3 are the motliest of the crew.. Edited September 14 by Sgt. Pepper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted September 14 Share Posted September 14 5 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said: Never is the word. Only reason he got any was cause he was in the band. Ugly musicians get laid. Rik Ocasik and Billy Joel. These 3 are the motliest of the crew.. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…. But ugly cuts to the bone! I didn’t join a band to get girls… but it didn’t hurt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted September 15 Share Posted September 15 18 hours ago, DanvillRob said: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…. But ugly cuts to the bone! I didn’t join a band to get girls… but it didn’t hurt! Steve’s Brad Pitt like looks are only rivaled by his atrocious singing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted September 15 Share Posted September 15 14 minutes ago, Sgt. Pepper said: Steve’s Brad Pitt like looks are only rivaled by his atrocious singing. Yes....and he's a rich rock star and you and just talk about guitars on a forum of people we've never met, (very few are girls). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted September 15 Share Posted September 15 1 hour ago, DanvillRob said: Yes....and he's a rich rock star and you and just talk about guitars on a forum of people we've never met, (very few are girls). Yeah that’s most of us here. Some play live, but many don’t. At least I know I can’t sing. My guitar skills are questionable at best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted September 15 Share Posted September 15 Just now, Sgt. Pepper said: Yeah that’s most of us here. Some play live, but many don’t. At least I know I can’t sing. My guitar skills are questionable at best. I still play live....but not often, and usually at a tribute or memorial for someone! I'm no singer either, and my guitar skills are not bad....unless you don't consider that I've been playing for over 60 years! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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