So, it’s been a few years since we talked about the mighty
Bill Steer’s guitars.
At a recent Carcass gig, I noticed Bill was playing what I
initially believed was one of his Juniors, but after an internet trawl, I
discovered that some nice bloke from the Seymour Duncan forum (who is in contact with Bill) had posted a gear
update as well as clarifying some details regarding the Les Paul Customs.
So without further ado, at the time of writing it appears
that Bill moved on from the Customs, but here are some words from the man
himself….
“… the Les Paul
Custom! As you might have guessed, it's a 1977. Obviously these guitars were
white originally, and gradually aged to this slightly yellow-y look. I call it
the "nicotine" finish. The only thing that's been changed since I've
owned it is the bridge pick-up. The original one was a lost cause - you know
how it is with older pick-ups, some will last for decades, others give out and
reach a stage where even a repair is a bit pointless. So a friend replaced it
with a Seymour Duncan '59. I'm not really a pick-up aficionado, this was done
out of necessity!”
Bill originally used the wine red '79 Custom with the stock
pickups but this has been modified with a Duncan '59 in the bridge position. This
guitar may have been bought from Andy Sneap due to having some onstage problems
with the '77 which is now fixed, but he prefers the feel and sound of the '79.
He used the '77 as a back-up.
Both Les Paul Customs were used for some of the recording of
Surgical Steel, as well as his '57 Junior! Everything was put through a Kemper
profiler amp...
And now we arrive at the present (tail end of 2016).
This is further email correspondence with our friend from the Seymour Duncan forum...
"The Melody Maker I'm using is an old one from 1961.
Yes, the MM was always intended as a beginner's model, even more so than the
Junior. But in my opinion the guitar itself is great. It's a very resonant slab
of mahogany and the neck feels extremely comfortable to me. The
"budget" aspect of the instrument is really down to the fact that all
of the electronics were installed on the scratchplate. And that's why I didn't
have any qualms about having alterations made to the guitar. Of course, there
will always be collector types who would be appalled at what I've done to the
instrument, but they're not coming from a player's perspective.
And yes, the lightweight feel of the guitar is a big plus
too. Acoustically it's the loudest guitar I've owned. Some people think I'm
nuts with this, but I've always felt that if a guitar sounds good unplugged,
that's a strong start..."
And here’s an excerpt from his interview with Music Radar….
“I’m not a collector, I don’t want to own stuff I don’t use, so the guitars I have are working guitars. I have two Melody Makers and two Les Paul Juniors. I use the Juniors with Gentleman’s Pistols because that’s basically a rock ’n’ roll band, so it’s perfect with the P-90 and the simplicity of that instrument.
“I have a 1961 Melody Maker, modified by Andrew ‘Scrim’Scrimshaw, who installed Monty’s pickups [GT500 humbuckers]. He works for
Chandler Guitars and he’s an amazing luthier.
“He basically made it playable in a band like Carcass. And
it works beautifully. It’s really good for my shoulder, too, because I had all
kinds of problems with the nerves in my hand from injuries I’d sustained in my
neck and shoulder from playing a Les Paul Custom.”
Some more information about the Juniors via Invisible Oranges...
"My Juniors aren’t all original parts. On one of them, somebody changed the tuners. On another, somebody changed the bridge. I’m really happy with that. I certainly didn’t want the original ’50s frets, which is what I’ve heard some people requesting. That’s insanity. I had the original ’50s frets on my Junior, the ’55, when I first bought it, and it was unplayable. Why somebody would want that, I don’t know. What matters to me is the saddle, wood, and the pickup. If they’re original and haven’t been messed with, then I’m happy. To me, that is an unbeatable tone. There is just something about a nice, old slab of wood and a P-90 pickup. When you get a lot of natural amplified distortion, and I’m not talking about the fuzz pedal variety — I’m talking about just turning a 50-watt amp past the sixth notch — something about that just drives me crazy."
So, it’s the Melody Maker for Carcass and the two Les Paul
Juniors (P90’s) for Gentleman’s Pistols. Nice.
