As the Van Halen-honoring Best Of All Worlds tour draws ever closer, more information about Joe Satriani’s painstakingly crafted rig is being revealed.
Having previously been seen playing a heavily modded EVH Strat, which lead fans to believe his trusty collection of Ibanez electric guitars were to get a little rest, Satch has now been snapped in new rehearsal footage that seemingly suggests otherwise.
Satch’s preparations for the tour, which will find him playing Eddie Van Halen's guitar parts alongside Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, and Jason Bonham, have been well documented.
He’s called his role “a great honor and a terrifying challenge,” having come to terms with the fact he doesn’t sound like Van Halen.
But that’s not stopped him from going to great lengths to nail the Van Halen vibe, having teamed up with 3rd Power Amps for a custom tube amp designed capture Eddie’s 1986 tone, and revamping his pedalboard in the process.
Despite such efforts, it seems Satch still has a role for his Ibanez signatures guitars. Now, Satriani has been captured using one to rock out to Poundcake in a clip posted on Sammy Hagar's Instagram.
To his side, there is a whole rack of interesting six-strings, including the modified EVH Striped Series model, and a red, white, and black version of it, too. This is purely speculative, but we’d assume it’s been given similar mods.
The video passes by the rack only briefly, and the video quality leaves a little to be desired, but we believe we can make out his ever-present red Ibanez JS2410, an EVH Striped Circles, and even an EVH Wolfgang Special.
There are a total of eight guitars on the rack, including two or three other Ibanez guitars. A further two can be seen loitering at the back of the room near Bonham's drum kit – one might also be an Ibanez – and of course, there's another Ibanez in his hands. That's a lot of gear.
There's also what looks to be a red Gibson Explorer, which could perhaps be taking the place of an EVH Shark.
While exact details are scarce, the clip has certainly set pulses – and imaginations – racing, with the tour set to kick off in West Palm Beach at the iTHINK Financial Amphitheater on July 13.
Head to Sammy Hagar for all dates and tickets.
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