Gravity Storm Steve Vai Signature Pickup

The Gravity Storm Steve Vai Signature Neck and Bridge Pickups are the next step in Steve Vai's pickup evolution. Steve used to describe pickup sounds in terms of specific frequency responses. Now he describes them as flavor and texture. The flavor of The Gravity Storm Neck model is sweet and warm, but the texture has an edge to it. It has the depth of a humbucker with some of the bite of a single-coil. Steve described the sound he wanted from his new Gravity Storm Bridge Model pickup as "a thundering cloud of ice cream." He didn't say what flavor he likes, but this one has both bite and sweetness.

Most neck humbuckers don't do a great job at reproducing pick harmonics, especially if they have a warm sound. This one's different, particularly with 24-fret guitars. The combination of fat neck position tone with harmonics is something most haven't often encountered before. It has a throaty quality that sounds like a cross between a humbucker and a single-coil.

A high-impact pickup doesn't need a tremendous output level to make its point. Where the Evolution Bridge Model is about power and sharp-edged tone, the Gravity Storm is more about depth and warm highs and mids. It's very much a plug 'n play pickup - it doesn't require a lot of tweaking to get a great sound. Because the highs are very fat, it's possible to increase treble response on your amp without losing tone and sustain on the high frets.