richie sambora

guitarisy,artist.vocalist

Richie Sambora has been known to use a wide variety of guitars and amplifiers throughout his career.

In the 80s, Sambora mostly played superstrats (Kramer, Charvel, Hamer) as well as modified Les Paul models. In early-mid 1987, Kramer put out a Richie Sambora signature model with three humbuckers, pointy drooped headstock, gold hardware, star-shaped fingerboard inlays and a Floyd Rose Original locking tremolo, which quit production in 1989. Today it has been reissued by Gibson (which purchased Kramer in 1997) and is named "Jersey Star", no longer carrying Sambora's actual name. He had also used several other Kramer models, including a variety of custom ones ("one-offs"). His two most notable guitars from the Slippery When Wet album/tour were his Kramer Richie Sambora signature and a custom white Charvel with a Floyd Rose tremolo and HSS pickups, and a reversed Fender-like headstock.

During the following years Sambora played various guitars, most notably a custom black Charvel, which featured only a humbucker pickup in the bridge position, Floyd Rose tremolo system and a maple neck and fretboard with a reversed Strat-like headstock, along with vintage Fenders and Gibsons.

In 1991, Fender issued a Richie Sambora signature Stratocaster model which featured an original Floyd Rose tremolo system and a combination of DiMarzio PAF Pro humbuckucking and 2 Fender Texas Special single-coil pickups.

This guitar came in two versions; American and later in 1996, Japanese. US-made Sambora model featured an alder body with ash veneers and was available in Cherry Sunburst and Olympic White, while the Japanese version had a basswood body with black paisley graphics. Other features included a one-piece maple neck/fingerboard with 22 frets and star-shaped position markers, as well as a 25dB active mid-boost circuit with TBX tone controls and an active/passive push-button switch.

In 1998 the model has been updated with a vintage-style tremolo, a set of Fender Hot Noisele