1976 Fender Stratocaster (black)

Steve Hackett has a Fender Stratocaster solid-body electric guitar from 1976, which appears to be largely stock with traditional Fender pickups and a tremolo arm.

The Fender Stratocaster came in to Steve's arsenal towards the end of his tenure with Genesis, which became one of his go-to instruments for recording and live work. Steve initially played the guitar on the Wind And Wuthering (1976) album and the 1977 tour with Genesis which yielded the Seconds Out double LP. After which he left Genesis. He continued to use the Stratocaster on solo projects since his second album Please Don't Touch (1978). According to Steve: "Please Don't Touch featured deliberately excessive use of tremolo arm. I was thinking of the swirls that became prevalent in Van Gogh's later work as the madness really set in (his best stuff of course!)."

Also, the guitar once had a Gizmotron (more info here) fitted to the bridge.