Burny RLC-75

The black Burny RLC-75 electric guitar is a replica of the 1950s/60s Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar model. It is built with a black gloss-finished mahogany body, rosewood neck, tune-o-matic bridge and a stop tailpiece.

Steve Hackett uses a significantly modified version of the Burny RLC-75 guitar (a favourite of his), featuring a built-in sustainer pickup system and a Floyd Rose tremolo arm. Fernandes (the parent company of Burny) gifted this guitar to Steve (as one of their regular clients) in 1998/1999.

Quotes on the Fernandes
"'It’s got the sustainer pickup and the tremolo arm - because you wouldn’t really want to do that to an old Les Paul. There’s certain tones you can get with it that I believe you can’t get with other guitars. It also depends on where you’ve got it going through and how heavily you’re striking the string and where you’re striking the string. There’s an upper-harmonic, which on the first three strings is very strong. It means you can get sustain without the tyranny of volume. You’re not dependent on turning up amps to 11 and all of that nonsense that went out with the arc. Or should have done!'"