Rig Rundown - Journey’s Neal Schon (2014)

Article and photos: Schon’s well-documented history of guitars includes a plethora of Gibsons and Kramers, but his current #1 is a NS-15 Neal Schon Signature Model from PRS (he also carries a few NS-14s on the road as well). Every aspect of the design had Schon’s fingerprints on it and it went through many incarnations before finally settling into the current specs. The NS-15 is strung up with a set of . D’Addario strings (he ups the 6th string to .046 for dropped tunings). Most of Schon’s guitars feature a Fernandes Sustainer as well as a DiMarzio Fast Track 2 pickup in the neck position and a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge. He uses medium Dunlop celluloid picks, although recently he’s been using his fingertips more during solos—which he explains has opened up different tones. Even though Schon has a guitar boat loaded with PRS guitars, his go-to on “Lights” is a relic’d Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster. The bridge pickup and headstock is reversed and the