Steve Vai's guitar strings: the Ibanez JEM/PIA rig, sourced
Documented strings, gauges, and gear for Steve Vai: Ernie Ball Super Slinky .009 to .042, his Ibanez JEM and PIA signatures, DiMarzio pickups, and the rig he tours. Sourced and corrected.
Solo · reviewed by the Change Your Strings editorial team ·
Steve Vai uses Ernie Ball Super Slinky, the nickel-wound .009 to .042. On Ernie Ball's String Theory page he says it plainly: he is basically a nine through 42 guy, staying at nines on top and only beefing up the wound strings on a long tour as his hands get stronger. His main guitars are the Ibanez JEM and the newer Ibanez PIA, 25.5-inch scale, DiMarzio pickups, typically in E or Eb standard. He has been an Ernie Ball artist since he was a teenager.
Who Steve Vai is
Steve Vai is one of the defining virtuoso guitarists of the modern era. He broke in at 20 as Frank Zappa's transcriptionist and band guitarist, then built a career across David Lee Roth's band, Whitesnake, and a long solo catalog anchored by Passion and Warfare (1990). His Ibanez JEM and the rig he hangs off it have been remarkably stable for more than 30 years.
For all the technical complexity in his playing, the string under it is simple and cheap: a light, standard nickel set he has used since he was a kid in a Long Island music store.
What he plays
The headline, stated plainly because the internet often gets it wrong: Steve Vai plays a standard, off-the-shelf nickel string set. On Ernie Ball's String Theory page, in his own words, "the gauges haven't really changed. I'm basically a nine through 42 guy." That is the Ernie Ball Super Slinky (.009 to .042), the same nickel-wound set a beginner can buy for a few dollars.
He runs it on his Ibanez JEM (historical) and Ibanez PIA (current), both 25.5-inch scale with a double-locking tremolo, loaded with his DiMarzio signature pickups. Tuning is mostly E or Eb standard depending on the song. The one nuance he calls out himself: on a long tour, as his fretting hand gets stronger, he sometimes goes a little heavier on the wound strings while keeping the nines on top.
His rig, piece by piece
Strings · Standard rotation
Ernie Ball Super Slinky (.009–.042)
The nickel-wound .009 set, SKU 2223. Vai: "I'm basically a nine through 42 guy. Sometimes I go heavier on the low end" on a long tour, "but I usually stay at the nines on the top." Light gauge on a long scale is what lets his vibrato and wide bends move the way they do.
Source: Ernie Ball String Theory: Steve Vai.
Guitar · Ibanez signature
Ibanez JEM (historical) · Ibanez PIA (current)
His signature line since 1987, with the trademark monkey-grip handle and a scalloped top few frets. 25.5-inch scale, HSH pickup layout, double-locking Edge tremolo. The PIA replaced the JEM as his main model in 2020. The locking trem is what keeps a .009 high E in tune through his dive-bombs.
Pickups · DiMarzio
DiMarzio Evolution / UtoPIA
DiMarzio signature humbuckers designed with Vai: the high-output Evolution in the JEM era, the UtoPIA set in the PIA. High output matters here because a .009 plain string puts out less signal than a heavier gauge, so the hot pickups restore the drive and sustain.
Amps · Modern + historical
Synergy Vai modules · Fractal Axe-FX · Carvin Legacy
The 2023 touring rig is built on Synergy Vai signature preamp modules and a Fractal Axe-FX for modeling and effects. For years before that, his amp was the Carvin Legacy signature head. The through-line is high gain with enough clarity to keep his fast lines articulate.
Nickel, not Cobalt: the record corrected
You will see Vai listed all over the internet as a Cobalt-strings player. The reason is real: Ernie Ball featured him when it launched its Cobalt line in 2012, and he praised the alloy at the time. But a 2012 launch promo is not the same as a documented working set.
His documented working set, in his own words on Ernie Ball's String Theory page and again in his 2023 Premier Guitar Rig Rundown, is the standard nickel-wound Super Slinky .009 to .042. So if you are buying "Steve Vai's strings," the accurate answer is the plain nickel Super Slinky, not the Cobalt set. The Cobalt version exists and sounds great, it just is not what he is documented running.
Why a .009 set on a shredder
Light strings through passive pickups put out less signal than heavy ones, and they feel loose to a hard strummer. So why does a player capable of anything choose the easy-bending gauge? Because his style is built on motion: extreme vibrato, wide multi-step bends, whammy dive-and-return, fast legato. All of that is easier and more expressive when the string fights you less.
The .009 gauge gives him that freedom; his hot DiMarzio pickups give back the output the thin strings would otherwise lose. It is a deliberate, matched system, not a compromise. The lesson for a player chasing his feel is simple: it starts with a cheap, standard set of nines. Curious who else runs the 9s? See who plays Super Slinky, where Vai sits alongside Angus Young.
If you want his setup
The documented set is Ernie Ball Super Slinky, nickel .009 to .042. Start there.
Super Slinky (.009–.042)
Why this one: Steve Vai's documented set per Ernie Ball's String Theory page, where he calls himself a nine through 42 guy. The standard nickel Super Slinky, not the Cobalt version often misattributed to him.