Even though Slash has been allied with his classic Gibson Les Paul for over three decades, the Guns N’ Roses guitarist is an avid guitar collector with nearly 400 instruments. Speaking to LA Lloyd in a recent interview to discuss his new book ‘The Collection: Slash,’ which he released in partnership with Gibson Publishing, the guitarist reflected on when and how he started to collect guitars.
“Yeah,” Slash replied when the host asked whether he started to add guitars to his collection during the band’s Use Your Illusion Tour. “That was really the time where I started picking up guitars because prior to that, I really just had the two standards, and I had my two handmade 59 replicas.”
“So, I started collecting guitars for the purpose of making that record get different sounds and whatnot,” the guitarist admitted. He then noted, “I actually had a little bit of money to be able to do it, and that was really the beginning of it. I bought Travis Beans; I bought Gold Tops. I bought a 58 Explorer and a 58 V, and all the stuff that I picked up was on that record.”
Thus, Slash ended up using around 20 different guitars to create the right sounds for the band’s ‘Use Your Illusion.’ The musician continued, “So, when we went out on the road, I took a lot of the vintage stuff, not so much, but some of the other stuff I took out on the road with me, and I started to build up this arsenal of live gear that I would go between songs, use different guitars for different songs, and so on.”
Slash is known for his meticulous take on his instrument, as the guitarist tried many different guitars before finding the right one for him. He once shared that he didn’t have a proper-sounding guitar when they entered the studio to record ‘Appetite For Destruction.’ However, he didn’t have any money to buy new instruments. Luckily, their manager rescued Slash by giving him a replica Les Paul, which became his main guitar in the following years.
