“I never heard from John. He sold the guitar once he got out of rehab. And that was that – I never saw it again”: The incredible story of the Les Paul that Dave Navarro bought for his Guns N’ Roses audition – and ended up giving to John Frusciante

Sometimes these interviews are matter of fact; the player remembers the reason why they chose a particular electric guitar (often because it looked cool) for their Guitar World cover shoot, and there’s some fun anecdotes.

For Dave Navarro, looking back on his ’96 GW cover, it opened up some big memories, of the time he was in the running for GNR, his Black Beauty that he gave to John Frusciante, and also, it was a big deal. It was his first cover…

How exactly did you acquire this guitar?

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I was a Les Paul player from day one. It’s actually not very well known, but in the early days of Jane’s Addiction, in the ’80s, I was a Les Paul player. I had a Black Beauty, and that’s what’s on the first live record [1987’s Jane’s Addiction]. I was always playing Les Pauls, but I was on tour once and one of them broke. The neck snapped off.

That’s how I ended up in the hands of Ibanez. At that point, we were so young; the only company that would grant me an endorsement was Ibanez. They turned out to be amazing. I loved them and I played them for many, many years, right up until 1991.

What led you to stray from Ibanez and pick up this Les Paul?

In terms of this guitar, sometime after 1991, I got a call to audition for Guns N’ Roses. And I think you could probably figure out that it was before Gilby [Clarke] joined, so it was right after Use Your Illusion came out. I was looking at my arsenal of guitars, thinking, “What would be right to show up to a rehearsal with?” Obviously, a Les Paul came to mind.

So you bought this guitar with Guns N’ Roses in mind?

I actually bought that guitar to go and play with Guns N’ Roses, which is wild. Now that I’m thinking about it, I ended up buying the Les Paul just to go over and jam out with the band, which actually never ended up happening. So the guitar just ended up staying in a case, because everything else I was doing from that point forward was with PRS, who I’d moved over to during Lollapalooza.

You’d moved to PRS and even used some Strats after you’d joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who you were with in 1996, when this GW cover shoot took place. Why did you use the Les Paul?

Years after the GN’R thing, I knew that guitar was kind of leaning up against the wall. I guess the Guitar World people came to the house to do the shoot, and if you walked around my house, there’s, like, 12 guitars all over the place – and they’re all different makes and models.

For some reason, I picked up that guitar and grabbed it for the shoot. I don’t even know why – and, I think, in hindsight, I was probably contractually supposed to be holding a PRS. [Laughs] I was endorsed by them, so I don’t know why I picked up the Les Paul.

What happened to this guitar after your GW cover shoot?

In a final twist of fate, John Frusciante was in detox at a hospital. He called me and said, “I’m sitting in a hospital and I don’t have a guitar. Can you loan me one?” I was like, “I’ve got this Les Paul sitting here if you want to play that.”

I was still in the Chili Peppers at the time, and he was getting clean. I was like, “I’ll come down to the hospital and bring this to you.” So I ended up giving him that Les Paul, which is… you know, the layers here are kind of bizarre. And I hadn’t thought about it until now.

Did you end up getting the guitar back from John, or did he keep it?

I never heard from John. He apparently sold the guitar once he got out of rehab. And that was that – I never saw that guitar again. That was somewhere in the ’90s.

Have you spoken to John about that guitar since?

Many years later, I was out of the Chili Peppers, he was back in, and I was with Jane’s Addiction; I think we were recording Strays [2003]. I got a call from John, and I hadn’t talked to him in years. I say, “What’s up, man?” He goes, “I remember years ago, when I was in the hospital, you brought me this Les Paul, which was really nice of you. Thank you so much for that.”

He went, “I got out of detox and I sold it. I’m really sorry. I was wondering if I could come visit you.” And I hadn’t talked to him since that day, to be honest, but he came up to my house, and he had a guitar with him. He sat down, opened the case, and it was a Black Beauty.

He was like, “I just wanted to apologize for selling your guitar. I know it’s not the same guitar, but I know you had a Black Beauty in Jane’s Addiction on the original record, and [it] got broken, and you don’t have it anymore, so I got you this.” It was a really nice, kind of an “amends” action on his part. We sat for a couple of hours and talked about music, our histories and how they’ve been intertwined.

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Wow. Is it safe to assume you never toured or recorded with the Les Paul on the cover?

It literally had never been played live and wasn’t used to record anything when I had it. But there’s a history to it – and whoever has it now, you know, I wish I could buy it back.

It seems as if the guitar has a special place in your heart.

When it comes down to it, the guitar isn’t very significant in my career, but the tendrils of significance in terms of interpersonal connections are vast. So, in some ways, that’s a special photo. It was the first time I’d been on the cover of GW, so to have that documented reminds me of all the years I’d been in between bands and struggling with drugs…

It’s significant in a nostalgic sense. But I don’t think anybody, including the current owner, has any idea what this guitar is or where it came from. I’m sure [they] bought it off the wall of a pawn shop and have no idea it passed through my or John’s hands.

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.