When you think of Joe Perry, images of his ’59 Les Paul, Rich Bich, or “Billie Guitar” come to mind. But if you were to ask Perry which guitar he turns to most often whilst recording and live, that would be the mongrel Strat that he’s dubbed the “Rat Guitar.”
You might also know this guitar as the “Burned Strat,” or the “Tele Rat,” names which seem contradictory, but as you’ll hear from the man himself, if you look back on the well-worn guitar’s history, it will all make sense.
Article continues belowI was going back to playing clubs and theaters, just cruising the country in a van with a band and playing. In a way, that guitar fit in with my philosophy of leaving the Aerosmith thing to the side and playing this one guitar that I’d put together. You can tell it was played a lot because I did a lot of shows back then, and there’s just a sound and a feel to it.
It had a left-handed neck and body, and it was my go-to guitar for those three years. When it was time to start going back on the road with Aerosmith, I thought, “Well, I’ll pull that one out” because it symbolized so much of me; it had a sound and felt really comfortable.
That guitar was the inspiration for the current Burned Strat, right?
Yeah. I didn’t want to take a chance on the original guitar being lost, so somewhere around 2001, me and my tech put another one together with the same philosophy – just bits and pieces, you know?
What does that guitar actually consist of?
It’s the same guitar as far as the Fender body and Warmoth neck. It’s kind of a relic; I’ve changed the pickups, the vibrato bar and the bridge. I carved off more of the body to make it comfortable, and I even put it in the freezer overnight and then took a blowtorch to it so the finish would crackle, which gave it a jump-start to the way it would look over the years.
I’ve taken a Dremel to it for different reasons, just to make it a little more of this or that. [Laughs] There’s a company called Vega-Trem, which did the tremolo; it’s basically a refined version of the bridge Leo Fender designed, but it’s machined a little better. So I can divebomb on it and use it as another musical tool – but I also can get the classic vibrato sound.
Based on a few photos, it appears you swapped the pickups fairly recently for a pair of Seymour Duncan P-Rails. How do you like them?
They’re great. Each one has a P90 and a Strat-style pickup in it; those two sit in a humbucker slot [Seymour Duncan’s website describes P-Rails as "versatile humbucker pickups that combine a Hot Rails coil with a Vintage P90"].
We went from three pickups to two, but with those pickups, there are really four positions, and you can switch them with the microswitches we added. I can have the pickups separate or together, and the toggle lets me pick which one I want and when. I can pretty much do anything on that guitar.
You played that guitar at the MTV Video Music Awards with Steven Tyler and Yungblud last year. Did you also use it on the recent One More Time EP?
Absolutely. On the EP we did with Yungblud, everything you hear I did with that guitar and just a few foot pedals. I think that shows the variety of tones you can get out of it.
It’s got fat frets, and I use a hybrid set of strings with it because it has that vibrato; it’s like a light set of .09’s on the top, and then a set of .08’s on the bottom. That way, I can bend notes the way I want, and it also saves my hands because the arthritis is starting to kick in, but it’s nothing I can’t play through. At this point, it is and will continue to be my “desert island guitar,” but you never know. [Laughs]
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
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