“I walked into a Guitar Center one day and took it off the wall. It launched 1,000 ships of people chasing that sound”: The guitar that changed Billy Corgan’s life

Billy Corgan’s guitar tone is one of the most emulated on the planet. Whether driven by op-amp Big Muffs or boutique heads, his sounds, both high-gain and clean, are the stuff of legend.

But as the Smashing Pumpkins leader tells Guitar World in a new interview, it all starts with the guitar. Corgan didn’t seek out a special instrument when he was picking out gear to record what would become masterpieces, Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. He simply strolled into Guitar Center and found a guitar that spoke to him.

“The guitar that changed my life, at least in terms of my recording, was I walked into a Guitar Center one day and, off the wall, bought an Eric Clapton [spec] ’57 reissue Strat with Lace Sensor pickups,” he says.

“It was affordable enough for me as a touring musician, and that became the main guitar for Siamese and Mellon Collie, and launched 1,000 ships of people chasing that sound.”

Lace Sensor pickups are integral to the early Pumpkins tone. Glassy and balanced, they don’t output the same ‘Strat-iness’ that you might expect from a typical Fender, and were Clapton’s pickups of choice for his own signature model.

(NB: Those single coils didn’t come as stock in the ’90s ’57 reissue Strat, but by a twist of fate, they were fitted to the one Corgan picked up off the wall that day. As he recalls, Guitar Center was using Clapton to promote the configuration of his chosen Strat.)

That off-the-wall sunburst Fender would undergo many alterations over the years. To fans, it’s known as the Bat Strat, so-called because of the bat stickers adorning its refinished silver body, and has seen use throughout the Smashing Pumpkins’ discography.

The experience of walking into a guitar store and buying a brand-new instrument that delivered on all counts has stayed with Corgan, and continues to inform his own signature guitars with Reverend today.

“I didn't go out and buy some $4,500 boutique guitar. I bought a production-model guitar off a wall, and it became super-valuable in my life.

“Every time I work with a guitar or amp manufacturer, I always say the same thing: I don't want this to be out of the price range of anybody. All the Reverends I play on stage, they're all production models. I don't have a special one only for Billy – special neck, special pickup – nothing. They are literally off-the-wall Reverends.”

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When we talk, the Pumpkins main man revealed he is now seeking out another Strat in the same vein – with, naturally, a few modifications…

“I was on Reverb recently, poking around, looking for that same model. Because I’ve never found a modern Strat that bested that Strat.

“I wouldn’t go back to Lace Sensors, but I was thinking about, what if I bought an off-the-wall ’57 reissue Strat from the early ’90s, but drop my signature Railhammer pickups in, or I could even go to [pickup builder] Joe Naylor and say, ‘Can you make me stacked single coils?’

“I was just getting sentimental for going back to play that guitar a little bit on stage, because I like the way that guitar feels in my hands.”

Billy Corgan’s full interview with Guitar World will be published later this month.

Last month, Corgan announced the Laney Supergrace, a pedal amp that seeks to capture the firebreathing tone of his live Smashing Pumpkins rig.