Shred legend Zakk Wylde was grabbing some downtime when GW connected with him at his home in California not long after he appeared at Ozzy Osbourne’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
Only hours before we connected, he’d been busy tracking songs for the next Black Label Society album, before heading into six weeks of rehearsals for a Zakk Sabbath tour.
After that, he’s scheduled to start rehearsing for the Pantera celebration tour, followed by more Zakk Sabbath. He’s also already penciled in numerous BLS shows.
As Wylde says, “It’s just music, music, music as far as I can see, and that’s how I love it.” No matter how busy he is, Wylde is always ready to talk guitars, and the rock ’n’ roll viking was stoked to tell us why these are the three most important axes in his armory.
1. Gibson Firebrand SG (1981)
“This was the Firebrand SG in Pelham Blue, the first real ‘quality’ guitar I ever owned. I did so much of my learning on it. I bought it at Red Bank Music [in New Jersey] back in the day. There was a lot of publicity for these models at the time; I remember the Gibson ads saying, ‘A Firebrand for under a grand.’ It was a fantastic guitar, though, and a major step up for me.
I still pull it out from time to time at home; it’s a bit of a lost classic in the Gibson range
“My guitar teacher at the time, Leroy, recommended it to me. He was a fan of SGs; he thought the double cutaways and access to the top frets would suit the stuff I wanted to play. I wasn’t really playing shows when I got it, more parties and jamming in the basement. I spent a ton of time woodshedding.
“I never changed a single thing on it – it’s completely stock. I still pull it out from time to time at home; it’s a bit of a lost classic in the Gibson range. Another thing about it was the color, which I liked so much that I’ve used it on a few guitars since then as well as on some of my own Wylde Audio fiddles.”
“I still have it. I sold it but managed to buy it back, which was an amazing feeling. Before I got it, I had a bunch of guitars that weren’t anywhere close to the SG. There was a copy of a Gibson L6 with action that was about 10 feet off the neck. I had a Fernandes and a couple of Electras in crazy shapes and some other stuff that was pretty crappy.
“The ones I didn’t hang on to, I tried to pick up in later years on eBay or Reverb; some I managed to buy back from the guys I’d sold them to, so I have all my childhood memory guitars one way or another. I think it’s important to keep your early gear if you can; there’s something special about picking up a guitar years later and thinking about the hours you put in.
“Those first guitars are what set you off on the path. I have friends who say they wish they still had some old toy or something, and I always say just go and hunt one down on the internet! Reconnect yourself, you know?”
2. Gibson Les Paul Custom (1985)
“I remember saving up for this guitar; it was a big deal. I bought it new, complete with the ‘chainsaw’ case. I still have the receipt – $800. Those models go for four grand now. This guitar is actually in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the moment.
“I graduated from high school in 1985, and I hadn’t saved enough money for it by that time, but my parents surprised me by adding the rest of the money to the pot. I think I needed about $300. I got home and they said something had come for me. I went into the room, and I freaked out because they’d got me the white Les Paul Custom. This is another one where I never changed a thing; it still has the original PAFs.
“I’d go and look at it all the time in the store – I wanted that guitar so badly, man. This guitar holds so much sentimental value because my parents got it for me. I used to take this and the Grail [see Number 3] on the road, which seems crazy now, given how precarious it is to travel with guitars on tour.
“After a few years I stopped doing that and started treating show guitars as exactly that; I wouldn’t touch them until I got on stage. I felt much happier leaving all the important guitars safely at home.”
“My first guitars were all fitted with humbuckers, and I know people don’t associate me with single coils, but I have quite a few Fenders. I’ve got a Tele I bought for $600 that I asked Bill Lawrence to paint to look like the one Jimmy Page had with the dragon on it. This was way before Fender brought out their Page model.
“I have a bunch of Strats, and I have a few guitars loaded with P-90s, including a ’65 SG and a ’58 Junior. It’s all about having tones to paint with when you’re in the studio. If you’re painting a picture, you’re going to want a whole palette of colors. If you can hear something in your head, you find the right tools to capture it.”
3. Gibson Les Paul Custom, “The Grail” (1981)
“A friend of mine, Scott Quinn, who used to work at Garden State Music in New Jersey, made a deal with me. I was endorsed by Gibson after I’d got the gig with Ozzy; Scott, a huge John McLaughlin fan, said that if I could get him a double-neck, he’d trade the Grail for it.
“Gibson hooked me up and I made the trade. I’d played this guitar and been knocked out by how amazing it sounded and how well it played. It was one of those moments where you just really connect with an instrument. It already had EMGs; I’d discovered them a little before I played the Grail.
“One of my students had a Fender Jaguar with EMGs. He was telling me you had to put a battery in the back for the pickups, which was a weird notion to me at the time. Anyway, when I plugged it into my Marshall combo I was astounded. The clarity, the depth, the glassy highs, the tightness and definition – I was amazed.
“I wrote my first Ozzy song, Miracle Man, on this one. Most of the records I did with Ozzy featured this guitar. After we’d recorded [1988’s] No Rest for the Wicked, I was gonna be shooting some photos and I realized I was gonna look like I was trying to be Randy [Rhoads] with the cream Les Paul, so I sent it to be refinished.
It turned up in a pawn shop; someone bought it, realized it was mine and – three years after I’d lost it – contacted me and sold it back
“It was meant to look like the poster for [1958 Alfred Hitchcock film] Vertigo, but it came back with the bullseye. I realized it was pretty cool anyway, and I made it a signature look ever since.
“I nearly lost it around 2000 when it fell out of our gear trailer. It came with one of those tough chainsaw cases, so it survived crashing onto the highway. It turned up in a pawn shop; someone bought it, realized it was mine and – three years after I’d lost it – contacted me and sold it back.
“I exclusively use Wylde Audio models on the road now; they’re exactly the same as the ones for sale. They’re already modded, because they’re built to my specs, with the Tone Pros hardware, the EMGs and everything.”
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
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