THE FINE PRINT - Slash Signs the Office Guitar
In the ongoing saga of the Guitar World office guitar, which just about everyone who comes through our doors signs, an opportunity arose last week that we had to pounce on…though the results weren’t quite what we had hoped.When I heard that the Road Recovery benefit concert—featuring Tom Morello, Slash, Jerry Cantrell, Wayne Kramer, Perry Farrell and others—would be taking place in New York City on April 17, I immediately thought it would be a great opportunity to bring the guitar to the show and have the participants sign it, joining Yngwie Malmsteen, Dave Mustaine, Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs, John Petrucci, Alex Skolnick, Steve Howe and others who have already signed the white Gibson Les Paul Studio. After arranging for the guitar to be signed at a meet-and-greet at the venue before showtime, we sent intrepid reporter Richard Bienstock, who also serves as editor of our guitar tabs site, tabs.guitarworld.com, up to the Nokia Theater with the guitar in hand.Upon arriving at the venue, Rich immediately recognized how chaotic a scene it was. No one was aware of the purpose behind our visit, and getting close enough to any of the artists to have them sign the guitar was nearly impossible. Until our old friend Slash happened to stroll by. Over the years, Slash has been a great friend of the magazine’s, willing to participate in photo shoots, columns, lessons, interviews, pretty much anything we’ve ever asked of him. And when Rich, who has interviewed Slash on numerous occasions, opened up the guitar case and asked Slash for a sig, he was more than happy to oblige…and for that, we thank him.You can see Slash’s signature at the top near the toggle switch. Click the photo to see an enlarged version.And as for Morello and Cantrell….we’ll get them one day.JK
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As a teenager, Jeff Kitts began his career in the mid ’80s as editor of an underground heavy metal fanzine in the bedroom of his parents’ house. From there he went on to write for countless rock and metal magazines around the world – including Circus, Hit Parader, Metal Maniacs, Rock Power and others – and in 1992 began working as an assistant editor at Guitar World. During his 27 years at Guitar World, Jeff served in multiple editorial capacities, including managing editor and executive editor before finally departing as editorial director in 2018. Jeff has authored several books and continues to write for Guitar World and other publications and teaches English full time in New Jersey. His first (and still favorite) guitar was a black Ibanez RG550.
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