“Pivotal throughout the band's pre-fame era and used for seminal recordings from Appetite for Destruction”: Slash’s famed B.C. Rich Warlock – which once went missing for 30 years – is going up for auction (again)

Slash’s B.C. Rich Warlock had been missing for 30 years when it miraculously reappeared at auction in 2016. Nine years later, Slash’s heavily used and highly angular axe is set to go under the hammer once again.

The Guns N’ Roses man is usually seen slinging Gibson Les Pauls, but his affinity for B.C. Rich has seen him wield Warlocks and Mockingbirds throughout his career.

Julien’s Auctions, which sold off the guitar in 2016, noted that Slash had ordered the axe from Hollywood Music Store in Los Angeles in early 1984 before using it across 18 of GNR’s formative shows around Hollywood. That makes the Warlock – confirmed as authentic by Slash and his original guitar tech, Jason Solon – perhaps his most-used electric guitar of the period.

Slash has also signed the body of the guitar in felt-tip pen, complete with a sketch of a skull and crossbones wearing a top hat, natch.

Julien’s added that it was on this guitar that Slash chiselled out the riffs of GNR classics Welcome to the Jungle and Sweet Child O’ Mine, and was also used to record demo versions of the tracks, before he pivoted to Les Pauls and Marshall amps.

Despite that, the guitar still got plenty of playtime over the following years, and it can be heard on two live releases – Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, and Lies. The story goes that the guitar was retired from touring in 1987 but was never seen again, before re-emerging at auction in 2016.

The guitar had surpassed its $60,000 - $80,000 estimate in just three bids as it sold for $96,000. This time around, an estimate of up to $200,000 has been mooted, with bids starting at $130,000. The auction is open for another 14 days.

Listed by the Gotta Have Rock and Roll auction house, further details of the guitar’s prominence have also been revealed. It was used, the website says, “at significant events including Guns N' Roses' first show with the classic lineup at the Troubadour on June 6, 1985.

“This instrument was pivotal throughout the band's pre-fame era, used in multiple performances and recordings, including seminal tracks from ‘Appetite for Destruction,’” it continues. “It was retired from active performance in January 1987 and comes with an original Anvil hard case as well as a detailed timeline.”

Head to Gotta Have Rock and Roll for more.

On the topic of Guns N' Roses guitars, Richard Fortus experienced a career-first in Saudi Arabia when a gig was so hot it melted his pickups, and Slash says he became “disillusioned” by Marshall amps before his switch to Magnatone.