When you think of Slash, you think of two things: a top hat and a Gibson Les Paul. It is, after all, the electric guitar he’s used almost exclusively throughout his illustrious career, and as such the two have become virtually synonymous with one other.
However, for his most recent studio album with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators, 4, Slash revealed he temporarily put his favored single-cut in its stand for a few tracks, and decided to play something different altogether.
Speaking in the latest issue of Guitar World, the GNR rocker recalled using a Gibson Flying V – which he had received as a Christmas present – on not one, but two songs on the record.
When asked what guitars he took to the studio, Slash replied, “Maybe the biggest difference for me was that I played a [Gibson] Flying V, like a ’69 or ’68 reissue. I got it for Christmas and it just sounds really great.
“I used that for C’est La Vie and Actions Speak Louder Than Words,” he continued, “and you can tell it’s a different guitar because the tone is cleaner than on the other songs.”
The Flying V of which Slash speaks even featured during live renditions of C'est La Vie and Actions Speak Louder Than Words, which were performed as part of the group's Live at Studio 60 livestream concert.
He did, of course, fill the rest of the album with a variety of Les Pauls from his collection, including the Appetite-era Kris Derrig Les Paul copy that he recently labeled his number one guitar.
Slash added, “I brought my Derrig Les Paul [copy], which I used for most stuff, but I also had two [Gibson Les Paul] ’59 reissues that sound really good, and I know I used one of them on The Path Less Followed, and I used another one on April Fool.”
Elsewhere, a ‘70 or ‘72 black Gibson Les Paul Custom reissue was used for Call Off the Dogs, while one of Slash’s Les Paul Goldtops cropped up on Fill My World.
However, according to the man himself, there were no acoustic guitars on the album, and the electric guitars he did use in the studio never made it out of the bridge pickup position.
“You know what else is funny?” Slash continued. “I didn’t play any acoustic on the record, and all the electric guitars, there’s no rhythm pickup, which for me is unusual. But it was just that every time I switched to the rhythm pickup it sounded too obvious. So I never used it.”
The top hat-toting guitar star also recalled his guitar amp set up for 4, which predominantly comprised Marshall Jubilee heads and a Slash model Marshall head, though the latter never saw any action.
Head over to Magazines Direct to purchase the latest issue of Guitar World, which contains a review of the new PRS SE Silver Sky, Kirk Fletcher's Blues Truth column and a breakdown of Robert Fripp's 20 greatest moments.
