“My intention when I buy them is to use them... You’ve got David Gilmour’s Black Strat. Are you gonna take it down to the local pub and jam?” Slash on why he won’t spend money on famous guitars
And whether we can expect a Slash guitar auction anytime soon…
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2024 is proving to be a peak year for guitar auctions. However, there's one famous guitarist who’s not so keen on collectible guitars. Slash has recently given his thoughts on why he won't spend money on famous guitars, and whether he's up for auctioning his own.
In an interview on Z92 Omaha, Slash refers to the 2019 David Gilmour guitar auction, which included Gilmour's iconic Black Strat, and Mark Knopfler's record-setting auction, and says, “When people do auctions like that, you know, I mean, I love guitars and I will work out some money. But I'm not going to fork that kind of money for guitar.”
“You buy something like that [Gilmour's Black Strat]. And it's a special novelty item that you're going to hang on a wall or something. I have a lot of guitars, but my intention when I buy them is to use them, which I do, even if I only use them a handful of times, but they always have an application.
The legendary SLASH talks blues, guitars, and more! - YouTube
He jokingly adds, “You've got David Gilmour's Black Strat. I mean, you're gonna take it down to the local pub and jam with your friends with it?”
Elsewhere in the interview, he also reveals whether we can expect a Slash guitar auction sometime soon. “Somebody asked me if I was going to auction my guitars off, and I was like, ‘I'm not there yet.’
“I'm a pack rat. I don't think I've gotten rid of anything since I started, except for the stuff I hawked for what I thought was a good reason back then. But everything else you know, I've kept and it's hard for me to part with anything,” he explains.
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However, in an exclusive interview with Total Guitar, the Les Paul loyalist revealed that he set aside his Les Pauls for a Fender Strat on his new blues solo record, Orgy of the Damned.
Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she's not writing, you'll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.
