You Can Buy Billy Corgan’s Smashing New Guitar
Billy Corgan is a great singer/songwriter, but is he a guitar hero? Revered instrument manufacturer Fender Guitars thinks so. The company enlisted Corgan (who is preparing a collection of pre- and post-Gish era tracks to celebrate the release's 17th anniversary, while he battles his former label, Virgin Records, in court) to develop a guitar for its fancy artist series line, which includes models created with the likes of Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy Jeff Beck, Mark Knopfler and John Mayer. Working closely with Corgan, Fender’s design team developed the Billy Corgan Stratocaster to Corgan’s exact technical specifications. The guitar made its debut at Summer NAMM last week, and guitar snobs are eagerly awaiting its arrival in shops this month.
The Billy Corgan Stratocaster looks like the iconic Fender Strat and features three DiMarzio pickups (two of which are custom-wound for the instrument), a string-through hard-tail bridge, jumbo frets, a satin nitrocellulose lacquer finish and a vintage tweed case. If you're looking for a cherry sunburst, well, you're out of luck. Players can choose from an Olympic White finish, with a black pickguard or black finish with a white pickguard.
Obligatory press gush from Corgan: “This guitar has both a Strat articulation and enough low-end heavy metal sound to get the ‘Sabbath’ out of the guitar I want. My greatest go-to guitar got stolen at a Pumpkins club date in 1991, and I’ve always struggled since then to find a guitar that was my guitar. I’m really pleased with this model’s versatility, which I need because I’m playing music from a 17-year period of the Pumpkins’ history—from spacey early stuff to grunge to all-out cyber metal, then back to ballads.”
Expect a moment of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness when you discover the guitar will set you back $2,000.
Comments
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solos in cherub rock and geek usa have been ranked consistantly on rolling stones top guitar solo lists. billy's even going to be featured in the new guitar hero 4 world tour game. have you heard the work on zeitgeist? if nothing else, the guitar work shines more than the singing or songwriting this time around. its just that historically, most people have focused on his singing, songwriting or his ego and not paid much attention to his underrated guitar playing. he is a guitar hero. from the solos, to the shoegazing/effects, to his acoustic skill.....and his impeccable musical timing and performance.