Be they in small, dingy bars or massive stadiums, gigs are always hot and sweaty affairs. Guns N’ Roses guitarist Richard Fortus, however, has seen the band’s white-hot rock ’n’ roll reach new heights after a show in Saudi Arabia was so hot his pickups melted.
Sharing photos of the state of his electric guitar post-show, a strange-looking substance can be seen oozing out from the pickup mounts. It looks like something from the Alien franchise – and certainly not something Fortus will want to inhale.
Granted, it’s just wax, used to minimize mechanical vibration, but still, it looks grisly.
The pickup-melting gig occurred at the Mohammed Abdu Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the seventh date of the band’s latest globe-trotting tour. It followed a Japan show that saw them deliver a thunderous Thin Lizzy cover in tribute to the late John Sykes.
Efforts were made in order to mitigate the impact of the blistering temperatures, but the heat remained relentless. Fortus and company had waltzed onto the stage a little after 10pm in the hope of more appropriate climes for a three-hour riff fest, after temperatures had reached 113º Fahrenheit during the day.
Still, the later stage time wasn’t enough to stop the twin humbuckers on Fortus’ signature Gretsch Falcon from reaching melting point.
“Well, this is a first,” Fortus’ Instagram caption reads. “It was so hot in Saudi Arabia that the wax in my pickups melted!”
He also praised fans for a “great time” and thanked those who have picked up one of his signatures (despite the less-than-ideal sales pitch).
For some science, the wax used in pickups is usually an 80/20 mix of paraffin and beeswax, with the former having a melting point of around 115-154º Fahrenheit.
That gives a fairly grim impression of how sweltering the show was – and seeing pickup wax drip down the body of the guitar like a candle murder scene is a first for this writer. Yikes.
Given his rock pedigree, a Gretsch guitar may seem an interesting weapon of choice for Fortus, but he says the guitar is the perfect counterpart to Slash and his beloved Les Pauls. As such, his two signature models – a vintage white Bigsby-equipped G6636T and a black V-Stoptail-styled G6636 – are designed with GNR live shows in mind.
“I bought my first Gretsch when I was about 16 years old, which was a 1966 Tennessean. I’m a big Billy Duffy fan and I was also listening to a lot of AC/DC. I guess it was a tone I gravitated towards from an early age,” he told Guitar World in 2021.
“What brought me back to Gretsch in terms of them being the main instruments I play on stage is when Slash and Duff came back into the band. I was trying out different guitars and when I landed on Gretsch, it really seemed to come together.”
Thankfully for Fortus’ Gretsch, GNR have concluded the hottest leg of their current tour and will now travel to Europe ahead of a show in Georgia on May 30. Far more tolerable temperatures of around 73º Fahrenheit are expected. The guitar can breathe.
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