Whereas some guitar greats may favor high-end custom shop electric guitars or sought-after vintage builds, Billy Corgan is more interested in playing accessible six-strings that the majority of guitar fans can afford – and that includes playing off-the-shelf Reverends for all his work.
In the new issue of GuitaristThe Smashing Pumpkins frontman discusses his gear philosophy and, after confirming that rumors of him playing his off-the-shelf signature guitars – as opposed to personally constructed custom builds – are true, goes on to explain why such an approach is so important to him.
“This is the greatest endorsement that I can give,” he says when asked if he plays his stock Reverends. “I don’t know what the list price of a Reverend guitar is, but let’s say it’s about $1,000 or whatever.
“That’s the same guitar that I’m playing on Aghori mhori meiand that’s the same guitar that I’m playing on stage with the band and on tour with Green Day in front of 50,000 people. It’s the same guitar.”
For Corgan, that means he routinely takes to the stage and studio armed with any one of his stock signatures, from the five-star rated $1,499 Z-One and Drop Z to the $1,299 regular and Terz models.
It’s a conscious choice, too, and although Corgan has experience with playing “super-expensive guitars”, he prefers playing more affordable alternatives because they can also be played by aspiring musicians.
“It means a lot to me that a young musician can go into a music store and take a guitar that they can probably afford, and if they work hard like we did, they can have that same sound and have that same opportunity with that great instrument,” he explains.
“That’s really important to me as an independent musician, you know? I’ve certainly played super-expensive guitars – but it’s pretty cool playing a guitar that doesn’t need to be souped up.”
But Corgan’s ethos of playing affordable guitars goes way beyond him using his $1k signatures. As is well-documented, he once used a $65 guitar to record Smashing Pumpkins classic, Mayonnaise.
“The origin of the squealing high note was, I bought this guitar for $65, and it was such a cheap guitar that every time I’d stop playing it would make that whistle,” he once said (via Far Out).
“So when we wrote the song, we wrote in these parts that would stop so the whistle became part of the song because every time I would stop it would whistle.”
Corgan is, of course, not alone when it comes to playing more affordable instruments, and is just one of a number of players well-known for using cheap guitars in high-profile situations.
For the full interview with Billy Corgan, pick up the newest issue of Guitarist at Magazines Direct.
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