Slash explains why he doesn’t “fork out” on uber-expensive guitars – weeks after launching $15k Gibson signature model
“I have a lot of guitars, but my intention, when I buy them, is to use them,” says the Guns N’ Roses legend.
Credit: HELLE ARENSBAK/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images
You won’t catch Slash forking out thousands of pounds for a famous axe any time soon, as the Guns N’ Roses guitar legend doesn’t see the point in spending such great amounts of money on what is “still just a guitar” at the end of the day.
Interestingly, Slash just released a brand new signature model with Gibson – the Custom Slash 1963 ES-335 Collector’s Edition – and with just 50 units made available, they each were slapped with a $14,999 price tag.
The reason he won’t fork out for historic guitars himself, however, is because he buys guitars to play and not display. Just as you might not do with his own Collectors Edition Gibson, you probably wouldn’t take a Mark Knopfler-owned Les Paul down to your local open mic either.
During an interview with Z92 Bickham, the topic of Knopfler’s mighty £9 million-fetching auction crops up, and Slash explains why he didn’t end up purchasing any of the items up for grabs (via Ultimate Guitar):“I love guitars, and I will fork out some money [for one], but I’m not gonna fork out that kind of money for a guitar. It’s still just a guitar [laughs].”
The Gibson Les Paul Standard ’59 reissue that Knopfler used on the track Money for Nothing was sold for £592,200, setting a new world auction record for the model. Slash adds, “The thing is, if you buy something like that, it’s a special novelty item that you’re gonna hang on the wall. 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 it a handful of times, but they always have an application at the time I buy it.”
He gives the example of David Gilmour’s famed black Strat to demonstrate his point of view, “Are you gonna take it down to the local pub and jam with your friends on it? You might record with it one time to say that you did, but I don’t know…”
As for the possibility of auctioning his own gear, Slash says he’s not quite ready to do so yet. “I get sentimental really easily,” he says. “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 good reason back then [laughs]. Everything else, I’ve kept, and It’s really hard for me to part with anything.”
Watch the interview below:
Slash also just released his solo blues album, Orgy Of The Damned. You can find out more via his official website.