“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
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.
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.
Slash is known for his considerable guitar collection and longstanding association with Gibson. Indeed, Gibson unveiled a new Collector’s Edition replica of Slash’s 1963 Gibson ES-335, priced at $14,999 a pop.
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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.
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