Page 87 - Guitar Classics Magazine - The Les Paul Bible 2019

SLASH

I’m still a very self-conscious and insecure © Getty Images
guitar player!”
Slash’s marriage to the Les Paul might be a lifetime
commitment, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not
prepared to try new things in an attempt to freshen
things up in their relationship. As the recording
of Living The Dream proved, with a very un-Slash
pickup choice entering the mix…
“I was a little bit more relaxed and a bit more
willing to not rush through it,” he explains. “On
previous Conspirators records – it’s been very much,
‘Just pick this guitar up and do it!’ But Living The
Dream I did at my own studio, and I pulled some old
guitars out and started using those. It’s funny, for a lot
of the record I ended up using a ’56 Goldtop, which
had soapbars in it – I used that for a lot of the record.
“Normally, I wouldn’t be a P-90 guy, but I think
I’ve just been falling into this thing where I like more
of a guitar-y guitar sound – where you’re using less
gain to give a cleaner, but still aggressive, rock-guitar
sound. I found that the Derrig guitar that I’ve been
using a lot in my career is kind of a cross between
a rock guitar and heavy metal, which is fine, but I “I’VE BEEN FALLING INTO THIS THING
think on this last record, I was going for something
that was a little bit more old-school and cleaner in WHERE I LIKE MORE OF A GUITAR-Y
the guitar sound.”
GUITAR SOUND – USING LESS GAIN
TROUBLE IN PARADISE
For a man who loves his Les Paul so much, becoming TO GIVE A CLEANER, BUT STILL
a Gibson ambassador must surely have been a dream
come true for Slash, but in reality, things were not AGGRESSIVE, ROCK-GUITAR SOUND”
well with the Nashville company, with the business in
the midst of a challenging period that culminated in a
bankruptcy filing in 2018.
News of the company’s financial woes took many CEO in former Levi’s man JC Curleigh, as well as a ABOVE With Guns at
guitar players by surprise, but as someone who was brand-new management team whose job it was to get the Roy Wilkins Arena in
very close to what was going on in Nashville, Slash the company back on its feet and return it to its core St Paul, Minnesota in 1988
had sensed something wasn’t right for some time. message as an iconic guitar company.
“I think I was always aware of certain changes,” As befits its most famous endorsee, Slash was aware
he reflects. “Not so much in Gibson proper – it was that big changes were afoot at Gibson. “I’ve been very
just that there were all these new divisions being close to the company for the last 10 years, but very
added. Amendments to the company that were close to the people who work there – not necessarily
unnecessary, stuff that I didn’t really see the vision Henry [Juszkiewicz] while he was running it, but
for. But I was like, ‘Eh, whatever!’ because it wasn’t everybody else. So when all of this started coming
affecting what I do. down, I was very aware that it was happening and as
“But when I started to do more signature models soon as it was done, I met with the new CEO and we
with Gibson, I started to become more aware of sat down for a couple of hours to talk about what’s
the experimental stuff they were doing with the going on,” he explains. “It’s funny, I’ve started noticing
electronic stuff, which was becoming a big part of the in their marketing that something has changed –
fabric of the brand. And I was like, ‘I just don’t get it! I could see that something was different.”
I don’t need it, so I don’t know why anybody else is Curleigh’s track record transforming Levi’s speaks
going to need it!’ for itself, but the figure in the new regime that Slash
“Then there was a lot of turnover happening in is picks out for special mention is new chief merchant
the last couple of years with some of the really key officer, Cesar Gueikian. “The guy that’s running
people who’d been at Gibson forever, and that’s Gibson now, I really, really like,” he enthuses. “He’s
when it started to get a little weird. And then the got great ideas, and he’s a guitar nerd, but he’s also a
inevitable happened.” very smart businessman. He has a good vision for the
The “inevitable” was Gibson filing for bankruptcy company that’s more in line with what myself and
in May 2018, which led to the installation of a new other Gibson loyalists will appreciate.”

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