Smashing! Billy Corgan Guitar En Route

Dig it — “both a Strat articulation and enough low-end heavy metal sound”…

By Blurt Staff

First we bring you news about the Stevie Ray Vaughan miniature Stratocaster. Now we’ve got the scoop on Fender’s new Billy Corgan Stratocaster — and this one is freakin’ full-sized, just right for your inner Smashing Pumpkins shredder. Read on….

Produced to Corgan’s exacting specifications.  The new Billy Corgan Stratocaster is an especially modern take on the iconic Fender Strat^® model, built especially for a high-gain sound and designed to create Corgan’s signature mid-’90s buzz saw tone.Fresh off the success of 2007’s critically-acclaimed and gold-certified Zeitgeist album and massive world tour, Corgan teamed with Fender to create the guitar he’s always dreamed of.  The guitar features three DiMarzio pickups (two of which are custom-wound for the instrument), a string-through hard-tail bridge, jumbo frets, a satin nitrocellulose lacquer finish and a vintage tweed case.  It is offered in an Olympic White finish, with a black pickguard or Black finish with a white pickguard, reflective of Corgan’s signature style.

“The versatility of this instrument is what impresses me and is why I’m really excited about this model,” Corgan said. “This guitar has both a Strat articulation and enough low-end heavy metal sound to get the ‘Sabbath’ out of the guitar I want.  My greatest go-to guitar got stolen at a Pumpkins club date in 1991, and I’ve always struggled since then to find a guitar that was my guitar.  I’m really pleased with this model’s versatility, which I need because I’m playing music from a 17-year period of the Pumpkins’ history—from spacey early stuff to grunge to all-out cyber metal, then back to ballads.”

“Billy owns a lot of vintage Strat guitars, but he was looking for a primary ‘go-to guitar,’ said Justin Norvell, Fender marketing director for electric guitars.  “Billy was very hands-on. We were bringing prototypes into the studio and rehearsal space while they were tracking the record, and did the fine-tuning on the specs while they were out on tour. Playing live and in the studio are two completely different things, so Billy wanted to be sure it met his needs in both arenas, so we worked together to make sure it was perfect.”

Perfect, we are sure of it.