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Throughout his career, Billy Corgan has utilised an array of gear including a modded Marshall JCM800, various Big Muffs, a rare original Fender Blender pedal and a seventies Strat loaded with Lace Sensor pickups that he bought from Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlain in 1989.

This new signature guitar is a long-awaited replacement for that "1973-ish-era" Strat to which Corgan was so attached. It was stolen at a 1991 club show, and ever since he's struggled to find a guitar that he feels truly comfortable with for everyday use.

Fender's new interpretation seems a mixed bag of old looks, modern finishes and modern high-output electronics. On first inspection the overall fit and finish of the guitar is excellent – Fender is doing a fab job with its Artist Series instruments of late.

The guitar borrows heavily from the well-regarded, USA-made Highway One series, with the same thinly applied satin nitrocellulose finish. This not only has a nice haze, giving the blonde finish a pearl-like effect, it also feels great and smells fantastic, honestly!

"Stevie Ray Vaughan, classic David Gilmour and Hendrix can all be found with a bit of experimentation, along witha staple diet of American grunge-rock riffs."

It also follows the Highway One with the same seventies headstock complete with large Fender and bold Stratocaster logos. The contrasting black-faced scratchplate is a well executed and distinctive look, although the white plastic knobs and pickup covers may divide opinion.

Electronically we're dealing with relatively familiar Fender principles: three pickups – albeit single-coil-sized humbuckers – a five-way selector switch, a volume and two tones. One of these tone pots affects the bridge pickup, and the other controls the neck.

DiMarzio came up with this pickup combination after much testing. "I've been very satisfied with the low noise floor of the DiMarzio pickups. The high-gain application and the versatility," Corgan explains. The bridge and neck 'buckers are wound to Billy's specification, while the centre unit is a standard Chopper model.

The maple neck is slick and smooth-feeling, which you don't always get with this kind of guitar. And to cap it off, the jumbo frets are a great addition for playability and serve to make this guitar almost effortless to play.

Sounds

Hear the Billy Corgan Stratocaster in action here:

Partly due to its thin finish and string-through, hard-tail bridge, the Billy Corgan Stratocaster provides masses of high-end zing and crispness when unamplified. The alder body also serves to provide a well-rounded low-end so there's little danger of this guitar sounding too bright.