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Slash shows off one of his new Gibson signature models

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Do you modify any of your Les Pauls for slide playing?

"I actually tend not to play slide on Les Pauls, only because there's different guitars like Les Paul Juniors and Melody Makers that are really good for slide. That's not to say I won't pull a slide out and play slide on a Les Paul occasionally but if a song requires it the chances are I'll have a guitar set up accordingly."

How many guitars do you currently own?

"I've got somewhere between 80 and 90 guitars and I'd say 75 percent of them are Les Pauls. It seems ridiculous – but they all have a unique purpose."

Is there one that would you run through the flames and save if your house was burning down?

"Well, it would definitely be benefiting this particular promotion if I said one of my signature guitars – but in all honesty it would be the guitar I've been recording with ever since Appetite For Destruction. It's been my main 'go to' guitar for years.

"Having said that I have 80 or 90 guitars there are two that I keep close by with me at all times. Really you only need one or two guitars in your whole career. But you end up collecting a lot of guitars before you discover that reality."

So back to the house burning down, you can also save one record, and one other miscellaneous item, what are they?

"That's a tough one. I don't really have any what you'd call important miscellaneous items with the exception of my top hat I guess. But if it was a record then that's a tough call. Um…I'd probably say just a great, well-rounded rock record…Exile On Main Street. Plus it's a long-playing record."

"It's funny looking back at old pictures at some of the stupid hats I'd wear."

Not Rocks by Aerosmith?

"You know, normally – that's one of my favourite records of all time, but it's one of those records that's sort of a little bit limited and you have to be in that mood."

You've tended to play predominantly sunburst Les Pauls over the years. Is there a particular favourite Goldtop that inspired the latest Epiphone and Gibson models?

"That's a good question because where this particular Goldtop comes from, in the nineties on the Use Your Illusion tour, I picked up a brand new Gibson Goldtop which became a major part of the set and I used it for all of the sort of epic ballads that had long sustaining guitar solos. Sweet Child O' Mine, November Rain, Estranged, Knocking On Heaven's Door, So Fine, and my guitar solo as well, so I did The Godfather with it.

"The tobacco sunburst and regular sunburst are very aggressive sounding guitars, so it wasn't necessarily as aggressive but it made up for it with this really nice, warm, round lead sound. For those songs I would take the tone and I would turn it all the way down for those really creamy, sustainy solos.

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"And that particular guitar got stolen out of my recording studio in 1998, so I went to Gibson and asked if they could make me another one, modelled after that 1991 Goldtop, and that's basically what this one is. So the tone pots have particular significance."