Remember the Billy Corgan Stratocaster? It was a thing of hard-rocking, no-nonsense beauty (and, on that note, more hardtail Strats, please Fender), but suddenly disappeared from Fender’s catalogue, never to return - and according to the Smashing Pumpkins main man, there was beef behind the scenes.
During an Instagram story Q&A (reported by Alternative Nation), the guitarist was asked whether he would collaborate with Fender again, to which he replied, “Never. They disrespected me and I would never go back.”
When asked to elaborate, he stated the reasons were “too petty to get into.”
The prospect of a Gibson model was also raised by one fan, but shot down by Billy, who stated, “Gibson also blew me off so I’ll play them, but I won’t work with them. Want them to survive though.”
Signature model citizen
Corgan’s current signature models are the Reverend BC-1 and the Yamaha LJ16BC, while he also collaborated with Electro-Harmonix on the recent Op Amp Big Muff reissue.
It seems there could be more BC gear in the offing, however, as a question about making a signature multi-effect was met with the response, “Discussing with Yamaha Guitars now.”
Given Yamaha’s acquisition of Line 6 and the Smashing Pumpkins’ hugely inspiring array of tones, that’s a multi-effects we’d very much like to see. Watch this space…
