Heart's Nancy Wilson is the latest high profile guitarist to sell their gear in their own Reverb shop including electric guitars from landmark songs in her career.
The Official Nancy Wilson Of Heart Reverb Shop will include the late '60s Gibson SG with Bigsby that was her guitar of choice for live versions of signature Heart song Barracuda.
“It's traveled really far with me and we’ve done a lot of stages and shows together, and you might recognise this Marine Corps symbol here [on the back of the guitar] that I used to flash after Barracuda at the end of shows,” said Wilson. “My dad was a military man, and there’s pictures of me saluting at a lot of shows. This guitar is one true hero.”
Other highlights include a 1957 Fender Stratocaster that was also a live mainstay. “It’s got all the good dirt in the sound of it from the ‘50s,” said Wilson. “There’s something about the older models that have that dirty sound. It’s because they’re all grown up and are big characters.”
Her 1980s Paul Reed Smith 12-string prototype with a dragon inlay is a special pre-factory model: “This is one of the coolest guitars I’ve ever owned,” said Wilson. “It came with me all over the [latest] Heart Tour. I played the first song of the tour of this guitar, Rockin’ Heaven Down.
Another unusual electric is a late 70’s David Petschulat mini Les Paul; one of only several ever made according to Wilson. “It’s very teeny tiny. It was on stage with me, and [former Heart guitarist] Howard Leese has had one too," says Wilson. "It’s also the star of the cover of Heart’s album Greatest Hits Live.”
Wilson's Duncan Quattro from the mid ‘80s was centre stage during Heart's stadium shows from that era. “During certain songs it was on a stand that I played along with a keyboard part,” she said. “On other songs, it was the all-purpose dive-bombing ‘80s-style guitar.”
Another guitar that was used to perform Barracuda live was the TV Jones Spectrasonic with a red and white finish plus a Bigsby vibrato.
- The Official Nancy Wilson of Heart Reverb Shop, which opens October 19. Visit Reverb to be alerted when it goes live.
