“It’s even the way I left it,” pointing towards a pickup. “Wow!” Corgan exclaimed picking the guitar from the case and flipping it over for examination. James unlatched the locks, as Heiche and Corgan looked on. “All right, let's take a look,” Corgan said before heading towards the guitar case. He said he would know for sure by holding the guitar, feeling its weight, and looking at his own paintwork up close.
James and her husband were flown in from Michigan, guitar in tow, stored in a borrowed case.Ĭorgan arrived moments later and entered a private patio area where everyone sat waiting in anticipation. It’s even the way I left it - I always dropped the pickup in the middle The location played host for the chance to reconnect Corgan with the guitar that was instrumental to his early musical career and distinct sound. Sound Royalties arranged a meet up between Corgan and James on 5 February, during Grammy week at the Sunset Marquis, a hotel popularised among musicians for years, and located just off the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. ”That’s what truly made this special everyone had their heart in the right place.” “Beth expressed to Will and I that she wanted it to be back with Billy if it was actually his,” says Heiche. A failed attempt to reach Corgan via Facebook led her to sharing the story with a friend, which led her to Carter and Heiche.
On the off-chance she did in fact have Corgan’s guitar, she wanted to reach out to let him know. Article photos showed a guitar with shockingly similar markings to the one Beth had purchased years ago. The research turned up an online article about Billy Corgan’s stolen Stratocaster. Over the years, friends would comment the guitar was seemingly special, valuable perhaps, so when it came time for James to declutter her home, a friend suggested checking the background of the guitar before getting rid of it.
Will received a phone call from a friend’s wife, who thought she might possibly have Billy Corgan’s yellow Stratocaster.īeth James of Flushing, Michigan had been visiting family in Detroit about 10-12 years earlier when she stopped at a neighbouring home where an older couple was having a yard sale.īilly Corgan: “Paint colour actually changes the sound of a guitar”
#Gish guitar series#
“I never liked how guitars looked on their own, so that's how I would know it was mine, because I actually painted it.”įast-forward to a few weeks ago, through a series of chance connections and communications, music executive, Alex Heiche of Sound Royalties, received a call from a friend Will Carter of Nashville based Music Starts Here. I never liked how guitars looked on their own, so that's how I would know it was mine, because I actually painted it “I basically took a brush and went like this,” Corgan says, sporadically waving his hand. Over the past 27 years none have been authentic, and he would know: he hand-painted it, adding to distinguishing marks such as cigarette burns on the headstock, and the initials that had been carved into it before belonging to him. With rewards up to $20,000 for the return of the guitar, with no questions asked, Corgan has seen numerous replicas said to be the real deal. “I'd hear, 'Oh, somebody's got it', but every lead always turned up empty.” “I offered a reward, but nothing ever happened and through the years I've since offered other rewards,” he says. Sometimes he would come close, but he says nothing was ever as perfect. He spent years searching for something that could sound the same. The Smashing Pumpkins continue to record and perform, and in 2012, they released Oceania, the first album to feature the band’s current lineup of musicians - Corgan, guitarist Jeff Schroeder, bassist Nicole Fiorentino and drummer Mike Byrne.(Image credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock)īilly Corgan: “The gear should always support your vision” The early ’90s saw the release of their highly successful albums Gish, Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness - which earned the band seven Grammy nominations and went nine times platinum. With an undeniable musical talent and a ceaseless determination to be heard, Corgan has written some of the most acclaimed songs of a generation and inspired millions of musicians and music lovers worldwide. Formed in 1988, the band has seen numerous lineup changes, though one unwavering artistic force continues to guide their way - frontman Billy Corgan. Having crafted one of the most unique and expansive bodies of work of the past 25 years, The Smashing Pumpkins continue to test the sonic boundaries of rock ’n’ roll, refusing to be categorized every step of the way.
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