FEATURE > DUFF McKAGAN
solidbody Gibsons that are older
than me that I pull out from
time to time for my own enjoyment, and I also have a ’ 73 Les
Paul Custom, which is less valuable but still a great guitar. In
terms of more recent Gibsons,
I have a two-pickup SG from
2008 and a three-pickup version
custom made for me in 1988. I
don’t play the three-pickup one
much—having had it since the
GN’R days, it’s just too precious
and sentimental for me.
For recording and touring,
I have a Burny Les Paul copy
made in Japan, and I just love
it. I actually have two—a black
one and a goldtop—that I got
around 2001. They’re not very
expensive, so I don’t have to
worry about them getting broken
or stolen, and they sound really
killer and aggressive—perfect
for my style. In the same vein,
I also have a Les Paul copy
made by Sparrow, a really cool
company in Canada. I’ve also
been using a recent Fender Jim
Root Telecaster, the signature
model of the Slipknot guitarist,
for recording and performing.
I yanked out that Tele’s stock
active electronics and threw some
Seymour Duncans in there. The
combination of the mahogany
body and the Duncans gives the
Tele a warm sound with a great
growl. Also, the guitar only has
one knob—Volume. I love the
simplicity of that: I don’t need
anything more to fuss with when
I’m singing and playing rhythm
guitar at the same time.
What about effects and
amplification?
No effects for me—I just plug
straight in. On the record, I used
a hot-rodded 1991 Marshall
JCM900, which I usually
use with a beat-up old 4x12
Marshall cab that I love. I even
wrote this song about it called
“Seattle Head” [from Loaded’s
2003 album, Dark Days]. For
touring, I’ve been using various
amps from Engl—a German
company that makes really great
stuff if you like an aggressive
sound and don’t want to worry
about things breaking down on
the road. Unlike other amps I’ve
tried, which sound good in some
rooms and shitty in others, Engls
sound great in every venue.
What about your bass gear?
I essentially just use one kind of
bass, my white Fender signature
P bass, which is basically a copy
of the instrument I used all
those years back in GN’R—an
’80s Jazz Bass Special. It’s kind
of a mutt, with a Precision-bass
body and a Jazz-bass neck. The
sound is tight, and it plays real-
ly well. Also, I sometimes play
a semi-hollow Duesenberg that
I had filled in to prevent feed-
back. You can hear it on [Velvet
Revolver’s] “Fall to Pieces.” But
really, I’m a Fender guy.
The Taking isn’t just a collection of random songs—it has
a narrative arc. What was the
inspiration for that?
When we wrote the record as
a band, we were watching this
relationship between two of our
friends fall apart. We couldn’t
take sides, since we were so
close to both people. It was
kind of like Zen Buddhism: We
just had to sit back and observe
the whole thing passing—
y’know, be the river flowing
down the stream and not the
rock holding up the river. It’s
kind of corny, but true. In the
end, our friends got divorced
and became much better friends
than when they were married.
110 PREMIER GUITAR MAY 2011
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