Billy Corgan has made his fair share of hits over the years, so if he wants to hang up the guitar, we can’t really be too upset. He’s got his other passions to worry about now, like cats and wrestling.
But seriously, while he hasn’t exactly announced his retirement, this fire-sale of some of his most prized instruments has us a little worried he may be done with music altogether.
As Stereogum reports, the Smashing Pumpkins icon is flogging huge piles of gear used to record some of his biggest hits over the past few decades, and we have to wonder if he has a single guitar left in the rack.
His new shop on Reverb is stuffed with over 150 items used on various classic Pumpkin records, and even his work with Zwan, with Reverb claiming it’s the biggest collection of gear they’ve ever listed.
“This is the core gear used on the albums and tours all of which helped define Corgan as a musician,” the sale says. “Most of the sounds you hear on albums spanning from Gish (1991) through Monuments To An Elegy (2014) can be traced back to gear you’ll find in this shop.”
It all goes on sale on August 16, so if you’re in the market for a legendary guitar, check out the list below, including the guitar that played on ‘Today’ and Cherub Rock’, the drum machine from ‘1979’, and the axe used to record Adore.
- Corgan’s #2 Stratocaster. A modified, star–covered 1988 Fender AVRI Strat that recorded most of Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie, including “Today,” the solo of “Cherub Rock,” and many more.
- A pair of Marshall JMP-1s that were the main preamps for Mellon Collie album and the tour.
- Two Alesis drum machines, one used for the loops on “1979” and another that was used to record many early Pumpkins’ demos before Jimmy Chamberlin joined the band.
- The modified 1990s Les Paul Special used to record much of the Machina album and played regularly on that tour, and the two backup LP Specials from the tours.
- The rackmount ADA MP-1 preamps used to record Gish.
- A Fender Subsonic Stratocaster in Sonic Blue from the Zeitgeist era signed “This is what true freedom looks like. Billy Corgan.” One of the few items in the shop signed by the guitarist, it was originally set to go to auction in 2008 before Corgan decided against it.
- The Fernandes sustainer guitar used in the studio and on tour for most of Adore.
- A 1969 Gibson EB–3 Bass in Walnut dubbed the Mountain Bass used as a “secret weapon” on everything from Mellon Collie to Machina.
- The small Crate combo amps used to get the distortion sounds on Machina.
- The arsenal of Diezel and Bogner amps used to record and tour for Zeitgeist.
- Dozens of collector–grade vintage guitars, including two ’58 Strats, a ’63 Candy Apple Red Strat, a 1953 Gibson Super 400, and a ’66 Rickenbacker 360.
- A vintage 1950s accordion and an autoharp used on the Mellon Collie tune “We Only Come Out at Night.”
