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BILLY HOWERDEL ON HIS ‘FRANKENSTEINED’ GUITAR AND HIS DEBUT SOLO ALBUM
Billy Howerdel found mainstream success as guitarist in A Perfect Circle alongside Tool singer Maynard James Keenan, after serving as guitar tech for Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Guns N’ Roses and more. Billy’s debut solo album What Normal Was features the same guitar he’s used throughout his career – a1991 Gibson Les Paul Custom Classic in Cinnamon Burst, gifted to him by one-time employer Trent Reznor...
Your main guitar was the first instrument you worked on for Nine Inch Nails, which you accidentally burned...
Yeah, I dropped a soldering iron right on the guitar fresh out of the case. It was a very expensive, brand new and beautiful guitar. It’s not like me to do that, but I burned some of the finish off right by the volume pot. And it was like, ‘Don’t worry, wait until you see what they do with these guitars at the end of the night!’ I was the least of that guitar’s problems! And sure enough, it got hurled thirty feet in the air. The headstock broke off and got lost in the crowd, but I found another guitar with a similar colour and frankensteined the headstock back on. It’s actually at the wrong angle, but it sounds great so it was a happy accident.
Well, you’ve certainly gotten a lot of mileage out of it.
It’s pretty much all I’ve ever used. I changed the pickups early on to some Tom Anderson ones. I always like the sound of them. I worked for Fishbone early on and their guitarist used Tom Anderson guitars. I love how precise they sound... it’s very hi-fi. I mean, I like Jimmy Page’s sound and PAFs in general because they’re so soft and broken, but these pickups feel more versatile. That set i
