Billy Squier once had to save just one of his guitars from a burning building: “I went straight to the closet, looked at my four Les Pauls”
Billy Squier once had to flee from his building in Manhattan when a fire broke out in the basement, and he took with him just one of his guitars and his trusty pet dog.
When faced with the commotion, Squier had to pick from a collection of guitars that he’d used on some of his biggest hits, including a 1957 Fender Telecaster Custom that was played on Calley Oh from his 1980 debut album The Tale Of The Tape, and across his follow up record Don’t Say No.
READ MORE: “The world doesn’t need another Tele or Strat clone – it just doesn’t”: Why Guitar Center is launching its own guitar brand that’s “meaningfully better and differentiated”
In an interview with Guitar World, the hypothetical burning building question is posed to Squier, and he reveals exactly what went down when such horrors became a reality. Thankfully, Squier, his dog, and all of his gear made it through the ordeal safe and sound.
Ultimately, it was his 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard named ‘Fanny’ that became the chosen one to be saved: “It already happened to me a few years ago,” he begins. “It turned out it wasn’t serious, but I live in a large building on Central Park West in Manhattan, and there was a fire in the basement.
“There was a big commotion – alarms going off and fire engines circling – so I went straight to the closet, looked at my four Les Pauls, grabbed that one and my dog, and trotted down the back stairs and out onto the street.”
He concludes, “Everything was fine in the end. We didn’t lose anything.”
Gibson Les Pauls often become treasured pieces by those who get their hands on one. In a new interview with Guitar.com, Lamb of God’s Mark Morton shared how his early love of the Les Paul came to be, and spoke of his new Modern Quilt signature model.
“My first main guitar was a Les Paul Deluxe ’75,” he said. “It was chopped up for PAFs and refinished – just a total beater! But I played it until the frets were flat. I was playing that guitar in punk bands all around town, just kind of dragging it around on the floorboard of my truck with no case. It was just like my security blanket.”
Keep up to date with updates from Billy Squier via his official website.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
