Fake blood stains, body glitter and chainmail rash: Castle Rat’s Riley Pinkerton shows off her Gibson SGs
“Hearing Black Sabbath for the first time, I was like, ‘I need an SG,’” Castle Rat guitarist and frontwoman Riley Pinkerton tells Guitar.com as she shows off her arsenal of battle-ready double cuts.
Castle Rat describe themselves as “Medieval Fantasy Heavy Metal”, so it makes sense that their leader be the valiant owner of an arms cache of double-horned six-strings.
And lucky for the team at Guitar.com – who are donning protective suits of armour behind the camera (we swear) – Pinkerton joins us for the latest episode of My Guitars & Me to talk us through some of the highlights from her SG collection.
READ MORE: Ed Sheeran once gave Myles Smith a guitar – here’s the bizarre item he got in return
First up, Pinkerton showcases her #17 SG, which she bought with her relief check during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I bought it used off Reverb,” she says. “When the pandemic hit, we got a check, so I was like, I’m gonna buy a guitar.’ So that’s what I did.”
Many guitars, especially if they’re used regularly during live shows fall victim to buckle rash – the pattern of scratches that can develop on the back of the instrument. The culprit of the relicing on the back of this guitar, though, isn’t a mere belt buckle, but rather the suit of chainmail she dons during Castle Rat’s live shows.
“It’s chainmail rash instead of buckle rash,” she says. “And everything I own is covered with sparkles, because I wear body glitter onstage, so that’s everywhere.”
Next up, we get a close-up look at Pinkerton’s ‘60s Gibson Tribute SG, which she received as a Christmas present when she was around 18 years old. “It’s great, it’s trustworthy. I played it on this whole tour, so it’s covered in dust from a lot of festivals that were very dry and very dusty,” she says.
A through and through SG player, it makes sense that Pinkerton counts Tony Iommi as one of her guitar heroes.
“There’s an ancient YouTube cover of me playing acoustic guitar – a version of N.I.B. that sometimes makes the rounds on the internet, which is funny. My eyebrows are crazy…”
The full episode of My Guitars & Me with Castle Rat’s Riley Pinkerton is available now.
The post Fake blood stains, body glitter and chainmail rash: Castle Rat’s Riley Pinkerton shows off her Gibson SGs appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
