Slash: Derrig vs Max - The AFD Period

[J-Dizzle]

LOL this is the thread that wont die


A grainy old video doesn't really prove anything. the quality on that vid was so poor that all you could see is that its a les paul with black bobbin pups, not any particular les paul.

also remember these guys were always borrowing other peoples' gear and selling/pawning their own gear to buy drugs and booze.

There's no real proof that Slash was in possession of a Max when they started recording AFD. Supposedly he had already sold most of his gear to buy drugs.

 

[Daytripper67]

LOL this is the thread that wont die


A grainy old video doesn't really prove anything. the quality on that vid was so poor that all you could see is that its a les paul with black bobbin pups, not any particular les paul.

also remember these guys were always borrowing other peoples' gear and selling/pawning their own gear to buy drugs and booze.

There's no real proof that Slash was in possession of a Max when they started recording AFD. Supposedly he had already sold most of his gear to buy drugs.

Slash was reunited with the HUNTERBURST(He says it is a max)
slashGot to spend a little time last night with my old Max Baranet "Hunterburst". I haven't seen it since 1986.. Nice to see it's been well cared for. iiii]; )'



https://www.instagram.com/p/BLeEnxKg6Qu/

 

[elephantrider]

well, that was an interesting read. plenty of my deek is bigger than
your deek going on during the first few pages...


...and in the below interview, "max" said he didn't even remember if
it was him that built it or not... lmao


http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/the_legend_of_slashs_appetite_for_destruction_les_paul?page=3

"Baranet himself? He’s not so sure. In written statements and telephone interviews, Baranet won’t confirm or deny that the Hunterburst is one of his instruments.

“Yeah, I don’t remember it,” he says. “There’s people that remember it being in my shop and stuff. But there was a lot of stuff going on in those days, you know. A lot of guitar building and a lot of people running through.”

 

[mdubya]

Slash was reunited with the HUNTERBURST(He says it is a max)
slashGot to spend a little time last night with my old Max Baranet "Hunterburst". I haven't seen it since 1986.. Nice to see it's been well cared for. iiii]; )'



https://www.instagram.com/p/BLeEnxKg6Qu/

 

[JimmyAce2006]

I saw this info earlier today when my friend who just bought that guitar showed me Slash's posts about getting to spend time with the guitar again; my friend met up with him & let Slash check out his old guitar.


.......

 

[ajory72]

It's a shame that a guy who made one of Rock'n Rolls seminal guitars [albeit a replica] ends up with just 2 lines in WikiPaedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Derrig
"Kris Derrig (April 6, 1954 – May 14, 1987) was an American luthier and musician born in Greenfield, Massachusetts. As a guitar builder, he is best known for building Slash's recording guitar, used in the Guns N' Roses album Appetite For Destruction, as well as many other highly sought-after Gibson Les Paul 1959 replicas."
Kris Derrig:

Looks like one popped up on Reverb [not for sale]
https://reverb.com/au/item/658083-kris-derrig-les-paul-confirmed

And one here for sale:
http://www.guitarconnectionsg.com/max-kris-derrig-1959-les-paul-replica-1.html

 

[winered96]

Here's a quote from the January 1994 issue of Guitar Player's interview with Slash

'' I still play my Max Les Paul copy with zebra pickups a lot. I used that for Appetite. It's my main guitar, and it holds a special place in my heart. Recently I've been using my main live guitar, an '84 or '85 Les Paul Standard reissue, because it's the closest by. It's been my main live guitar since we started because Gibson unfortunately doesn't produce many good-sounding new guitars. It's pretty beat up. It looks like it's 25 years old at this point.''

Read it in it's entirety at http://www.oocities.org/rattlesnake_suitcase/gppunk94.htm

Found another one, I've been researching Slash recently and in the March 2005 issue of Guitarist magazine he again attributes the Appetite Les Paul as being a Max.

''I had to do guitar overdubs in a week and I was handed a Les Paul and... it's not even a real Les Paul, it was hand-made by this guy, Max.''

LOL this is the thread that wont die


A grainy old video doesn't really prove anything. the quality on that vid was so poor that all you could see is that its a les paul with black bobbin pups, not any particular les paul.

also remember these guys were always borrowing other peoples' gear and selling/pawning their own gear to buy drugs and booze.

There's no real proof that Slash was in possession of a Max when they started recording AFD. Supposedly he had already sold most of his gear to buy drugs.

The Welcome to the Jungle Video was shot at the end of August 1987, over 8 months after studio work recording Appetite for Destruction ended, in December 1986. Slash had a full 8 months to acquire the Max. I suspect the Max is also used in the Feb 2nd 1988 Ritz gig in NYC recorded for Mtv, but as you say the quality of the old videos is poor.

 

[paruwi]

LOL this is the thread that wont die

True

 

[winered96]

True

No. I have at least one more new source of info I found

'' One internet message board features an epic 531-post argument that spans three years— and people continue to post on the subject to this day! ''

1995 book mentions the Max but not the Derrig. And I thought the Max was a 1960 neck. Lots of fake news out there.

 

[chasenblues]

 

[Cygnus X-1]

I had to reply. It’s 10 years old!!!

 

[ReWind James]

I had to reply. It’s 10 years old!!!

I saw Jeff's avatar pop up and got excited.

 

[FLICKOFLASH]

Max update : Max has packed up sold & gave all his tools,wood,miscellaneous ,possessions away and is hitting the road planning to explore the world.

 

[FLICKOFLASH]

 

[Shawnee76]

Slash said he got the Derrig from Alan to "do the overdubs" on Appetite. That doesn't mean it was the only guitar used on Appetite. It's likey the main guitar you hear on most tracks and solo work. Dont forget there were other demo recordings prior to the recording of Appetite. There are plenty of bootleg copies of demo stuff from GnR. It's possible Slash had the Max replica before the Derrig but he just didn't think the sound was cutting it on the Appetite recordings and it wasn't until the combination of the Derrig and APIIs that he found "the sound".
I've tried several Les Paul's and there is something unique about the sound of the APII pickups. I didn't think they would make much of a difference sound wise from other pickups but they do. It's a magical tone which Slash just stumbled on by chance/fate and thank god he did or we wouldn't likely have that raw aggressive sound on AFD. If Slash had gotten the right sound from the Max guitar he would have had no reason to go back and retrofit all of his guitars with APII pickups, the Max didn't have them initially and the Derrig did.
That what settles it for me.

2021 - re-read the whole story and i had exactly the same thought-process somewhere in the middle of this thread. The Derrig came with APII and we know when , and that made him change the pickups in all the others later on.

 

[Shawnee76]

I Can't argue with that, however, from my epxerience if you take a les paul with mahogany body and maple top and put Seymore Duncan Alnico II Pro's in it, you will very quickly realize how it forms the basis for his guitar sound. There's just something really recognizable about the sound that combination makes.

Yes, add the very mid/ ultra-high treble amp sound + the APH Duncans + the SM57 + any Les Paul which is usually very rich in e.g. the Rythm pickup (sounds too muddyf from the lows for heavy distortion but not here) so this combination makes sense, the rest is the comfort, proper intonation. Tried on a modded amp or the AFD Marshalls. It sounds like the raw takes of Appetite. Also keep in mind we should not listen the post-processed sound, but the isolated tracks.

 

[FLICKOFLASH]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10224380591758453

There is video being made where this thread is mentioned to Max and the truth is told straight from source

 

[Darkburst]

So did we ever get to the bottom of this?

 

[FLICKOFLASH]

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/slash-first-guns-n-roses-les-paul-hunter-burst-auction

hunterburst goes on auction expected sale 1 to 2 million