Chris Shiflett is playing a new custom electric guitar on tour with the Foo Fighters, having originally been inspired to test out the rule-breaking six-string by Richie Sambora.
Playing in the Foo Fighters with Dave Grohl is no doubt a dream gig for thousands of musicians, but Shiflett has joked his latest touring guitar may be deemed “illegal” under Grohl’s leadership.
He’s revealed to Premier Guitar that he’s been playing a Charvel-style custom Superstrat on tour with the stadium rockers and has been putting it to good use, abusing its Floyd Rose tremolo and treating his guitar solo on Breakout to some dive bombs – even if that goes against Foo Fighters tradition.
Maybe Mr. Grohl has let the left-field guitar choice slide, as it represents the realization of a longtime dream for Shiflett.
“I always wanted to put together a Superstrat,” he says. “So I did that! I brought it out on tour. I mean, that is so illegal in the Foo Fighters but I’ve slipped it in just a little bit without asking!”
Former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora – who has twice featured on the guitarist’s Shred With Shifty podcast – and his own employment of a Charvel with a reverse headstock during one of their conversations is partly responsible for Shiflett's shift.
The guitar used by Sambora during his chat with Shiflett was a signature model, but the Foo Fighter was unable to recall whose while speaking to Premier Guitar – evidence suggests it was Henrik Danhage’s Pro-Mod So-Cal Style 1.
The connection between the Evergrey guitarist and the Foo Fighters may seem tenuous, but it inspired a thought in Shiflett's mind.
After sourcing some components for his Eddie Van Halen-inspired creation online, Shiflett tasked Eric Chaz at Ernie’s Guitars in Van Nuys, California, with piecing the parts together.
“I brought it out because there’s a section in the show where Dave introduces everybody, and everybody does a little something, and I sorta worked that in to do a little homage to some of my favorite players,” Shiflett explains of his decision to use the Superstrat on tour.
“I’ll do a little taste of Randy Rhoads, a little bit of Eruption, and a little bit of Thunderstruck, AC/DC, and so I wanted to bring that guitar with me so I could do some tremolo bar dives and stuff.”
The guitar has been given a neat relic’d shell pink finish, and Shiflett's name can be found on the headstock. But all that effort to build a Superstrat just for a small noodle each night seemed too much.
“After getting it out here,” he goes on, “I don’t want to throw it on for just that and then take it off, so I put it on for the song just ahead of that – we usually do Breakout. And then I started doing some divebombs in Breakout just to see if anyone in the band noticed.”
Thus far, his whammy bar acrobatics have gone largely unnoticed, or at least been quietly accepted, by his bandmates.
