Guitarist | Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr on his greatest gear buys, regrets and why he's an enabler of impulse purchases

What was the first serious guitar that you bought with your own money?

“Now, ‘serious’ is debatable. I bought a 1985 Gibson Les Paul Custom, a Pearl White one. I bought it because it looked like the pictures I had seen of Randy Rhoads playing one. I bought it for $500 and I had to borrow the money from my sister. I kept it for about five years or so. 

“I’d started to play in bars – illegally, because I was underage – and played cover songs, so we would play all the bar band favourites: Roadhouse BluesHonky Tonk WomanJumpin’ Jack FlashHighway To Hell… I actually got a little adventurous then because I was really into Aerosmith and so I had us do Walkin’ The Dog and Mama Kin.”

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