Slash "Max" Les Paul

jmh151

Active member
I was going to correct my other post regarding the guitar Slash recorded Appetite for Destruction with, but I know other people, including myself, have debated this information.

I found a post on the Gibson forums by "Max Luthier". This is the man believed to have built the Les Paul that Slash recorded Appetite for Destruction with. He submitted a post to clear the confusion as to whether Slash's #1 was built by him or Chris Derrig. Peter "Max" Baranet is still alive and well, but supposedly no longer builds guitars. Chris Derrig, the builder of Slash's #1 is deceased.

--- Posted by max_luthier--

"guns-n-roses lived and rehearsed in a garage in the alley behind my shop in hollywood. i knew these guys before guns-n-roses ever formed. one friday afternoon Slash came in with a friend of mine. he had just been signed to a record deal and was supposed to start recording their first record on monday. he didn't have a guitar. any guitar ! ! ! he knew i made 'bursts' and wanted one. i had nothing finished. he kept pressing me to help him out somehow. finally i told him all i had that was finished was my personal 'burst'. i let him take it on loan. he came back the following week and said he loved it and wanted to buy it. he did not want the original 50's parts that were on it so he had them removed and newer parts put on. this is the guitar he used in the studio.

the derrig 'burst' was purchased later and was used on tour. it is the one in all the photos. it is the one he refers to as his 'main guitar' as, at that time, it was his main live guitar until he bought that ugly 80's gibson. he keeps my guitar locked away in storage and only brings it out to record with. this is his main recording guitar. his interviews are vague and confusing but, i know because i was there and i still hang out with Slash every once in awhile. sorry to differ with your story but that's the way it happened.

keep the faith, max

p.s. you don't have to post this if you don't want to. it's not that big a deal. i just thought you might like to know."
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

Assuming that it is true, this is the clearest explanation I have ever read. Thanks for finding and posting this.
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

can I say I WANT ONE!!! But how come Gibson never sued Max nor Chris??
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

No point in suing anyone that only made a handful of guitars.

I found this quote from Slash in an interview.

"I’m a guitar freak. I keep everything in storage. I don’t take the really good guitars out on the road because things get banged up. There was a point when I had to take the guitar I used for Appetite For Destruction on the road, because it was the only guitar I had. Now it’s beat to hell. It’s a handmade yellow flame-top [a ’59 Les Paul copy with zebra Seymour Duncan Alnico II pickups, built by Peter “Max” Baranet of Max Guitars, Hollywood]. I used it on “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” almost everything else on Appetite, and most of the heavier songs on Use Your Illusion."

The rest found here

http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/encore/Apr-03/1102


I also found this on ebay.... :eyecrazy:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PETER-MAX-BARAN...ryZ38086QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
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Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

Gibson sues any company that mass produces copies of their guitars or cuts into their profits (i.e.- PRS).

Gibson doesn't see him as competition since his guitars are actually more expensive than what Gibson offers through their Custom shop. He makes about 12 guitars a year, and many are for big name rock stars (Slash, and some unnamed others). If the audience sees a performer with a Max replic, they don't know it's a replica, and will likely buy a Gibson, which makes Gibson money.

Ed Roman refers to these guys as "ghost builders"
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

can I say I WANT ONE!!! But how come Gibson never sued Max nor Chris??

Given the reputation of the builder based on the signle instrument Gibson would serve themselves better by working with him than suing him.

PRS got sued because they actively went after Gibsons lunch with a line of guitars intended to chew into their market share.

Max would unlikely get sued because, at the time, he wasn't chewing into any potential sales that Gibson would be making. At that point in time there really wasn't much of a Historic line available.
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

Slash's use of those Gibson copies sold so many LP's for the real Gibson that i'm sure they owe these builders a thank you.... i'm sure they would never get it but the point still stands...
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

during my short life until yesterday i had no idea about Slash's guitars being copies...so probably the average joe has no idea.
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

You should also know Slash had one of Joe Perry's original LPs, Joe says he wrote Walk This Way on it, at one time and had Rick Nielsen give it to Joe on his 50th birthday. How cool is that?

Is this the same Max that has built the Killer Flying V and Explorer copies I have seen over the years?
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

during my short life until yesterday i had no idea about Slash's guitars being copies...so probably the average joe has no idea.

It has been said that Slash almost single handedly saved Gibson in the late '80s and early '90s with GnR. You have to remember at that time brightly colored "supestrats" were all the rage. When "Appetite for Destruction" took off, everyone suddenly wanted that Les Paul through a Marshall sound, and it was assumed that Slash had a sweet pair of original '59s until he revealed in a interview that they were custom copies. By that time it did not matter, Gibson had signed him up as an endorser, and sales took off.
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul


Nice!

2bfd_3.JPG


I ran into one that claimed to be by him yesterday, that was half complete. Don't know if it was really his or not though. It came up in a search for Chris Derrig.

Pete
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

Was it a darkburst one on EvilbayUK?

Think I'll just play my Schulte and save the $15,000 - $16,000...

1slp1.jpg


1slp2.jpg
 
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Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

Nice!

2bfd_3.JPG


I ran into one that claimed to be by him yesterday, that was half complete. Don't know if it was really his or not though. It came up in a search for Chris Derrig.

Pete

I saw that one. Basically Max supplied the raw wood for the body and fingerboard- which incidentally is very hard to get anyway. Other people made a guitar out of it, finished it, etc.... read the comments- I think he straightend out the confusion
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

In the early 90's, I saw one of the Max LP's hanging in a Hollywood guitar store.....Voltage Guitars, I think. I was broke, but it would have been cool to have bought it. I knew the Slash story, but of course, didn't have $2500-$3000 for it.
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

Was it a darkburst one on EvilbayUK?

Think I'll just play my Schulte and save the $15,000 - $16,000...

1slp1.jpg


1slp2.jpg

That one looks cool. I can't find the listing today. Sounds like jmh151 saw it though.

Chris Derrig guitars are too expensive for me too. My credit card would let me charge that much, but I'd never be able to pay it off! I'd have a hard enough time buying a Les Paul Standard these days.

Pete
 
Re: Slash "Max" Les Paul

I know this is an old old thread - but I wanted to chime in just in case some young buck comes across this. There is nothing negative about being a "ghost builder" - in fact Gibson themselves (and probably Fender, and every other 'name brand' builder on the planet) hire ghost builders to do celebrity guitars and other one-off projects that for whatever reason the custom shop won't or can't take on inside their four walls. The manufacturer provide fully sanctioned designs and put their brand on the instruments. The builder has a "work for hire" arrangement - it's no different than any other subcontract they might enter into for components or hardware. Who knows - the "Max" '59s could have been sanctioned ghost deals... or not. It doesn't really matter. Slash sold Gibson (and Epiphone) thousands and thousands of Les Pauls... so even if they weren't sanctioned Gibson would have been fools to take any action against 'Max'. I know Ed Roman used to rail about the practice - probably because of competitive pressure - maybe he wanted some of those gigs and couldn't get them... who knows. Ed built good guitars- I'm not dissing Ed at all (R.I.P.) - but he had very strong opinions about this and that. Also- "Ghosting" happens in all businesses - think about all the celebrity books that come out. Does anyone think Kim Kardashian wrote her own autobiography? No way - that stuff is ALL "ghosted." Once in a great while the ghost writer will get some kind of credit but usually they are totally silent.
 
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