2020-03-01 Total Guitar

MARCH 2020 TOTAL GUITAR

59

GREEN DAY

BOULEVARD

OF ROCKIN’

SIX-

STRINGS...

Fiveguitarsthat helped

makeBillie Joeanicon

ofpunk

01 BLUE

One of the most iconic guitars in punk-rock

history, ‘Blue’ was a gift from Billie Joe’s mum

on his 10th birthday. It appeared in most

early Green Day videos, including Basket Case,

Longview and Welcome To Paradise, as well

as countless tours. Since its beginnings as

a Fernandes Strat copy, it’s had the neck and

middle pickups disconnected and the bridge

pickup changed to a Seymour Duncan JB.

04 BLACKOUT TELECASTER CUSTOM

The guitar itself isn’t special – based on

a Blackout Telecaster, it has a custom

scratchplate and a Duncan JB. Green Day’s

tech has built dozens of them as backups for

Blue. What’s cool is that Billie Joe keeps giving

them away. A quick YouTube search turns up

videos of fans being invited on stage to play

with the band and going home with one of

these Teles. Now that’s punk rock!

02 THE WHITE LP JUNIOR

For American Idiot, Armstrong reinvented his

guitar sound, switching from Blue to primarily

Les Paul Juniors. The raw, spiky sound of P90

pickups propelled some of the angriest lyrics

Green Day had recorded to date. His white

Junior is immortalised on the Bullet In A Bible

live DVD, featuring Green Day and 130,000 of

their closest friends. Billie Joe also used a pair

of 1950s Juniors, each worth more than the

entire recording budgets for Green Day’s

first two albums.

03 2018 BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG

SIGNATURE JUNIOR

In 2018, Gibson launched a guitar with

elements of both Blue and the Billie’s signature

Les Paul Junior. The single humbucker

threatened a return to Dookie-style beefier

tones, while keeping the look and playability

Armstrong has favoured since 2004. The

finishes were a nod to Green Day’s 50s

rockabilly influences – maraschino cherry,

ebony and (of course) sonic blue.

05 IHEARTRADIO DOUBLECUT

The TV yellow Les Paul Junior doublecut is

infamous mainly for its destruction at the 2012

iHeartRadio festival. On learning that Green Day

only had four minutes left to play, an aggrieved

Armstrong launched into a spectacular rant

before taking vengeance on his undeserving

Gibson. Videos of the event quickly went viral

online. In the aftermath, Billie Joe checked into

rehab, his tech rebuilt the guitar, and Gibson’s

shrewd marketing department spied the

Photos opportunity for a new signature model.

: Get t y