Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen could’ve used any guitar he wanted on the band’s latest record Diamond Star Halos. Yet among the options, Collen said he settled on a few stock Squier guitars that he ended up really loving. Collen said in an interview with Guitar Player he also used his signature Jackson PC1 as well, because of course.
I did use some different stuff this time. During lockdown I’d ordered a few different, cheaper guitars. Squier had done a reissue of the Starcaster, which I used for the intro to ‘This Guitar.’
“For the solo, I used a Squier Telecaster, which I played on a bunch of albums in years gone by. It’s a really cool guitar. It is just literally as I bought it. I didn’t change anything, and it sounds great. Other than that I used my newest signature Jackson PC1.”
Collen also touched on some of the cheaper basses he bought, which again – he’s a fan. “I bought two basses over lockdown – a Squier Precision and an Epiphone EB-3. I was just really curious to see what they’d sound like for when I’m recording demos. They both sounded really good, particularly the Squier, which is particularly interesting when you think how cheap they are to buy, and they were great straight out of the box.”
So there you go! Gear is important, but not exactly the end-all-be-all when it comes to creating your music.
