“I never heard from John. He sold the guitar once he got out of rehab. And that was that – I never saw it again”: The incredible story of the Les Paul that Dave Navarro bought for his Guns N’ Roses audition – and ended up giving to John Frusciante

Dave Navarro performs live with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1996. On the right, his GW cover, where he unusually chose a Les Paul.

Sometimes these interviews are matter of fact; the player remembers the reason why they chose a particular electric guitar (often because it looked cool) for their Guitar World cover shoot, and there’s some fun anecdotes.

For Dave Navarro, looking back on his ’96 GW cover, it opened up some big memories, of the time he was in the running for GNR, his Black Beauty that he gave to John Frusciante, and also, it was a big deal. It was his first cover…