“Well this is a first…”: Guns N’ Roses guitarist Richard Fortus says it was so hot in Saudi Arabia that his pickups melted

Richard Fortus onstage against a bright blue background, playing his signature Gretsch Falcon.

Strange things can happen to our gear in the heat. It can play havoc with a vintage germanium fuzz pedal. It can do all kinds of unwelcome things to our guitar’s setup. Oh, and on some occasions it do something even more drastic – like what happened to Richard Fortus just the other day.

Fortus was playing at the Mohammed Abdu Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Guns N’ Roses took to the stage just after 10pm, the sun long gone over the horizon, the temperature a little more amenable to a three-hour rock concert on the Arabian Peninsula.