“Whenever I’d see him play live it was an off-the-rack Strat. He was never one to say, ‘I’ve got to play that’”: Joe Perry says he was planning to take Jeff Beck’s Strat on tour with Aerosmith – but its owner was the only special thing about it

Joe Perry has recalled the time he was loaned a Fender Stratocaster that belonged to Jeff Beck – and revealed that he almost took the instrument out on the road with Aerosmith.

In a new interview with MusicRadar, Perry discusses his friendship and playing relationship with Beck and also talks about playing Beck’s ‘number three’ Strat with his side project the Hollywood Vampires – an appropriate outing for an instrument belonging to the late guitar hero.

“It was his number three [Stratocaster],” Perry explains. “The whole premise of the Vampires was to pay homage to the guys who had passed on. I think we were going to have it on the road with Aerosmith, but when that [the band’s Peace Out farewell tour] got cancelled, I gave it back to Jeff's guitar tech.”

A nightly outing for the Beck Strat on the road with Aerosmith would have been a tempting prospect for guitar geeks and fans alike, but sadly it was not to be following Steven Tyler’s vocal injury and the tour’s subsequent cancellation.

Both Perry and Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton have since discussed their hopes that Tyler might recover enough to get back on the road, with Hamilton recently saying, “Maybe Aerosmith will do something in the future, but it’s a big ‘if’.” However, even if that does happen it looks as if Perry’s moment with the Strat might have passed.

“[Beck’s former tech is] the guy helping the family put Jeff's stuff together for the auction,” explains Perry. “I think he might have given it [the Stratocaster] to Billy Gibbons to play just to keep it out on the road. I'm hoping to get a chance to play it again.”

The same Strat seems to have been played by the likes of Gibbons, John Mayer and Steve Lukather since, and Lukather has hinted it’s part of a wider Jeff Beck tribute project.

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However, special its association, as Perry notes repeatedly in the interview, what surprised him most about Beck’s instruments, including the loaner, is how unremarkable they were.

“There's nothing special about it except that it was Jeff’s,” says Perry of the Strat. “Whenever I’d see him play live for real it was an off-the-rack Strat. He was never one to say, ‘I’ve got to play that. That’s my number one. That’s the one I can't live without.’ I think that was interesting. He looked at the guitars like tools, not something you get attached to.”

One model that truly would have been worthy of the term ‘remarkable’ would have to have been the off-the-wall and ultimately ill-fated Ibanez Jeff Beck signature guitar that came to light via Guitar World last year – also set to feature in the upcoming Jeff Beck guitar auction.