The guys of Ultimate Guitar broke up with astonishing news. Ritchie Blackmore, who we all know of being a loyal servant of Fender Strats, had a big first crush when he was younger. The girl in question is Gibson ES 335, which was proven to be his first – maybe bigger love.
So story goes that this Gibson babe was his first love during the 1960s, but sometime in 1970 or 1971, after Deep Purple’s groundbreaking “In Rock” when most of the songs, presumes UG, or all, were recorded with this lady.
Ritchie himself explain the reasons of his ‘betrayal’:
“The Strat had more of a cut for rock ‘n’ roll; the Gibson’s more of a jazzy guitar. It has a very mellow sound – full sound, great sound – but I when I heard Hendrix, I liked the way he cut through the notes. I wanted to try to reach that.”
“I first got my Strat indirectly through Eric Clapton. He gave his roadie, who is my friend, a Strat that he didn’t want. He [the roadie] gave it to me, and that’s when I started playing the Strat.”
Watch “Child in Time” filmed in Granada TV studio where Ritchie appears with the babe:
