Fender Artist Series Billy Corgan Stratocaster in Olympic White Electric Guitar, (Used)

The Fender Artist Series Billy Corgan Stratocaster in Olympic White was introduced in 2008 as a signature model built to replicate the Smashing Pumpkins frontman’s preferred touring and recording setup. Unlike a traditional Stratocaster configuration, it uses three DiMarzio single-coil-sized humbuckers, including two custom Billy Corgan signature models in the bridge and neck positions, alongside a DiMarzio Chopper in the middle. The guitar was specifically designed to capture the dense, high-gain layered tones associated with albums such as Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

Construction features include an alder body, maple neck, maple fingerboard, jumbo frets, and a large 1970s-style Strat headstock. One of its most distinctive departures from standard Strat design is the string-through hardtail bridge, chosen for improved tuning stability and sustain compared with a synchronized tremolo system. The body is finished in satin nitrocellulose lacquer, giving it a slightly more worn-in and matte appearance than modern gloss polyurethane finishes.

The pickup switching system is unusually versatile for an HHH-style Strat, using coil-splitting combinations across the five-way selector to create a range of tones from thick humbucking sounds to more Strat-like in-between textures. Combined with the modern “C” neck profile and 9.5-inch fingerboard radius, the instrument blends modern playability with a heavily customised electronics layout aimed at alternative rock and high-gain performance. Production ran from approximately 2008 to 2012, and the model has since become relatively sought-after among Smashing Pumpkins fans and Fender signature collectors.