🔥 Joe Perry: The “Desert Island Guitar” - Fender/Warmoth

Inside Joe Perry’s Wildly Modified Fender/Warmoth Strat That Survived Fire, Ice, and Decades of Rock Tours

Inside the heavily modified — and even blowtorched — Fender/Warmoth hybrid that Joe Perry proudly calls his “desert island guitar”

“I can pretty much do anything on that guitar.”

Every guitarist eventually finds that one instrument they simply cannot live without. For Joe Perry, that instrument is the famous Burned Strat. From intimate club stages to massive MTV performances, this unique Fender/Warmoth hybrid has followed the guitarist throughout his musical journey. The instrument is so personal to Joe Perry that he refers to it as his “desert island guitar” — the one guitar he could rely on to do practically anything.

Speaking with Guitar World, Joe Perry reflected on the origins of the instrument and described it as something that remains a “work in progress,” even after decades of touring, performing, and constant experimentation.

“The idea to build this guitar came about when I left the band. At that time, I set aside most of my Aerosmith guitars and assembled this one using Warmoth parts,” explains Joe Perry. “I was going back to playing smaller clubs and theaters again, traveling across the country in a van with a band and just playing shows. In a way, that guitar matched my mindset perfectly — leaving the whole Aerosmith chapter aside for a moment and focusing on a single instrument I had built myself.”

He continues:
“You can tell that guitar has been played a lot. Back then I was doing tons of gigs, and over time it developed a very specific sound and feel. It had a left-handed neck and body, and for about three years it became my main guitar. When it was time to go back on the road with Aerosmith, I thought, ‘I’ll bring that one out again,’ because it represented a big part of who I was — it sounded great and felt incredibly comfortable.”

By the early 2000s, Joe Perry and his guitar technician decided to build another Burned Strat to preserve the original instrument.

“I didn’t want to risk losing the original guitar on the road or having something happen to it. So around 2001 my tech and I built another one using the same philosophy — just bits and pieces assembled together.”

When explaining what makes the Burned Strat so special, Joe Perry points to its unusual construction.

“It’s basically the same concept — a Fender body paired with a Warmoth neck. But it has become somewhat of a relic over time. I’ve swapped pickups, replaced the vibrato bar, and installed a different bridge. I even carved away parts of the body to make it more comfortable to play. At one point I put it in the freezer overnight and then hit it with a blowtorch so the finish would crack. That gave it a head start toward the worn look it would eventually develop over the years.”

Later on, the guitarist upgraded the tremolo system by installing a Vega-Trem bridge and even used a Dremel tool for additional customization.

“I just wanted to tweak certain parts a bit — make it more personal,” says Joe Perry. “Now I can dive-bomb with the tremolo and treat it like another musical tool. But at the same time I can still get that classic vibrato sound.”

A more recent modification included installing a pair of Seymour Duncan P-Rails pickups, which dramatically expanded the instrument’s tonal possibilities.

“Each pickup combines a P90 and a Strat-style coil, and both fit into a humbucker slot. We went from three pickups to two, but because of their design there are actually four tonal positions. With the microswitches we added, I can select different combinations. I can run them separately or together, and the toggle lets me choose exactly what I need at any moment. I can pretty much do anything on that guitar.”

Recently, Joe Perry put the Burned Strat to work at the MTV Video Music Awards alongside Steven Tyler and Yungblud, and he also used the instrument on Aerosmith’s latest collaborative EP, One More Time.

“Everything you hear there was played on that guitar with just a few foot pedals,” Joe Perry explains. He also notes that the hybrid string setup and large frets make bending notes easier — even as arthritis begins to affect his hands.

“At this point, it truly is my ‘desert island guitar,’ and it probably will remain that way,” Joe Perry laughs. “But you never really know.”