Eric Erlandson

This is a pic of him with this guitar, he also used it in the hole's "Doll Parts" music video ..

It was Kurt Cobain who turned Erlandson on to what has become one of the Hole man's main guitars: an obscure Seventies model called Veleno, fabricated entirely of metal. "Kurt had always heard that [Nirvana producer] Steve Albini played this metal guitar and that's how he got all that sustain high end on the early Big Black records," says Erlandson. "So Kurt told me about this Veleno thing, and I said 'I'm going to look into it.' I found this shop in Tacoma, Washington, that had one. It was when Hole was recording Live Through This. I loved it. Pure sustain. I started looking around for more."

Today, Erlandson owns three Velenos: one chrome-finish model with a Seymour Duncan pickup and two gold-finish ones with Seventies humbuckers. The chrome and one of the golds used to belong to Mick Mars of Mötley Crüe. "I bought them at this shop in the [San Fernando] Valley [an L.A. suburb]," says Eric. "Turns out Mick was dumping them because he had a big divorce."

Originally in Guitar World 1999

An article from before 1994 lists Eric Erlandson of Hole using a Fender '69 American Telecaster Thinline.

PUNK GLOBE: Are you still primarily playing Fender Jaguar guitars?

Eric Erlandson: I play anything and everything. The days of vintage guitar snobbery are over. Boring. Leave it for the lawyers, brokers, and collectors. My favorite is my baby blue 60s Fender Mustang, because it has so much soul. I was happy to see the guitar player in Savages using one. But, really, sound and magic come from the person playing, not the quality of the wood or instrument. "The days of vintage guitar snobbery are over. Boring. Leave it for the lawyers, brokers, and collectors."

In a 1993 article, Eric Erlandson is noted for using a 1960's Fender Super Reverb Combo Amp during his time with Hole.

For Celebrity Skin, Erlandson put his Velenos, his '68 Tele and numerous other guitars through a unique setup he devised with producer Michael Beinhorn. The signal from the the guitar was split. One side was sent to a SansAmp and a chain of vintage analog synthesizers that included a Serge modular system, an Arp 2600 and a Moog Modular system with a Boda frequency shifter. The other side of the signal went into a Watkins Dominator, a small but deadly vintage British combo amp. "The boda thing has octaving, phasing, flanging plus a frequency analyzer and shifter all mixed in," says Erlandson. "So I threw out a lot of plans to use a lot of pedals. Meanwhile, the Watkins provided tons of low end."

Eric's good friend Pat Smear [ex-Germs, Nirvana and Foo Fighters] lent him a bunch of axes, including a Hagstrom 12-string (heard on "Hit So Hard") a Burns baritone (capoed high and played on "Use Once & Destroy" and "Boys On The Radio," "Playing Your Song" and "Celebrity Skin"), a Gibson SG and a Gretsch White Falcon.

Eric's good friend Pat Smear [ex-Germs, Nirvana and Foo Fighters] lent him a bunch of axes, including a Hagstrom 12-string (heard on "Hit So Hard") a Burns baritone (capoed high and played on "Use Once & Destroy" and "Boys On The Radio," "Playing Your Song" and "Celebrity Skin"), a Gibson SG and a Gretsch White Falcon.