Guitar legend Yngwie Malmsteen recently spoke with Guitar.com about his new album, Blue Lightning. He also discussed his breakthrough as a guitar virtuoso, his signature sound, and how he saved Fender from going out of business. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

On being the first guitarist to have a signature Fender Stratocaster

Malmsteen: “Yes, I’m very proud of that. But not only was I the first guy to get a signature model, I was the first guy to ever get a guitar for free from those guys. Fender never gave guitars to anybody! They didn’t give to Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Hank Marvin or whoever. So I was the first guy, and they told me why, too. 

The story in interesting. In the late '70s, two things happened. Fender almost went out of business, and by '81, they were bought out by two other guys. They started over, basically and they were trying to put all these people with all these hard-rock guitars and stuff – everyone else wanted one because of Van Halen, right? They had been struggling a bit, then my Rising Force album came out and not only did the album turn everything upside, but what’s on the cover? A Fender Strat. That fucking album saved their company! They said that when that album came out, they couldn’t build guitars fast enough; before that they were selling nothing. So they came to me.

Before that happened, I was being offered guitars from every guitar company and every amp company in the world. You name it. Gibson, even! 'Whatever you want, we will give it to you.' I said: 'No thanks, Fender Strats, that’s it.'"

Read the complete interview here.