He was 11 when he moved to LA, before that he lived near Stoke in mid England. It was a 1 stringed guitar his 1st one. He played his 1st gig at the age of 16 at a house party n the band sucked apparently. As everyones saying bout his equipment he used Ernie Ball 0.11-0.48 strings, and uses a Dunlop wha pedal and a Boss GE-7 eq pedal to boost the mids on the solo's. Oh n his new wife are expecting or have recently had a baby (can't remember when it was due). I do believe he's been in rehab for heroin abuse too. The last time I heard he had 96 axe's to be precise. N he met Steve Adler (Guns 1st drummer) when Steve fell off his skateboard n Slash went over to see if he was ok. I've heard he is still working with Izzy, Matt and Duff on Izzy's new record.