Asked for his opinion of Tommy Bolin, who replaced Blackmore on lead guitar in DEEP PURPLE more than 50 years ago, Ritchie said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I knew him more as a friend. And he was such a nice guy that I couldn't believe he was a guitar player, because most guitar players aren't nice people. He was so nice, and he was an Indian — I think Sioux Indian or something — and I would go around his house, and we'd oftenhave fun just talking to each other. There was never ever any envy, no competition whatsoever.

"I said to Tommy once, 'When did you last change your strings?'" Blackmore recalled. "And he looked at me, like, 'I should change them?' And I said, 'Well, yeah.' And he said, 'Well, probably about five years ago,' 'cause they were so caked in dirt and grit. He was a brilliant player, a great player, but he never changed his guitar strings."