John Frusciante

In this live performance, John plays his '62 Strat during "Scar Tissue". You can see a clear shot of it at 14:32 in the video. The 1962 Fender Stratocaster is the Strat he used mostly for RHCP touring purposes, He has 3 of them, and the most recognizable is the one with relic above the pickguard.

From an interview found in Vintage Guitar, John Frusciante says his red 1961 Fender Stratocaster is his third favorite Strat. The official name for the finish of the guitar is Fiesta Red.

In this photo, John Frusciante can be seen playing live with a white Fender Stratocaster. In an interview with Vintage Guitar, in answer to the question "What are some of your favorite instruments in your collection" he mentions owning a "white early-’60s Strat". He says:

There’s a cool white early-’60s Strat that was rented to me at one point for some reason, and I just had such fun playing that I bought it. But it ended up not really being able to alternate with my other guitars; it’s the kind of guitar you can have some fun on, but it’s not really practical. If you break a string and someone hands you that guitar, you’re not going to be able to do the same thing with it at all.

Later in the interview Frusciante is asked, "Were many of your guitars purchased to have different sounds for recording, but not intended for use onstage?"

I bought them because I thought I’d play a different way on each guitar. But as time went by, I didn’t use them much. With the white Strat, it was a neat experience because it made me play different, and made the band sound different. If I hadn’t gone through a phase of buying, I never would have came upon the White Falcon and some of the others.

The article can be found here, and originally appeared in the April 2009 issue of Vintage Guitar magazine.

In this interview with Vintage Guitar, Frusciante says that around the era of the Red Hot Chili Peppers album By The Way (released in 2002), he favored Telecasters over his more usual choice of Stratocasters:

"Around By The Way, I played Teles more than a Strat."

In this photo, he can be seen performing live with his sunburst Fender Telecaster with a white pickguard and rosewood neck. The pickguard has the distinction of having an "F" on it from the Fender logo.

John Frusciante also gave a sunburst Tele to his replacement in Red Hot Chili Peppers, guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. In this rig rundown video around the 24:50 mark, Josh Klinghoffer's guitar tech Ian Sheppard shows a Tele in Klinghoffer's setup:

Great old... I think it's a '67 Tele? A Tele custom, that was actually John's [Frusciante], he gave that to Josh many years ago. I mean he had that when he was playing with PJ Harvey when I first met him. Again great guitar, you can do anything to that and it won't go out of tune.

It's unclear whether the Tele in the photo is the same one he gave away to Klinghoffer.

John Frusciante can be seen playing his Gretsch White Falcon Electric Guitar throughout this live performance of Californication with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, live at Slane Castle. A great close-up shot of the guitar can be seen at 0:39 into the video.

In an interview with Vintage Guitar magazine, when asked about some of his favorite guitars in his collection, Frusciante mentions his Gretsch White Falcons. In the same interview he talks about how he came to find it by purchasing different guitars thinking he would play a different way on each: "With the white Strat, it was a neat experience because it made me play different, and made the band sound different. If I hadn’t gone through a phase of buying, I never would have came upon the White Falcon..."

In a May 2005 interview with Total Guitar magazine, John Frusciante is posing with a vintage Gibson ES-175 guitar. The photo is captioned, "John with vintage Gibson ES-175 - a real peach too" Below the Gibson ES-175 photo of Total Guitar magazine, Frusciante got the ES-175 because Steve Howe played one.

In this photo, John Frusciante's red Fender Mustang can be seen next to him. In an interview with Vintage Guitar, he says:

I also have a red Mustang, and it’s fun. I feel like a different person on it, too, but it feels really comfortable, like an extension of me… but also that it’s a toy instead of a guitar. The same for the Duo-Sonic.

Interview found here, originally from Vintage Guitar's April 2009 issue.

In an article from Vintage Guitar magazine, John Frusciante's 1962 Fender Jaguar in Fiesta Red finish (with matching headstock) is mentioned. When talking about his favorite instruments from his collection, he says:

"I’ve had most of these guitars for a really long time. When I rejoined the Chili Peppers, I just had one guitar – the red Jaguar. I started collecting and my friend, Vincent Gallo, helped me find a lot of guitars."

The actual guitar is pictured, with the following caption:

This 1962 Fender Jaguar in Fiesta Red is the guitar Frusicante has owned longer than any other.

Frusciante himself mentions this guitar, though there is an interesting inconsistency between what Vintage Guitar magazine says, in that Frusciante says it is from 1961:

"I love Fender Jaguars. The guitar I’ve owned the longest is a red Jaguar from around ’61. It has a matching headstock."

Original article can be found here.

From a Vintage Guitar Magazine article, "John Frusciante: Red Hot On The Empyrean" it is revealed that John Frusciante owns a circa 1961 Gibson SG/Les Paul Custom in Cherry Red finish.

Article can be found here.

From a Vintage Guitar Magazine article, "John Frusciante: Red Hot On The Empyrean" it is revealed that John Frusciante owns a 1969 Gibson Les Paul Custom:

The Les Paul is a ’69, but I’m not sure what years the ES-175 and 335 are from. I don’t play those much; I bought them because Steve Howe played them, but they don’t really go with my style that well. I feel like Strats are an extension of me, and a Jaguar feels like the next closest thing to being an extension of me. Les Pauls and SGs seem like a further stretch. With a 175 or 335, I feel like a totally different person. I barely see a relationship to the way I play and the way those guitars are set up. You grow up developing a style on a Strat, and that’s what you play all the time.

Article can be found here.

In this scan from the magazine Guitar World Acoustic (USA), April/May 2005 issue, Frusciante is asked, "Do you write all your songs on acoustic guitar?" He confirms that he owns a 1940s Martin 0-18:

FRUSCIANTE: "Pretty much, although sometimes I write on an unamplified electric guitar. I have a few old Martins, two small-bodied 0-15's and an 0-18, at my house that date from the Forties. I usually write songs on one of those. And I always bring a couple of acoustic guitars on the road with me to write with. Writing songs on an unamplified electric has its drawbacks. The guitar is so quiet that I sometimes sing in a high falsetto voice that doesn't really work when I do the final recording. So I've learned to write on the acoustic and actually sing in the style that I want to use on the final recording."

John can be seen in this image playing a Maton EM100C Messiah Acoustic Guitar.

The Ampeg Dan Armstrong was used on the Californication tour.

In this source you can see John Frusciante with a 1973 Martin D-12-20.

"My main guitars are Yamaha SG2000s. My favorite is a purple one from 1980." says John Frusciante in this Premier Guitar interview.

Featured in the legendary music video for "Under the Bridge", Frusciante is seen with the 1966 Fender Jaguar in Sherwood Green (or is it the Lake Placid Blue one? Some debate over the two. This and other fan forums discuss the two guitars with photos).

The Fender Jaguar was used to record tracks on the Blood Sugar Sex Magik album and can be seen in the Funky Monks documentary and in various pictures.

John Frusciante used a Fender Toronado electric guitar in an orange finish in the "Can't Stop" music video. You can see him with this guitar at 0:54, 1:02, 1:12, and so on throughout the video.

John can be seen in this image playing an Ibanez RG760 which looks to be painted orange and loaded with stickers. According to this article from Planned Banter, this was "One of his originals, this was played when he first joined (along with Strats), but these were for the fast songs that needed a really fast neck and jumbo frets (for solos). It was the 80’s, you had to have an Ibanez. This is mainly on here for his insane outfit."

John Frusciante owns few Yamaha SG1500s, according to Premier Guitar interview:

"My main guitars are Yamaha SG2000s. My favorite is a purple one from 1980. I have a few others, and a few SG1500s. I switched from the Strat to the Yamahas in late 2010. I’ve played the Strat once in the last three years, and only on one little recording."

In this photo, John Frusciante can be seen with a Gibson ES-335 in a sunburst finish (the 335 is the second guitar from the left). In an article from Vintage Guitar, John Frusciante talks about this same guitar. He says, "...I’m not sure what years the ES-175 and 335 are from. I don’t play those much; I bought them because Steve Howe played them, but they don’t really go with my style that well. I feel like Strats are an extension of me, and a Jaguar feels like the next closest thing to being an extension of me. Les Pauls and SGs seem like a further stretch. With a 175 or 335, I feel like a totally different person. I barely see a relationship to the way I play and the way those guitars are set up. You grow up developing a style on a Strat, and that’s what you play all the time."

Later in the same interview he says, "Sometimes I go through a phase where I learn a lot of jazz, where my 175 or 335 will come in handy."

Frusciante's ES-335 has a Bigsby vibrato.

John Frusciante can be seen holding a white Fender Jaguar in this photo (the photo is originally from the November 2006 issue of Guitar Player magazine).