John Frusciante

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 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.

This video titled Red Hot Chili Peppers - John Frusciante - Gear Rundown - Part 3 - Guitars was also submitted as a source for a duplicate entry, with the following notes:

Fender Stratocaster is probably most famous type of guitar used by John Frusciante. He started to use Stratocasters early in his career after being persuaded by Flea and Anthony. He used two stratocasters to record Blood Sugar Sex Magik: a 1958 one and a 1957 fretless one(used only on Mellowship Slinky in B Major). It is possible that after leaving the band in 1992 he either sold the guitars for money or they burned in the fire of his house. After reuniting with the band in 1998 and later writing and touring, several new stratocasters appear: his most iconic 1962 3-tone sunburst rosewood strat, a 1955 2-tone sunburst maple strat, 1961 fiesta red stratocaster(purchased just before Stadium Arcadium), 1963 Olympic White stratocaster(used mainly on tour).

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.

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).

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.

John Frusciante plays his Martin 0-15 in the official music video for Road Trippin'.

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

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.

John Frusciante says in the video that,"this is mine I bought it recently" (at 7:06) and he uses it in the dani california video.

In the "Show Me Your Soul" music video, John Frusciante can be seen playing a black Stratocaster, particularly visible at 0:23 and 3:50 during the solo. While the exact year of this guitar is uncertain, its features—such as the rosewood fretboard and smaller '50s-style headstock—suggest it is an early '60s model, possibly between 1959 and 1963.

Additionally, photos from a shoot with William Hames show Frusciante posing with a similar black Stratocaster. Although not confirmed to be the 1962 Fender Stratocaster Prized Black, the guitar closely resembles early '60s models. Despite limited information on this specific guitar, evidence from the video and photos indicate it is likely an early '60s Stratocaster.

in this picture john frusciante is seen holding a 1960s fender jaguar lake placid blue in 1993 although this guitar looks similar to his fender jaguar seen in the under the bridge music video it is not, the jaguar in the music video is a 1966 seaform green jaguar and the lake placid blue jaguar has some kind of sticker just below the bridge. There is little known about this guitar, it has only ever been seen in one picture and there are no videos of him playing it. The guitar may have been sold or was destroyed in the fire in john frusciantes house in the 90s.

Here John is pictured with a Fender Duo-Sonic. The year of this guitar is unknown but it is rumoured to be a 1965 Duo-Sonic.

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 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."

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.

at 0:36 seconds on the Dani California music video you can see john frusciante play a Gibson "fool" sg replica

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.

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.

In this screenshot from an entry by John Frusciante on his official website, he talks about using his Mosrite Ventures guitar on recordings of unreleased music of his past: "I have put up a 19 minute group of 6 songs recorded on 4-track cassette in May 2010, the instrumentation being 3 guitars and one drum machine. It is a bunch of weird anti-rock star guitar solos, played mainly on a Mosrite Ventures guitar..."

In this photo John Frusciante can be seen using His Gibson Les Paul Deluxe with a Goldtop. This also may be his Gibson Les Paul Classic.

This was the only guitar that John had with him when he first joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers back in 1988. He only used it for a couple of gigs with the Peppers [Red Hot Chili Peppers John Anson Ford Theater October 8, 1988], and for some of the early concerts with HATE (sideband project with Flea).

This particular guitar is somewhat of a mystery. What we do know is that the guitar had 24 fret maple neck with dot inlays, long banana headstock, strat-style body with sharper horns, and an HSS pickup configuration. It also featured a custom paint job, perhaps something inspired by Eddie Van Halen who John looked up to in the early days.

As far as the exact model, the closest possibility seems to be the Kramer Pacer Custom II. As one of our readers pointed out, this seems to be the only model with an HSS config where the humbucker isn’t slanted like for instance on the Striker model, which features the same pickup layout.

What doesn’t fit with the usual configuration of Pacer Custom II model is the 24 fret maple neck featuring long banana headstock. By 1986/87 when the model was first introduced, Kramer already started using pointy headstocks, so John’s guitar must have been one of a kind. Even the few of the Pacers that featured maple necks all came with pointy headstocks finished in black, so again quite unusual seeing that particular setup on John’s guitar.

As far as to what happened to the guitar post-1988, we were able to spot it in the 1993 short documentary recorded at John’s place. This means that John kept the guitar for at least five years, even though by then he switched to playing Fender Stratocasters almost exclusively.

The Ampeg Dan Armstrong was used on the Californication tour.

He played this Martin in 1991 on a boat with Anthony keidis In Amsterdam

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."

John is clearly seen with the Kunio Sugai Performance Corsair guitar in this picture, although he has switched out the stock red pickguard for a black pearl one.

He also mentions it in Guitar Player, April 2014 Edition. "I also have a Performance guitar, made by a guy named Kunio Sugai in North Hollywood. I played it on a ten-minute solo on a song called "Wayne" that I recorded a few months ago when a friend of mine died. It's kind of like a Strat, and has a great whammy bar system that stays in tune really well. After three years of mostly playing the SG, I've found myself playing that guitar more and more"

https://www.groundguitar.com/john-frusciante-gear/john-frusciantes-ibanez-rg760/

" John used a couple of different Ibanez guitars early on in Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1988 and 1989. The best-known one is the guitar featured on most of the photos that come up when you Google “John Frusciante Ibanez” – featuring a ton of stickers and hand-writings on the body. Based on the time when he used, the theme of the stickers, and the fact that the guitar was red – we’re guessing that John bought this guitar upon joining the Red Hot Chili Peppers and that these Ibanez guitars replaced John’s Kramer – the only guitar that he owned when he joined the band.

Also, based on the photos, the guitar was an RG760 model with two single-coil pickups, a humbucker in the bridge position, The Edge tremolo system (based on the original patented Floyd Rose tremolo design), and control for volume and tone. John’s guitar was likely finished in what Ibanez called Lipstick Red, although on some photos it looks as though it’s orange."

From an interview with John Frusciante in the April 2014 issue of Guitar Player:

"Was the Yamaha SG the only guitar you played on the last few records, or were there others?"

"I played a white Roland G-303 guitar along with a GR-300 synth on some pieces. For example, on "Cinch" I combined it with the SG parts on the arpeggio thing toward the beginning when the drums speed up, and I edited it back and forth with a Carvin nylon-string acoustic throughout the solo on "Breathiac," so they appear to be continuations of the same train of thought."

John used this guitar occasionally on tour in 2005/2006 [Red Hot Chili Peppers – Live La Cigale 2006]. Then, the Strat was most likely completely stock and featured a fixed tremolo bridge. Sometime in mid to late 2006, John decided to mod the guitar and replace the original neck with a fretless one.

The reason that might have led John to choose this exact guitar to be re-fitted with a fretless neck is probably the fact that it had a very thin D – shaped neck that was specific to the 59/60 Strats — as opposed to fatter necks that were fitted on the 1961-63 Strats which John favored. The job was done by Ned Evett and was arranged by Frusciante’s guitar tech, Dave Lee.

I took a Warmouth vintage replacement neck, outfitted it with a glass fretless fingerboard and attached it to the 1959 Fender hardtail Strat body John provided. The original neck was safely removed, and no modifications to the original guitar were made. [Ned Evett Fretless Guitar Blog: Blue Raga on John Frusciante’s Custom Guitar]

In a photo from Jftab, John Frusciante's collection includes a Fender Telecaster '65 Reissue, showcasing his preference for classic electric guitars.