John Mayer

In this video from Guitar Center, John Mayer discuses his Silver Sky signature model guitar from PRS.

On the Paul Reed Smith website, John Mayer has this to say about his new signature model.

It’s been a dream of mine for years to design a guitar that includes some of my favorite vintage specifications but with a modern spirit and aesthetic. After two years of study and refinement, the Silver Sky is my vision of what a reboot of the electric guitar should look and feel like.

After graduating high school, John Mayer worked at a gas station for over a year to earn enough cash to buy a 1996 Stevie Ray Vaughan signature Stratocaster.

Mayer shows it off and talks about it in this video of him in the studio, starting around the 0:24 mark:

“…this one I bought with the money that I had made working at a gas station. I traded in a Takamine 12-string and a Mesa Boogie distortion pedal. I think I paid like nine hundred bucks as the difference. So I bough this in 1996.

This thing has so many little stories on it. [points to the bridge] This was replaced, I remember the day I had to order a replacement - I was in Atlanta in like 1998… 1999 maybe. I had a replacement put in there because I broke the whammy bar off in here. [John Mayer points to the tip of the headstock] I got that from hitting drums cymbals with it. I thought it was really cool to hit drum cymbals. … I took this backplate to the mall in 1997, and it says John Mayer 1997 before I went to Berkeley. [Mayer points to the ‘JCM’ engraving on the lower half of the back of the Strat] I did that with the engraving gun at the Berkeley dorms. JCM. [Mayer points to the back mid-point of the neck] And then this is from sanding it down - and playing - but mostly sanding it down with 400 grit sandpaper.

This is the guitar that my signature model is based off of, in terms of the pickups and also the neck shape. This has been in my bedroom when I was 19 practicing guitar playing, and Madison Square Garden, and Tokyo, and television shows… this is the representation of all the places I've been. This guitar started in my bedroom, when I had just gotten out of high school.”

In 2011, John Mayer collaborated with Fender to create his Signature Stratocaster, which features a distinctive tortoise pickguard, setting it apart from the black pickguard on the SRV Signature model. A user-uploaded photo on Fuzzfaced showcases this specific guitar.

In this video, John Mayer plays "Good Love Is On The Way" on his Signature Fender Strat - Cypress Mica.

John is seen using an Audio Technica M50 throughout the video.

"As far as legendary amps...there's the Dumble amplifier made by Alexander Howard Dumble. The Steel String Singer doesn't have overdrive or anything. It's an amplifier that is clean sounding and yet is able to produce a great big sound. Alexander didn't make a whole lot of these but they are such strong amplifiers - Stevie Ray Vaughan used them, Bonnie Raitt used them. A lot of artists of back then were using these amps. If you wanted to call it a boutique amplifier, I guess you could but to me really it's just a double amp. One of the best amplifiers made in the world today," says Rene Martinez, the legendary guitar technician for blues guitarist John Mayer.

John is an all in Ernie Ball strings player. He uses both Earthwood Phosphor Bronze and Regular Slinky strings. He uses Medium Light (2146), not Light (2148) as per the source.

John Mayer uses the Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron+ Envelope Filter with Effects Loop Pedal in his guitar pedalboard.

The microphone used by John Mayer in this Instagram pic is a Neumann TLM 103 with a black finish. Given its height on the mic stand, it can be assumed that John Mayer is using the Neumann TLM 103 to record vocals. The mic is sitting behind his Teenage Engineering OP-1 synth. This photo was posted to Mayer's Instagram Dec 2014.

"The idea is to have a guitar that is smaller, that you can take it on a bus, you can take it on vacation, you could take it anywhere you wanted to go, but that when you opened the case you would have a beautiful, perfect, ornate guitar that you don't really see anymore. A Martin 0045 is still one of the rarest model Martins, even when you consider reissues and special editions. It doesn't really end up in a lot of people's hands. I've thought of it as a guitar that has been overlooked for years. The neck is true to speck as a 0045 neck can get - the whole guitar is of the period! The thing about it that I think is the standout is this idea to continue the abalone inlay. The fret board always covers up the inlay underneath it, but what if the inlay kept going? You know, it's the Martin spirit to see if it can be done by doing it - I think it meets up perfectly. And that's done by hand. It almost gives the effect as if it's glowing underneath the neck; as if it's really, really bright but the neck is covering it. Everything about it, it's just a detail that from a mile away you would know it's that guitar. So it's a love letter to the period; it's a love letter to and from Martin, and it's a love letter to and from me to guitar collectors, guitar enthusiasts, and also enthusiasts of thing of this day and age that still resonate with great design and resonate with being ornate and being valuable. We're artisans. Martin is a custom shop - they're artisans. This guitar is a real treat and a blessing to own. I'm lucky to have one. The best compliment in the world is, if someone doesn't really own one of my records, or maybe heard a couple of my songs, or doesn't really an opinion one way or the other about what I do, but sees a guitar that I've helped design and they love it without having anything to do with me - that's the ultimate complement," says acclaimed guitarist and singer John Mayer about the Martin 0045SC John Mayer Stagecoach Edition Acoustic Guitar.

In this photo posted by John Mayer, his Grado Labs SR325e Headphones can be seen beside his PRS guitar. He says, "Fun way to start the day, to wake up and listen to Grateful Dead tunes and get warmed up for tonight's @deadandcompany performance on @jimmykimmellive. It's gonna be a blast. Check it out..." (Instagram source here)

John Mayer - Going Down the Road, Feeling Bad - 07/12/13 - The Cynthia Woods-Mitchell Pavilion. This guitar was also used to record the ending solo in the single "I Guess I Just Feel Like" in 2018.

"Proud to endorse the Kirkland Signature guitar pedal. What does it do? It is a boost. And then another boost. That is all. There are other flashier pedals that do more nuanced things, but that's not what we're dealing with here. If you want your guitar signal to be louder, you just step on this. Does it have true bypass circuitry? I really can't imagine that it does, but if you feel compelled to ask that kind of question, this is probably not the pedal for you. It does what it says, and it does it adequately. Thank you @jhspedals for backing the #kirkboys culture"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6POSqjjrIA

Mayer discusses how he became the king of tone using a Dumble, and lovingly carries it aboard private planes, rather than having it travel by tour bus.

John Mayer post an instagram live story captioned "Every household should have one." and tags @jhspedals. In his instagram John is holding the pedal, this pedal is nine different tube screamers combiined into one box. "Bonsai utilizes a simple rotary knob to switch through nine classic, vintage, rare, or hard to find variations of the Screamer."

The Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue is an important component of guitarist John Mayer's pedalboard.

John had these custom made by Alessandro. These Cabinets were loaded with 2 Celestion Heritage G12-65 speakers. Sometimes John ran 6 of these at one time.

Guitarist John Mayer includes the original Marshall Bluesbreaker Guitar Pedal in his extensive guitar pedal collection.

The customized Fender John Mayer "The Black One" Stratocaster relic has been spotted in use by guitarist John Mayer himself in numerous performances, including this one with B.B. King.

The Klon Centaur Professional Overdrive Guitar Pedal was spotted as part of guitarist John Mayer's extensive pedal collection.

From JH Audio's Twitter page: "Custom #JHAudio Layla, made for @JohnMayer."

John Mayer uses Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Guitar Strings (10-46), as shown in a promotional image from Ernie Ball. These strings, known for their precision manufacturing and balanced tone, are a popular choice among musicians for their consistency and durability.

In this video of John Mayer performing Why Georgia live, his Dunlop Tortex Guitar Picks can be seen on the microphone stand pick holder. They are green, which corresponds to the .88 mm ones. They can be seen 0:53 into the video. At 1:46 you can see the back of the picks, which looks to have customized art.

John Mayer uses the Fender Hot Rod Series Blues Junior 15W 1x12 Tube Guitar Combo Amp during his live performances.

Musician John Mayer uses the Strymon Flint Tremolo & Reverb Pedal, as shown in a user-uploaded photo.

Made solely for John Mayer as the guitar was long discontinued. As mentioned by John: "Back in 1991, at the age of 13, I bought a Guitar World with Eddie Van Halen on the cover and fell in love with his Music Man signature model (and his playing.) 23 years later I reached out to Ernie Ball/Music Man and asked if they could make my childhood dream come to life by building one more of these long-discontinued guitars. Here it is, made from original parts stored away since 1991. The dream machine. Complete with "JCM" monogram on the headstock. Can't begin to describe the joy. Thanks @ernieballmusicman."

In caption of this photo, John Mayer writes,"Just got one of the best new guitar amps I've heard in a very long time. Also here's a picture of my face. @milkmansound 85 watt steel guitar amp hand built by Tim Marcus in San Francisco. Plus my face. I put a JAN 5751 NOS tube in the v1 preamp stage and it sounds amazing. But if that's not your thing, don't worry. This is also a selfie. #knowyouraudience"

Part of the pedalboard that John uses while playing with Dead & Company (source post here)

"This is John Mayer's signature model amplifier. It's made by people up in California," says Rene Martinez, guitar technician for guitarist John Mayer.

John Mayer appeared on The Late Late Show playing "Don't" by Ed Sheeran with a Jackson Custom Shop Soloist.

In this video John Mayer is seen using his Fender Jimi Hendrix Monterey Pop Stratocaster during his sold-out performance "Where the Light Is", live at the Nokia Center in L.A.

He replaced the fretboard with a brazilian rosewood one, and sanded off its neck. A good close-up look at the guitar can be had around the 1:10 mark.