Josh Klinghoffer

"This is his main black Strat, it's called Nero, which is a '66 with a '68 neck. Josh loves to go at it with this. I'm not entirely sure why it's got this different neck on it. If you look carefully, you're almost on the point of losing the E off the side. The neck is actually a little bit too narrow for the pocket. I don't know why that happened along the way but it was handed to me one day," says Josh Klinghoffer's guitar tech.

"A nice '64 custom color Jaguar. We found this in the same place in Stockholm. Josh will play this in some of the lighter Frusciante-era stuff, like 'Wet Sand' and stuff," says Josh Klinghoffer's guitar tech.

"This is Gus, after King Gustavus of Sweden, which is a 1974 Hardtailed Strat with a really thin neck. We found this in a store in Stockholm. It's kind of the backup main Strat really. I think it's eventually going to find its way into its affections even though its a hardtail. There's something great, something really solid about its tone," says Josh Klinghoffer's guitar tech.

After Josh klinghoffer toured the Fender Custom Shop he is now using this pink stratocater on the Red Hot Chili Peppers 2013/2014 tour.

in this interview he says he's using a fender starcaster

"We've got a core of Strats at Red Hot Chili Peppers. This one here belongs to Chad. It's a 1963 Tobacco Sunburst - lovely piece! It has a fairly thick neck. It's a great guitar. This one mostly came down to the fact that people kind of expect to see tobacco sunburst Strat on the stage, so Chad was very kind in providing this. He occasionally leans over and asks me threateningly if I'm taking good care of it - of course I am though I can't say the same for Josh. But no, it's a great guitar. I mean you're going to spend a lot of time with it because it's the only whammy guitar he has. Josh tends to play kind of older, maybe if I say John-era songs. He'll play like 'Higher Ground' and anything with a whammy bar, he'll go in for some of that," says Josh Klinghoffer's guitar tech.

This was Josh's main guitar during the tour with the band The Bicycle Thief (1999-2000).

Josh Klinghoffer can be seen using a Fender Mustang in this photo.

"Before the Red Hot Chili Peppers show at Allstate arena yesterday, guitarist Josh Klinghoffer stopped by Chicago Music Exchange looking for '59 Fender Stratocaster with a rosewood fretboard and a different neck than what he's currently touring with. Dan Wean showed him our early pre-CBS Strat collection. As soon as Josh had the 1959 Sunburst Stratocaster in his hands he knew it was the one. He went into one of our amp rooms and returned telling us it was the "best guitar I've ever played"." - Chrissy Hansen, Chicago Music Exchange.

Josh Klinghoffer plays a Fender Custom Shop White Chicken Thinline Telecaster, as seen in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' performance of "Otherside" during the 2016 Super Bowl 50 concert. He chose this guitar because he was dissatisfied with the high string action on his Gretsch White Penguin. This Telecaster is also featured in performances of "Californication."

This awful Soviet guitar,somehow got into hands of Josh in music video of "Monarchy Of Roses".

"A new one at the beginning of this tour is the White Penguin. Josh just plays this on a few of the Californication era ones. In a way it's a bit of a tip-of-the-hat to John. And it's very shiny! A lot of people are very attracted to it. I get more comments about this than anything else. I'm not that keen on these bridges though because they just seem to fold a bit. I have a lot of spares to patch things together. I will say that Josh puts a lot of stress on things. So we spent a lot of time every day going around checking nuts and bolts and tidying things. it's just everyday maintenance," says Josh Klinghoffer's guitar tech.

"This is an early 70s 335 that we call 'Yogi' because it looks a bit like a bear. Josh plays this on this Neil Young tune they do called 'Everybody Knows This is Nowhere,' they play it on that. He plays it on "Universally Speaking'. There doesn't seem to be some particular reason for why he uses some guitars more than others. I'm very fond of this guitar though, it never gives me any trouble," says Josh Klinghoffer's guitar tech.

"This one was actually John's, he gave it to Josh. He had that one when he was playing with PJ Harvey when I first met him. Again, a great guitar. You can do anything to that and it won't go out of tune," says Josh Klinghoffer's guitar tech.

Josh Klinghoffer used a 1962 Fender Jaguar as a backup guitar during The Bicycle Thief's 1999-2000 tour, as shown in a user-uploaded photo on TinyPic.

This one appears to be one of Josh's guitars during the tour with PJ Harvey in 2004.

For some acoustic sessions with PJ Harvey in 2004, Josh used a Martin Acoustic (00-15).

"You choose how heavily 'reliced' it is they both just fancy these so it's Seymour '56 Tele in the bridge...just a great sounding guitar." - Ian Sheppard, Josh's Guitar Tech at 29:04.

Josh Klinghoffer can be seen using a Gibson ES-125 in this photo.

In this photo, Klinghoffer is playing Gibson SG Special, likely vintage.

Josh played this 1960's Silvertone Silhouette in Lollapalooza Argentina 2018, during "If". The best frame for you to see it, is at 56:06. https://youtu.be/XLjyliMHX3U

During the 2003 tour with Beck, Josh Klinghoffer used the Hagstrom 1964 Hagström PB-24-G Kent Futurama Signature guitar, as seen in the Dailymotion video from Rock en Seine.

In this photo, Josh Klinghoffer can be seen with a Gibson Firebird VII.

At 0:30 in this video, Josh Klinghoffer can be seen playing a Gibson ES-295 with PAF humbuckers.

"From the moment Josh walked in he couldn't take his eyes off of our incredibly cool 1973 Blue Ice Metallic Fender Coronado (pictured below, aged into its current stunning green hue). Josh left with the Coronado and our Semie Moseley signed '65 Mosrite bass," reads this article by Chicago Music Exchange.

he says he's using a rickenbacker

In this photo, Klinghoffer is holding Airline Bighorn.

In this video Josh is playing Inca Silver Stratocaster with rosewood fingerboard and matching headstock

"I'm not quite sure where Josh found this. It just appeared a little while ago. Apparently it's very rare I believe. It's a 12-string Firebird. The pickguard doesn't look exactly original to me and also the switching arrangement. We actually went to the House of Guitars the other day and there was one with what appeared to be an original pickguard on it. And I think that's just a switch between the two. It's got 'on/off' on each. Also, it's got that strange off-center bit of inlay there, so I don't know if this was like a factory second or if it was a half-ass prototype before they decided to build a small number of them. Josh hasn't used it on anything at all so far. It's just in here. Sometimes if he's feeling particularly exciting he might tell me before the final song of the show that he wants to use this for the final segment of that song. So when there's a four-bar rest I actually jump up there and swap guitars with him in the middle of the song, and then he will come out and rock with this for a bit. He's used it for the encore jam a few times," says Josh Klinghoffer's guitar tech.

"This one doesn't get used a great deal. It's a Coronado 12-string in this sort of burnt orange. This is the only one that isn't in standard; it's dropped a half step for 'Breaking the Girl'. It very much has a tone of its own. It’s a bit scratchy, there's a bit of a cluster to it, but it suits the version of the song they're doing now. It's not an acoustic song, it's more of a garaged out number so it works. He goes for the neck for the main part and then you go into the main percussive section with all of the tin cans and all when you go to the bridge, and then he really kind of digs in a gets a bit honky. But it suits, it suits very well. I think the color may have had to do something with its purchase," says Josh Klinghoffer's guitar tech.