Nils Lofgren

Here we have the Takamine EAN16C acoustic/electric dreadnought featuring all solid wood construction with spruce top, rosewood back and sides, cutaway body for easy access to higher frets, CT-4B preamp with built-in tuner, high-gloss finish, and gold hardware with Gotoh tuning machines. It has been shared on tour with duo touring partner Greg Varlotta. Its also been used many times in Nils's home studio. Includes original hard shell case. Could stand to have a little relief in the neck. At lower tunings the action becomes a little too low. One larger mark in the bottom bout. Some light marks in random spots around the guitar.

Nils uses two 1961 Fender Stratocasters on stage, this is one of them. Guitar.com reveals that he used his 1961 Stratocasters on 2021 record "Barn" by Neil Young and the Crazy Horse. He also reveals that he does not use 1961 Stratocasters live because of safety concerns.

Elsewhere, Lofgren tuned into a reflective spirit gear-wise, bringing out the go-to ‘61 Strats that he used on Tonight’s The Night along with a Gretsch Black Falcon that added some muscular tones on Colorado. “Change Ain’t Never Gonna Come and Shape of Things, I put on the ’61 Strat,” he says. “When I do my little club touring, I take great Strats that are reissues. I just can’t safely take my ’61s.

One of Nils' acoustic guitars is a Takamine PT508. He has used this on-stage, and in the studio.

Nils' Martin D-18 is mentioned, in this interview, as a gift from Neil Young.

"'The building's burning down - what guitar from your collection would you save?'

"'That's a rough one, but probably the Martin D-18 that Neil Young loaned me to make After The Gold Rush. Mostly, I was playing piano on that album, but one day, we were gonna do Tell Me Why and Neil wanted it played on two acoustics sat across from each other. I didn't own one - so he handed me this D-18, and gave it to me at the end. It doesn't leave the home.'"

FN: How do you build parts in a group like the E Street Band, in which three or four people are playing guitar?

NL: If the song needs an electric, I found that if I took a Fender Jazzmaster® guitar and put the heaviest strings you can buy on it, it lets me really dig in with my thumb pick. It’s just a very wide, warm sound that fits between Steven’s Strat® and Bruce’s Tele® very well.

Here we have an excellent newer six string single cutaway Takamine acoustic with a cedar top and mahogany back and sides. Used for rehearsals and recording in Nils's Home Studio. Includes original hard shell case. Very clean aside from some light marks on the back.

"I have a real nice ’52 Goldtop Les Paul that I played when I did the Trans Tour with Neil Young years ago. It was a nice combination with his “Old Black” Les Paul. I also have an Epiphone Les Paul I used when I did the tours with Ringo Starr & The All-Starr Band. Now, I just use those guitars in the studio."

Premier Guitar interview:

I went to take out my accordion but Neil kept kind of pacing around and we looked at each other and said, “Why don’t we try this song and see what it sounds like with two electrics?” And we put on our electric guitars. I used my ’52 goldtop for that and, sure enough, there was a ragged kind of beauty that spoke more as a Crazy Horse production.

Interview with Guitar.com reveals that Lofgren used the Les Paul Goldtop for 2021 album "Barn" with Neil Young and Crazy Horse:

“We started getting a little interplay there that was beautiful, and we meandered for about eight minutes. That was one of my favourite moments. I have this old ’52 Goldtop Les Paul that I used on the Trans tour. Larry Cragg agreed to come out of tech retirement and help us with all our instruments. Larry’s been on tours with me and played in my band, so it was great to have him there. He was the one who put the Bigsby on this ’52 Les Paul so I could ghost Old Black if Neil wanted to go off and do something else and still have that shimmer from the wang bar.”

In this live tour from London in 2013 Nils Lofgren uses a Candy Apple Red Fender Jazzmaster in this rendition of Bobby Jean at 1:05

Small body six string Fender acoustic with a single Acoustic cutaway and onboard pickup and electronics. Used in home and to sing National Anthem at events. Hand written National Anthem lyrics are taped to the guitar. Guitar is a funky little plucker. Light. Small. Short scale and easy to play.

Nils talks about his oldest guitars in this interview.

"I've got an old, beat-up Gibson L-10 from the '20s. But a number of years back - this was on the Magic Tour with The E Street Band - I went to a great guitar exchange in Chicago and I found two little gut-string parlour guitars in an alligator case. One was from the 1930s, the other was made in 1897."

The most eye-catching of the new crop is a PRS Hollowbody II, which has a beautiful maple top, upgraded Bird inlays, and the dual humbuckers and piezo pickup system that makes the Hollowbody II such a prized tone machine. While the price of this guitar will set you back a bit, there are many great instruments in The Official Nils Lofgren Reverb Shop that are affordable.

I’ve got my old Black Falcon, a beautiful Gretsch guitar that certainly is reminiscent of Danny’s work.

Guitar.com reveals that Lofgren used the guitar on the recording of "Canerican" of the "Barn", 2021 album with Neil Young and the Crazy Horse. It is also revealed in the interview that the guitar was used on Neil Young's 2019 album "Colorado":

“On Canerican, I went to the Black Falcon,” he adds. “I love that sound. I’ve used that too on stage with Neil and Crazy Horse the past couple years, kinda instead of the White Falcon-Buffalo Springfield thing, I’ve got a Black Falcon with the little gold lame Vegas-Elvis touch. That felt great there. It was fun to crank up and start going at it. Always in the back of my mind is, ‘Man, if we could just get on the road and have some of those songs turn into eight to ten-minute epics.’ You don’t want to force that, it just kind of happened with Welcome Back. I expect it to happen with all of those live.”

At 0:43, Neils Lofgren is using what looks like a Gibson Explorer in the start of the born to run music video.

In this video at 0:17 Lofgren is in a clear shot playing a Gretsch G6128TCG Duo Jet

Nils Lofgren owns a Gretsch G5700 Lap Steel, as detailed on Reverb. This instrument, known for capturing the classic '50s Hawaiian electric guitar sound, features a solid mahogany body, chrome string-through-body bridge, and a single-coil pickup, delivering exceptional sustain and rich tone.

In the YouTube video "No Mercy," Nils Lofgren is seen playing a Takamine EF508kc acoustic-electric guitar.