Nyles Lannon

Pictured and discussed in this September 26, 2021 KEXP Feedback interview.

I’ve had the same guitar since ’96 — a Fender Telecaster Deluxe ’73. This guitar has been through it all. It got stolen in Philadelphia, in 2006, while on tour (along with all the rest of our gear and our van.) Years later, it popped up on eBay. A pawn shop in Philly was listing it! Justin happened to be looking for his SVT bass head, still searching, still dreaming. And bam, there it was. Divine intervention? Could be. He then noticed the seller was also selling what looked to be my guitar. He called the police. The police knew the pawn shop… they called them and then called us back. “They want $500 for the stuff, you can pick it up tomorrow.” Hmm, ok. Well, at least I get my baby back. We had a buddy in Philly go pick the gear up, and it just so happened that Justin was heading to NY for work, so he was able to get the stuff on a truck back to San Francisco. Reunited!

Clearly it’s just meant to be my guitar. And I will take it to the grave. I’ve replaced the frets already once and they need it badly again, the body is in crappy shape, the strings get buzzy, and it always needs some work… but really it’s mostly about the pickups with this thing. It just sounds great; it has a more chimey sound than you would think for humbucker, but still has that humbucker smooth richness.