Steve Cropper

"My first guitar, on “Green Onions,” was an Esquire – had to be early-’50s. I sanded it down and painted it purple in my parents’ garage at home. I don’t know what year that white Tele was – probably a ’62 or ’63. I bought it new."

-Steve Cropper in the October 2008 issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine

the guitar in question would almost certainly be a '53 or 54 Esquire judging by cosmetics in photos and Steve's comment that it was 'early' 50s so I went with '54 since someone had already added this item to Equipboard and I am lazy... -JM

When asked about his famous white Tele with a Rosewood fingerboard Steve Cropper said to Vintage Guitar Magazine in their October 2008 issue "I don’t know what year that white Tele was – probably a ’62 or ’63. I bought it new."

I am going with '63 -JM

GP: There’s a shot of you playing a Gibson ES-335 at the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1969. SC: I love that guitar, and I’ve been using it in the studio a little bit. But after that show in Atlanta, [original Booker T. and the MGs drummer, the late] Al Jackson said to me, “Bring the Tele next time.” And when Al Jackson spoke, you listened.

Cropper isn’t much of a collector and he’s not much into acoustic guitars, but when the economy tanked nearly a decade ago, as an investment for his children he bought several Gibson J-200s that people were selling.

In their October 2008 issue, Steve Cropper told Vintage Guitar Magazine that "Some of the earlier stuff, if you go back to “Green Onions,” I used a little Fender Harvard amp."

The Fender Harvard changed very little between '51 and the end of the tweed era other than a switch from octal preamp tubes to modern small-bottled eqivalents.

In the October 2008 issue of Vintage Guitar, Steve Cropper said that "Later I moved up to a Super Reverb, and I think the mic was a Neumann U-67. That’s on all kinds of stuff, like “Soul Man.” But on “Dock Of The Bay,” I brought my old Harvard back to play the licks – which, of course, Otis never heard."

"I think it was just on-the-job training. I had this small amp that I recently donated to the Smithsonian – a small Fender Harvard amp – and it came with my first electric guitar that my dad bought me. Used, but the guy threw in an amp with it."

I play a Fender The Twin live—usually the red-knob version. They distort too much if you turn them up, and their volume and tone controls are totally different than those on other Fenders, but if you back the bass off and turn the treble up, you’ll get a really good clean sound.

What do you use to get that big tremolo sound? Lately, I’ve been using a Voodoo Lab Tremolo.

Billy Gibbons gave me a Bixonic Expandora that I’ve used on a few things, but not very much. I’m mainly just a clean rhythm Tele guy, and when I play a solo, I usually just bear down and play a little grittier.