Todd Rundgren

I’ve put a lot of karma into Foamy, that green Fernandes guitar I’ve been seen with so often. It’s still my main guitar when I go out with Ringo. Whenever I do solos, or if I do something especially heavy or twinkly, I use that one. It gets a good range of sounds, particularly with my Line 6 equipment. I would miss that one if it disappeared.

For lead tracks I really like to use my old Fender Mustang, because it has a vibrato tailpiece on it. I really like to fool around with that.

Who made the Ankh-shaped guitar you're playing now?

It was made by John Veleno [3131 Tyrone Blvd., St. Petersburg, FL 33710]. I have two of them that are more or less identical in case I break a string.

(old quote from Oct 1977 Guitar Player Mag)

I have the feeling that Eric had given that guitar up, because it went through a number of hands before I got it. I think he gave it to George Harrison, and I’d heard that Paul Kossoff from Free owned it, too. I got it from Jackie Lomax, who was signed to Apple. This was when I was up in Woodstock working with the Band.

The guitar was in horrible shape at the time. The paint job was all flaked off because they never put a sealer on it. It didn’t have the original tailpiece, the neck was a mess at one point, the headstock snapped off. I did a lot of work on it. I played it for decades, and I owned it until the mid-Nineties. I owed the IRS a lot of money, so I auctioned it off. But I did get to play it onstage with Ringo—with Jack Bruce, we did “Sunshine of Your Love,” which I thought was appropriate.

Rundgren can be seen in this photo playing a Gibson EDS-1275.

Rundgren can be seen in this photo playing an Ovation Breadwinner.

It doesn’t happen every day you’re making a guitar, which will be on tour with a Beatle … Severn Trem HSS for Todd Rundgren

In this photo, Todd is seen playing a Babicz Spider.

He chose a Backlund Model 100 for Utopia's comeback tour.

Todd talks about how he acquired Clapton’s original Gibson SG in this interview which he refinished and ending up using as his primary guitar. Clapton gave the guitar to his friend George Harrison, who gave it to Jackie Lomax, an artist who recorded under The Beatles Apple Records, and then Todd eventually bought it from Jackie.

Todd began using this Rickenbacker 340 in 1980 for the "Deface the Music" album and tour. It appears in the music video for "I Just Want To Touch You" which can be seen here: https://youtu.be/3ldLwavOp6E

This Rickenbacker 340 stayed in Todd's live guitar arsenal until at least the 1981 "Camouflage" tour as a backup in case The Fool decided to act up.