115 replies to this topic

[MessiahOfFire]

Hay guys, and girls of course!

I've always wondered. Does anybody know at all what happened to his main Strat? The sunburt coloured one. Its so scratched up and damaged. I mean, it would be really interesting to know the story behind it! I know he smacked a girl in the head with one of his guitars, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the one I am talking about.

Any help would be sweet.

Peace

[Mad Alchemist]

I think this is what usually happens to guitar when it's about 50 y.o. and you play it every day for several hours

[MessiahOfFire]

Its got some pretty nasty damage. More then just dropping it every now and then. It almost seems like he's smashed it against something. Then just replaced the fretboard.

[Bobster]

vintage guitars have less clearcoat than the new ones and that is the paint protection... Add to that rubbing it with your hand while playing, hitting with the pick, damage to the rear if you're wearing a belt on your pants (or something like that), dropping it, and the fact that the paint itself starts to get of after a while (that guitar is 46 years old...), you get the point...

[Mad Alchemist]

young JF and I are speaking about his '62 Strat, but maybe MessiahOfFire wants to discuss the second one, two-tone sunburst? This one actually has a part of fingerboard missing somewhere near 16-17th fret, and it's definitely happened when John owed it already (the guitar looks alright on Off the Map).

Also, I've read somewhere, that really big scratches above pickguard aren't made by accident. When people buy a really old Strat from 50s or 60s they often hire experts to make sure it's not a fake and that guitar is actually that old. So they get rid of old paint to check the wood itself. John Mayer's strat has similar scratches, by the way. But I'm not sure that it's true.

[Bobster]

I don't think it's from checking, because you can see through the years how the scratch on John's '62 3-tone-sunburst is getting bigger and bigger... I think that he hits so hard with the pick going fast up and down and he hits the pickguard and a little above it...

And I don't think it's a whole part of the fret missing, I think it's just a little bit of lacquer missing, but I'm just guessing on that...

P.S. I think you can check the wood just by taking off the backside plastic panel, where the tremolo goes, there you don't have paint on the wood...

[Mad Alchemist]

young John Frusciante, on May 13 2008, 10:27 PM, said:

P.S. I think you can check the wood just by taking off the backside plastic panel, where the tremolo goes, there you don't have paint on the wood...

Yeah, I thought about it myself too, that's why I am not sure the article was true. But the scratches still are odd - they seem to go in the opposite direction than picking hand usually moves.

[Bobster]

yeah, I've noticed that... But, you can see that strat in around '98, in Russia, on Slane and now... You can compare the size of the scratch and it gets bigger through the years. That is why I'm thinking that the picking is to blame, because, for me, that is the most logical explanation.

And I was watching that Russia concert and there was a close-up to JF's 2 tone sunburst, maple neck strat and it doesn't look like a part of the fretboard is missing. I still think that it got used up so much that he's gone through the lacquer, or the top coating of the fretboard (whatever that might be). I know it happens after years of playing an instrument.

[Mad Alchemist]

Yes, maybe just my English sucks and I meant what you said.
Live at Red Square was in 99, I suppose.

[skylined]

Is it a reissue 1962 strat or a real one from 1962?

[Bobster]

real one from 1962...

[utsavgupta]

He likes vintage guitars... the 3 color sunburst which he plays was gifted by Anthony i guess.... they are called RELIC guitars....

[Bobster]

relic guitars are new, but look like they're vintage...
John's is really vintage, 46 years old!!!

[dagge]

I LOVE this discussions! Awesome! I've thought a lot of that too. Check this out:

Here's a picture of his guitar when it was "new", when he got it. Probably from 98, 99, maybe later. Notice how small the pick scratch (1) is, in comparision to what it looks like now. In fact, the only flaw is that scratch, exept some tiny, tiny marks (2) at the bottom cutaway.



OK, so here we got the guitar around the BTW-era, probably 2002-2003. The pick scratches (1) are getting bigger and bigger, and the guitar's bottom is getting more and more abused. The 2- and 3-scratches are getting more evident, but notice how colour has disappeared around the put-your-cable-here-hole. Maybe because John have been really peckish for playing at the middle of the night, 15 beers later, hard to find the input?



My favourite part: the guitar (almost) right now.

1. The pick scratches is unbelievible big. An interesting thing, is that John is using a really soft pick, .060 mm but despite that, the marks has been that big. Hmm..
2, 3 & 4. These marks has turned even bigger through the years. Okay okay, a battered guitar is really cool and that's what I dream about, but if I had a guitar that cost 50000000000000000$, that was from 1962 and that probably would be impossible to find again, I would have been very careful about it - but those marks doesn't appear by normal playing.
5. The input marks are even bigger. Very interesting - I don't think they can be that big by missing the input and who is missing the input? Interesting, as I said.
6. Friction from clothes, arms etc. will result in marks like that.
7. The same as 2, 3 & 4 - that mark has been even bigger as well. Actually I think John has hit his guitar into something really hard sometime - not by diligence though.



That was everything from me, want to see more discussions! Sorry for my horrible English.

[Bobster]

And, that's right ladies and gentlemen, you guessed it, the mother of all scratches:





well, the big one is easy to explain... Clothes friction to the back of the guitar while playing
But, there are some smaller scratches on the back side, too! A lot of 'em!

[beejaysus]

Being such an old guitar it would be more susceptable to wear and tear than a new one. I mean that finish has been slowly degrading for 46 years now!
Compared to a new guitar it wouldn't take a lot to take a little chip off here and there.

Another thing to keep in mind is how much sweat John has puored into it after 10 years. Check out Rory Gallaghers 1961 Strat. He bought it second hand during the 60's and by 1972 it looked worse than John's does today. Rory's brother later said that was probably because of the buckets of sweat that seeped into it when Rory played. He said both he and Rory had this "highly acidic" sweat that acted like paint stripper

[Jill Frusciante]

I love the forensic analysis of John's guitar scratches with the diagrams and everything, haha. It does give some insight to the damage done over the years.
...

[SFPD2]

John has stated in interviews that he purposely "mistreats" his guitars. I dunno if that means hes just not careful with them or if he chucks them against a wall every now and then. Neither would really surprise me looking at the condition of his guitars and how much he plays.

[Mr. Maniac]

maybe he just doesn't treat them as something holy like we fans do

when he finishes playing, he just throws it on the ground...because he doesn't care or because he just feels like doing it...

[dagge]

Mr. Maniac, on Jun 27 2008, 07:54 PM, said:

maybe he just doesn't treat them as something holy like we fans do

when he finishes playing, he just throws it on the ground...because he doesn't care or because he just feels like doing it...

Really? Is it true, or did you just make a joke? I don't beleive it.