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Considering that John 5 owns over 100 Teles – including one from every year of their production – it was always going to take something special for one to rule the roost. But one certainly does; suffice to say, this Telecaster changed his life.
His blend of metal and country shred has seen him take Mick Mars’ place in Mötley Crüe, having previously played with Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and David Lee Roth, and Teles have been with him every step of the way.
Yet, when it comes to sentimentality, there are at least 99 other Teles in his collection that aren’t a jot on his 1990s ’52 model.
“I used this ’52 reissue through my David Lee Roth and Rob Halford eras,” he tells Guitar World. “It’s exactly like a ’52.”
He, of all people, should know. It soon became a totem of the most important moments in his life.
“It was just that magical thing where you walk into a Guitar Center, which I did in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard, and said, ‘Let’s look at the Teles,’” he recalls. “This was before I was endorsed by Fender.
“I saw this Tele and thought, ‘This is incredible.’ I took it off the shelf, bought it, put a stack pickup in it, and that was it. I played it forever, and I still do.
“It’s the guitar that got me endorsed with Fender because I’d play it so much that they had a picture of me playing it and put it up at the NAMM Show. It was this big display with all their other endorsees — but I wasn’t an endorsee!”
It wasn’t long before he did endorse the brand, however. Just as he got the DLR gig by cold-calling the singer’s management, John 5 seized the initiative with both his virtuosic hands. Or at least he tried to; it seems Fender was one step ahead of him.
“I went to the Fender booth,” he relays, “and they said, ‘We want to give you an endorsement deal.’ I was like, ‘Yes!’”
His latest signature guitar, Ghost, arrived in 2023 in all its blizzard-white glory, and it actually took its cues from a fashion brand. That’s how you know it’s chic.
For more from John 5, pick up the latest issue of Guitar World from Magazines Direct.
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