![]() ![]() These were at first called the Broadcaster, but competition with Gretsch’s Broadkaster (as Fender had yet to acquire Gretsch) led to the twin-pickup variation being re-christened the Fender Telecaster. Armed with a single bridge pickup, it made its debut in 1950, but two-pickup models followed shortly afterward. The Fender Esquire was the first solid-bodied electric guitar produced by the legendary American builders. ![]() ![]() It was the best deal of my life.” Supposedly, this is the very guitar that Springsteen “learned how to make talk” in the lyrics to “ Thunder Road”. With its wood body worn in like the piece of the cross that it was, it became the guitar that I’d play for the next 40 years. Springsteen described this guitar as “a 1950s mutt with a Telecaster body and an Esquire neck, I’d purchased at Phil Petillo’s guitar shop for one hundred and eighty-five dollars. Bruce Springsteen might use this guitar as a bare-bones rock and roll machine, but originally it was anything but. In fact, Springsteen’s number one Esquire may not be a Fender Esquire at all, but a hybrid of the original model and a Telecaster that was extensively modified beyond the intentions of either instrument. The guitar’s understated appearance, with its simple wood-grain finish, black pickguard, and visibly worn paint job, belies its true nature. The Boss’s main guitar, as immortalized on the front cover of Born to Run, was this Fender Esquire. Unbelievably, Springsteen used a single guitar on almost every album and live show from 1973 up to 2005, and continues to use it sporadically to this day. Nowadays, there is a handful selection of Telecasters and Esquire derivates in Bruce’s catalog but before that, there was a singular instrument that stuck through his most glorious days. Frampton believed his Les Paul lost in a plane crash, and Eddie Van Halen extended his guitar innovations to the endless refinement of the Wolfgang line. Hendrix, of course, played anything he could get his enormous hands-on. Most guitarists, however, eventually move on from their most famous instrument. There’s Peter Frampton and his triple-pickup Les Paul Custom, Jimi Hendrix and his white Stratocaster, and Eddie Van Halen and his striped “Frankenstein” guitar. Most of the great guitar players have an instrument with which they are particularly, indelibly associated. See the full list of Bruce Springsteen guitars and gear below. The boss has also played a wide range of other guitars throughout his legendary career. Throughout his career, his single most known guitar is likely his Fender Esquire Telecaster hybrid known as “The Mutt” which is made up of 1950s era parts. What Guitar Does Bruce Springsteen Play?īruce Springsteen primarily plays Fender Telecaster guitars. To this day, he remains a one-of-a-kind artist, with a wide-reaching influence on music and timeless sound. Meshing arena-rock with human-sized folklore and tales of the working class America not only resonated with fans but with anyone who knew that there was more than glitter to music back in 1975. Photo by LauraĪs a singer-songwriter, Bruce is credited for his colossal work in grounding rock audiences to the realities of the world. Armed with his Fender Esquire, a book brimming with songs of hope and defiance, and a voice that could depict teenage lust as convincingly as the pain of war, Bruce Springsteen is arguably the finest songwriter not only of his generation but of several others as well. No singer or songwriter before or since has so relentlessly and so wholeheartedly documented the distance between the American dream and American reality. Frontman of the E Street band, sleeves rolled up, leading nightly worship at the church of rock and roll. ![]()
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