Whoo, first post

Ok, so first off, I'm a huuge RHCP fan, and of course a mega-fan of Frusciante. He always has the sickest tone, and, well he's epic. So, I've noticed that, although there are several pictures of him with mustangs and jag's in his house, when he plays live he almost always plays strats (and in the studio aswell). Also, he almost always uses an old sunburst strat (from '62 I believe). So my question(s) is, if there's so many other artist strats for tons of (face it) older blues/rock guys, why not try something a little new and different, and just awesome in a different way. I mean, the strat he plays sounds and looks crazy, why has it not been done yet??
Second question: in the mean time, how can I affordably upgrade my gear to make it more fru-like??

Thanks!!!

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Artist models are usually about someone wanting to work with Fender to do a signature. Sometimes they are based on a unique instrument the artist owns, but most of them are collaborations between the artist and Fender's R&D.

I suspect that Frusciante isn't interested in doing a Signature guitar; from the interviews I've read he doesn't seem to be into that kind of thing. He plays some nice vintage Strats (and other guitars) that he has picked up over the years.

That being said, when you upgrade from what you have look for a nice vintage-style Strat - that could be problematic since I see you're a lefty. Of course you could flip it over Hendrix-style like you're doing with the Squier; otherwise you'll have to go for an American Vintage '57 or '62 (since they don't make a lefty MIM Classic) and get yourself a nice small tube amp - anything from a Blues Jr. up to a Princeton RI or Deluxe Reverb RI would do the trick. Then find effects like what he uses and you're in the sonic ballpark. The rest is up to you.

not to rag on the guy cos i think hes amazing. but hes a massive snob and wont play pre CBS fenders. probably why he doesnt have an artist guitar. and end of the day any replica 60's will do. if your after his tone, forget it. its in the fingers. find your tone and move on.

****+1 on that

Well Frusciante is known for just using pre cbs strats. He uses 4 different ones. His main one is a 62 sunburst strat and he also has a 55 sunburst, 61 olympic white, 62 fiesta red. He sometimes uses teles and used to use a white falcoln. His pickups in his 55 and 62 sunburst strat have seymour duncan ssl 1's and i do not know about the others. Also when Frusciante plays he is really rough on his guitars, he intentionaly mistreats them, YES INTENTIIONALY! He does it to get a grimy sound which i do not see how, but i see him just abuse his guitars and it doesnt phase him at all. Lets just go with he is very careless with handling his guitars. But he said in an interview that in his 55 he thought they were original strat pickups and he opened it up and he was wrong so he got the ssl1's in his 62 sunburst and it sounds the same. I see these pickups go usually for 120 to 140.

I agree, any 60's reissue strat will fit the bill for a Frusciante style axe. Everyone may have different opinions about what pickups you should use for trying to capture his tone. I have Texas Specials in one of my 60's reissues, and they seem to pull off the RHCP sound pretty well. It is also true that Frusciante's tone comes, in large part, from his fingers. To sound like him, you will not only need very similar gear, but very similar playing style. Everyone sounds different, and that's why music stays interesting!

That may be true these days, but John used plenty of CBS Strats back in the days of Mother's Milk and BSSM, which I think are some of his best work IMO. Watch this video and you can clearly see the large headstock and no bullet which would make this a 66-70 CBS strat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsgQzVFYHeA

As far as pickups, JF uses Duncan SSL-1s in all of his main vintage strats.

He's the first and only guy I have seen use a SRV strat live. SNL or Leno, something like that

When I was a kid, I got a Strat because I wanted to sound like John Fruciante. He is probably why a Strat has been my favorite guitar all these years. Find the Chili Peppers' "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", sit back and listen to the whole album a few times. Classic quacky Strat tone really, and wonderfully creative rythyms and melodic figures throughout.

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2010 American Deluxe Strat Sunset Metallic - Lindy Fralin Blues Specials in the neck and middle, Dimarzio AT-1 humbucker in the bridge.
PRS Custom 22 with solid rosewood neck
Mesa/Boogie Electra Dyne 1x12 combo
DRRI

When I was a kid, John Fruciante wasn't even a twinkle in his dad's eye yet.

Not to open a can of worms, but John Mayer uses an SRV strat sometimes. Notably on the "Any Given Thursday" release and the "Crossroads Guitar Festival" from 2004.

you have the type of strat he plays- how about the effects?

he used a lot of chorus on BSSM, with Boss pedals CE-1, DS-2, i think he uses compression and a phaser.. also he uses lots of reverb.

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Howdy!

Yep, I too am a bit of a Frusciante fan. I reckon the Classic Players 60's Strat has that Frusciante Mojo going on. Its one of the reasons I picked one up.







The Custom 69 pickups are just about as "Spanky" as single coils get!





Andy

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Pending Greatness

That is one sweet lookin' Strat Andy! Thanks for the pics!

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2010 American Deluxe Strat Sunset Metallic - Lindy Fralin Blues Specials in the neck and middle, Dimarzio AT-1 humbucker in the bridge.
PRS Custom 22 with solid rosewood neck
Mesa/Boogie Electra Dyne 1x12 combo
DRRI

I would love to see it happen