The story of Bruce Springsteen’s favourite guitar
A Bruce Springsteen concert, when studied, feels like the most bizarre and alluring contradiction. This is because the gigs are so good and exciting that you don’t want to be anywhere other than in that moment; however, the way he sings about the past and has nostalgia and memory embedded into his lyrics, while being obsessed with the present, you also find yourself yearning for the past.
Songs like ‘Glory Days’, ‘Thunder Road’, and ‘My Hometown’ all speak about Springsteen’s past and invoke a truly uncompromising devotion to memory. Listening to some of his music feels like looking through a photo album, reminiscing about memories that aren’t even yours to begin with. It’s bizarre that his songs can have such an effect, but it’s this reason they continue to be so popular.
This nostalgic element is present not only in Springsteen’s sound but also in his discussion of music. It can be seen clearly when he discusses his guitar, which is one of the first he ever bought and has stayed with him throughout all the decades he’s been making music.
“I strapped on my new guitar, 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,” he said, “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. It was the best deal of my life.”
That guitar is more than just an instrument; it’s a part of his image, something that has been intrinsically linked to him as a musician. In his hit song ‘Thunder Road’, when he sings “I’ve got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk,” it’s his Telecaster that he’s talking about.
It’s not just the image that makes the guitar so important; its design was perfect for Bruce Springsteen’s shows. It was made by merging two different guitars, which meant that it was incredibly light, as the original pickups from the body were removed and replaced to allow both brands to come together.
David Eichelbaum, a Fender expert who has studied Springsteen’s guitar a great deal, has spoken about it in detail and commented on the weight and sound of the instrument. “It’s one of the lightest Teles I’ve ever played,” says Eichelbaum, who played it at Petillo’s shop, where Springsteen bought it. “And it sounded almost like an acoustic because of the big hole in it.”
The tone of the guitar was also a huge benefit for Springsteen because it was very versatile. As such, he wasn’t limited in the kind of music he made, which is why so much of what he created with the E Street Band touches upon different styles of music.
“It was a versatile instrument,” he said, “I was playing something that was tilting more to soul music, and so I wanted a guitar that could handle the funk and that feeling.” Most other artists go through guitars quickly, but Springsteen recognised the potential with his Fender, and it’s been by his side ever since.
