John Frusciante’s 1940s/50s Martin 0-15

John borrowed this Martin 0-15 guitar from Anthony Kiedis when the band began working on Californication. According to John, he used it to get back into songwriting and to come up with initial ideas for the album.

Yeah. It’s from the 1930s. I borrowed it from Anthony. Rick Rubin gave it to Anthony, and Anthony let me borrow it when we started writing Californication. I really fell in love with it; I’ve written so many songs on it. I just bought another one that I’m having some sort of system put in it so I can play acoustic shows – it’s this “state-of-the-art” pickup system that there is now for acoustics. It’s a microphone; it’s not really a pickup.

Guitar One – April 2001

Well, it was the guitar that Rick Rubin gave to Anthony and Anthony lent it to me. I just haven’t given it back yet. It was the guitar I learnt to write songs on again, and I got two more small-bodied Martins because nothing else sounds as good when I play them. I’m as attached to Martins now as I am to Stratocasters.

Guitar – March 2001

Two or Three 0-15s?

In the second quote, John mentions owning two additional small-bodied Martins. He was likely referring to the Martin 0-15 he purchased at Norman’s Rare Guitars in 2001 and a possible 0-18 model he mentioned in a later interview. However, it remains unclear whether John ever returned the original Martin he borrowed from Anthony, which technically belonged to Rick Rubin.

John does not seem to mention anywhere if he ever returned the first Martin to Anthony. So, we do not know whether one of the two 0-15 that he owns currently is Anthony’s/Rick’s 0-15 or not. But, from the quote below, it does sound like he’s saying that he bought all three of his current small-body Martins.

Actually I have two brown Martins from the fifties – the small-scale ones – and they’re incredible. I also have a blond one too. I picked two of them up from Norm’s Rare Guitars in the Valley and my guitar tech found me the other one somewhere because I needed to have a back-up for something or other.

Guitarist – April 2004

John’s tech, Dave Lee, suggested that the backup 0-15 was the one purchased at Norman’s, while the main guitar was Rick Rubin’s. According to Dave:

One of those actually belonged to Rick Rubin. Not Anthony. The other one we bought from Norm’s Rare Guitars.

Dave Mail 103: Martin 0-15 vs Taylor 314ce

Depending on who tells the story, either John returned Rick’s guitar and purchased two 0-15s (making three in total), or he never returned the original guitar and only bought one additional 0-15 (making two in total). Given John’s 2001 interviews and Rick Rubin’s likely indifference to reclaiming the guitar, it seems most plausible that John kept Rick’s Martin and purchased one additional 0-15.

Way to Differentiate the Two 0-15s

A photo taken in London in January 2001 shows a distinctive scratch on the back of the body of John’s first Martin, the Rick Rubin 0-15. However, this scratch is not visible in photos of another 0-15 taken by Vintage Guitar magazine in 2009 or in the 2022 feature by Guitar Player magazine, which displayed one of John’s 0-15 guitars up close.

This scratch, clearly visible on the Rick Rubin guitar, is the easiest way to differentiate it from the other 0-15 in John’s collection.

Year of Manufacture

The exact year of John’s main 0-15 remains uncertain. He has referred to it as a Martin from the ’30s, ’40s, or ’50s in various interviews. The 0-15 was officially introduced in 1940, though a few prototypes were built in the mid-1930s. Based on this timeline, John’s guitar is more likely to be a ’40s or ’50s model, but without a serial number, the exact date cannot be confirmed.