John Frusciante’s 1957 Gretsch White Falcon
John used this guitar on “Otherside,” “Californication,” and for a few sections of “This Velvet Glove.” He typically played it through a Fender Showman and a Marshall 4×12 cabinet, although for the solo and outro on “Otherside,” he switched to a 1961 Gibson SG Custom plugged into a Marshall JCM800. John picked up the Gretsch again on By the Way for the song “Tear,” but he later mentioned that he didn’t even take it out of its case while working on the Stadium Arcadium album.
Inspiration
John found this guitar through Vincent Gallo, who helped him acquire many pieces of gear. The inspiration for using the Gretsch White Falcon supposedly came from Matthew Ashman of Bow Wow Wow, who played a similar model, and Malcolm Young of AC/DC, who was known for using a Gretsch.
He [Vincent Gallo] found me a lot of things. At this point he’s found me pretty much a whole recording studio! As far as guitars go, he’s found me my 1955 Gretsch White Falcon, which is the nicest guitar I have, I think.
original source needed
Heavier Strings on the Gretsch
John strings his Gretsch with .012 gauge strings, much heavier than the .010s he typically uses on most of his guitars.
I also used this ’55 Gretsch White Falcon- it’s the kind of guitar that Matthew Ashman used in BowWowWow and Malcolm Young used to use in AC/DC- for “Californication” and “Otherside.” I have .012-gauge strings on it. I’d like to go more into that- developing a guitar style using thick strings like that.
Guitar One (USA), September 1999
Since John is known to use D’Addario EXL110 strings on his main Stratocaster, it’s likely that his Gretsch is strung with a D’Addario EXL145 set, which is designed for heavier gauges.
The Year of Manufacture
While John often refers to the guitar as a 1955 model, it was most likely made in 1957. This conclusion is based on its two toggle switches and the presence of Filter’Tron pickups, which weren’t introduced until later models. Earlier White Falcons, including those from 1955, were equipped with Dynasonic pickups and had a slightly different layout.
Feedback
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Anyone noticed that in the 2022 tour he uses a different white falcon? This one has a bigsby, other pickups, different positioning of the knobs … Anyone who knows which version that is?
Oh wow, I didn’t see that. Do you have any good photos of the guitar? I could only find it in the Barcelona videos posted on YouTube, which aren’t that great.
I noticed it in the same video but only could find the picture attached. I think based on the pickups it could be a ‘55 or ‘56, but I’m not sure.
Yeah, I’m not sure either. The pickups are DeArmonds, which would be on models made before 1958, and those fretboard inlays were introduced on the 1957 model (according to http://guitarhq.com/gretsch2.html#6136 ) So I’m guessing it’s a ’57 as well?
But, according to the same source linked above, John’s main would be a ’58 – because of the two switches on the upper bout. So idk, but I will try to figure it out.
I made some research and found out that it is more likely a 1957 white falcon because his white falcon has two switches, 1955 has one switch, a different pickguard and different pickups.
Johns guitar:
’57 white falcon:
’55 white falcon:
The title of this picture says 1955 White Falcon.
This is a 57. I know because this is my guitar.
Jihn’s was also a 57.
Hi Danny. The link to the last photo was bugged, but I fixed it now. I believe George was saying that the ’57 is the one in the middle, sitting on a sofa.
His guitar has 2 pickup switches, a normal 55 white falcon has 1. Did he modify it?
There are lots of variations on this model. In fact Malcom Young played a version that was called a “Project-o-sonic” 6136 White Falcon and it had 4 switches and a different configuration on the lower bout, it was a 1959. There are plenty of pics of his online, I love the way it look. I personally own a reissue of the 1955 version with one switch.
Its a 57 The 55 falcon were one switch and dynasonic pickups . This one has filtertrons and 2 switches and one master volume and one pickup volume and tone etc