John Frusciante’s Ibanez RG750 (white)

Based on available photos and videos, John was seen playing this Ibanez RG750 on only one occasion—at Shafer Court, Virginia Commonwealth University, on April 14, 1989.

It’s possible that the guitar served as a backup for John’s main Ibanez, a model RG760 (assuming he even had a “main” guitar at that time), and that he used it for this purpose more than once. Additionally, since the photo was taken around the time the band was working on Mother’s Milk, it’s plausible that the guitar was used in the studio as well.

Update

A video taken at George Mason University on April 21, 1989, confirms that this guitar was a rental. It was indeed a backup guitar for John but wasn’t his.

In the same video, John can be seen throwing the guitar down, which caused the tremolo arm to break. Flea and Anthony then urged him to completely smash it as a “sacrifice.” John exclaimed, “That isn’t mine,” at which point his guitar tech intervened, saying it was a great guitar and not worth destroying. Eventually, Anthony and Flea realized they couldn’t afford to replace someone else’s guitar and dropped the idea.

You can watch this whole ordeal in the video below, it starts at around the 58:52 minute mark. Thanks to Adam for finding the video.

Model, Specs

Based on the photo, the guitar was a late-1980s Ibanez RG750, equipped with IBZ/USA F2 humbuckers in the neck and bridge positions and an IBZ/USA C2 single-coil in the middle.

The confusing detail is that the pickups on John’s guitar appear to be pink in the photo, while all RG750s were originally equipped with black pickups. Interestingly, pink pickups were available in Steve Vai’s signature Ibanez models and were DiMarzio pickups—making it possible that this guitar had aftermarket modifications or was a custom job.