This 1980s Performance Custom, previously misidentified as a Kramer Pacer, was likely the only guitar John had when he joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1988. He used it for a few gigs with the band, including their show at the John Anson Ford Theater on October 8, 1988, and for some early performances with HATE, his side project with Flea.
Model, Specs
This guitar remains somewhat of a mystery. What we do know is that it featured a 24-fret maple neck with dot inlays, a long banana headstock, a Strat-style body with sharper horns, and an HSS pickup configuration. It also had a custom paint job, possibly inspired by Eddie Van Halen, whom John admired early in his career.
For a long time, the best match appeared to be a Kramer Pacer Custom II, which would explain the incorrect URL associated with this page. One of our readers pointed out via email that this model is the only Kramer with an HSS configuration where the humbucker isn’t slanted, unlike the Striker model.
However, the guitar’s 24-fret maple neck with a banana headstock doesn’t align with typical Pacer Custom II specs. By 1986/87, when the model was introduced, Kramer had already switched to pointy headstocks. Even the few Pacers with maple necks had pointy, black-finished headstocks, making John’s guitar an unusual setup for a Kramer.
A more likely explanation is that this was a Performance Custom guitar. In some photos, the branding on the headstock appears too long to spell “Kramer.” Supporting this, one of John’s friends, Matthew Goodman, who drove him to buy the guitar, shared on Instagram:
Its an Ibanez performance custom with nudes all over it i drive him to pick it up
Matthew Goodman – Instagram
However, since “Ibanez Performance” refers to an acoustic line and there’s no record of an Ibanez electric guitar branded “Performance,” it’s possible Matthew’s memory isn’t entirely accurate.
Update from Rick Rubin’s Podcast
In a fortunate turn of events, Anthony Kiedis asked John about this very guitar during Rick Rubin’s podcast. John confirmed it was a Performance guitar and that it was the only guitar he had when he first joined the Chili Peppers:
JF: I had two guitars – I had one guitar that had naked ladies all over it, under the finish. And then I had this – I guess I didn’t have the Ibanez – the naked lady guitar was what I had when I joined
AK: What was that?
JF: It was a Performance guitar. It’s made by this guy in North Hollywood.
John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers | Broken Record (Hosted by Rick Rubin)
Where is it now?
The guitar appeared in a 1993 short documentary filmed at John’s home, meaning he kept it for at least five years after he joined the band. By then, however, he had switched almost exclusively to Fender Stratocasters.
After that, the guitar was either sold or destroyed in the fire that engulfed John’s house.
If you have any additional information about this guitar, even the smallest detail, please share it in the comments section below. To aid your research, here’s a video of John playing the guitar in 1988, along with an Imgur photo album featuring screencaps from various videos.
You can see John playing this same guitar in several videos recently uploaded by Matty Goodman (the same guy who said he drove him to buy it, so he’s definitely legit/credible). The videos are from 1986. Here is one: https://youtu.be/WXRmYUcOAJU?t=170 There are more on his youtube account. John’s playing is incredible in this video, especially for being barely 17 years old.
This performance (said to be 1986 according to the original owner of the video who was in the band) shows John with this guitar. I asked Matthew Goodman (who was in the band and owns the video) about this guitar and he said he drove John to pick it up not long before this video was shot!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SOX1dbcKjD4
Yeah, Matthew used to have a post on his Instagram where I first found out about this story – after another of John’s HS friends contacted me with these details. Very cool to see it in such an early video!
It is a jackson guitar. I found a guitar much like it
also john never used a Kramer. only ibanez, jackson and fender strats. also used a les paul on mothers milk
It’s a brand called “Performance”. John confirmed it on the Rick Rubin podcast (there’s a section about this on this page).
oh wait i thought that was the model of guitar. sorry
I remember this was the guitar he had at MI musicians institute in 87 to 88 before he left.
John confirmed this was a Performance Customs made in Hollywood on Broken Record with Rick Rubin. Anthony remembered the Ibanez phase and asked him about this guitar too.
Listening to the podcast right now – feels good to have guessed it right!
I assume it was destroyed when his house burned down the following year
I read alot of his artwork and guitars were lost in that fire
Yeah – that is most likely what happened.
his house didn’t burn down completely. It was a fire that happened on the second floor but it was put out before destroying the house and it was repaired. some of his guitars were stolen during this time.