John Mayer’s 1964 Fender Stratocaster

John acquired this guitar sometime prior to the Continuum album and used it on at least one song during the studio sessions (see quote below), but at the time of writing this, it is unknown which one in particular (if you happen to have any information regarding this, please be sure to get in contact).

This somehow became kind of like go-to stage guitar for last two or three years. I had this guitar for almost exactly ten years, and the first time this guitar was on record was on Continuum record.

John Mayer on Periscope August 20th, 2015 – Gear Talk

From then on, the guitar remained behind the scenes for the most part until just prior to the Born and Raised tour in 2012, when it became John’s main stage instrument.

John’s Favorite Strat Look?

One thing that is interesting to note is the general design of the guitar, particularly the tortoiseshell pickguard, instead of the stock white one. There doesn’t seem to be an official statement by Fender, but it seems that all the early 60s Strats in sunburst originally came equipped with white pickguards, meaning that John either replaced the old one himself or simply went shopping with this exact design in mind.

This is worth pointing out because this trend can be followed all the way back to his first SRV Stratocaster on which he replaced the original black pickguard with a tortoise one, and did that on almost every subsequential sunburst Stratocaster that he played afterward. It is therefore somewhat safe to assume that this is John’s favorite Stratocaster look/design.

Update (10/2016)

One of the members of the John Mayer Yuku forums (thanks Alejandro) pointed out that John answered a question regarding this guitar on the forums. His statement seems to confirm that this is indeed his favorite Stratocaster look:

It’s my favorite spec combination, sunburst with tortoise pick guard and rosewood fretboard. You see a lot of basses with that look, I think Dela (David LaBruyere) had one the whole time we were playing together. […] I didn’t decide on it being a top 5 guitar, it just sort of kept getting used until one day I looked back and realized it was my favorite vintage Strat. It really is perfect. It’s like a Stratavarius.

JM Answers Some Questions From Our Own Musicians…

John also points out that the guitar was re-fretted by Chris Fleming at the Fender Custom Shop, and the original 3-way switch was replaced with a modern 5-way by his guitar tech Rene Martinez.

Update (01/2021)

As confirmed by Jesse Gago in the comments, the guitar is indeed a 1964 model. Also, the tortoiseshell pickguard came preinstalled, so this was not something done by John.

The guitar is a 1964 model, as I sold it to him. He bought it from Rudy’s Music in NYC approximately in 2004. We received it, I loved it, and decided to call John. He came down later that day, and loved it. Bought it on the spot. First time he admitted that it was his favorite vintage guitar was back stage at a Jones Beach show he co-headlined with Sheryl Crow.

Jesse Gago