John Mayer’s Fender Jeff Beck “Heartbreak Warfare” Stratocaster

John was first seen using this guitar following the release of his fourth studio album Battle Studies in 2009. The guitar was used exclusively for the song Heartbreak Warfare, and it had a heartbreak logo printed on the front.

Jeff Beck Strat?

The main distinctive features of this guitar are the 22-fret neck with what looks like a Wilkinson split roller nut and three Fender Noiseless pickups. Based on this, the guitar appears to be a Jeff Beck Signature model – since all of those features are present on that model, although John’s guitar doesn’t seem to feature the usual Jeff Beck signature on the headstock. There are however JB Strats like this out there, although they are very rare (this is now confirmed to be the case by John in the update below).

Furthermore, it would definitely make sense that John would pick the Jeff Beck guitar to play Heartbreak Warfare live. Jeff Beck is known for his heavy tremolo usage, and his signature Stratocaster model is basically optimized for that. So, since Heartbreak Warfare features quite extensive use of the tremolo, the Jeff Beck Strat is a perfect tool for that – if you’re still going for that Stratocaster sound of course.

Update from John’s Instagram Live

John talked briefly about this guitar on his Instagram Live show on July 19, 2017. He confirmed that the guitar is indeed a Jeff Beck Strat.

Jeff Beck Strat – I bought it in Japan. Cool are the master-built signature model guitars that don’t have the signature on the back [of the headstock]. Those are rare.

John Mayer Soundcheck Live On Instagram July 19, 2017