John Mayer’s Fender Chris Fleming Tele/Strat Hybrid

This guitar appeared sometime in mid-2004, although it is possible that John already had it a few months prior. As far as one can tell, it was only used for live performances of the song Something’s Missing, although this is not definitive and still needs further research.

When I used to play Something’s Missing [from Heavier Things, 2004], I had this Strat-Tele that Chris Fleming built. It became the allocated guitar, with the tuning for that song [E B E F# B E]; it comes out of the coffin and I’d play it for Something’s Missing, then it went back in and stayed in that tuning. Then when I stopped playing Something’s Missing, it was like – this is a great guitar for other things; tune it back into standard.

John Mayer interview – Music Radar
Embed from Getty Images

A Tele-Strat Hybrid

As noted in the title, the guitar is a hybrid between a Stratocaster and a Telecaster model, built by master-luthier Chris Fleming. The Stratocaster seemed to have been used as a base, since if you ignore the upper half of the body all the features are taken directly from that model. The model features three single-coil hand-wound 60s style pickups, a 5-way pickup selector switch, and a Fender S-1 switch that turns the bridge pickup on and off in any position.

A fun fact – John’s Tele/Strat is actually the first model to ever leave the factory. According to Chris Fleming, John bought it online on his own initiative from a Fender dealer. [Chris Fleming discusses his Tele®/Strat® hybrid]

Feedback

GroundGuitar counts on your criticism and feedback. In case you notice anything wrong with the information posted on this page, or you have knowledge of something that you would like to share, be sure to leave a comment below.

In case you want to talk to me directly and privately, please use the Contact Form and I will get back to you as soon as possible. (Dan)

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments