Tom Petty bought this Tele-style custom guitar from Norman’s Rare Guitars in 1980. It was built by Toru Nittono of L.A. Guitar Works, which is where the “Torucaster” name comes from. From a distance, the guitar looks like like a lighter butterscotch blonde ’52 Fender Telecaster, but it’s not really a standard Fender. It had its own feel, and Petty clearly took to it almost immediately.
Petty once said that after he got the guitar, “I haven’t stopped playing it since.” That was not much of an exaggeration. The Torucaster became one of his main stage guitars, and probably the electric guitar he used live more than any other.
Over the years, he played it on songs including “American Girl,” “Breakdown,” “Listen to Her Heart,” “Refugee,” “Here Comes My Girl,” “Even the Losers,” “Don’t Do Me Like That,” “King’s Highway,” “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” “You Wreck Me,” “It’s Good to Be King,” “Honey Bee,” and “Swingin’.”
The guitar later had a “Wildflowers” sticker on the body, tying it visually to that period of Petty’s career as well, and the headstock has a sticker that reads “Guitar Classics California”, while on the back it has Carl Perkins’ signature.
The guitar has also been displayed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
One small detail worth clearing up is the date. A lot of sources list the guitar as being acquired in 1981, but photos on Getty Images show Petty with it in 1980, and Getty’s own description also dates it to 1980. So 1980 is the stronger date to use.
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