Access Backstage Pass
Sound the klaxon. John Mayer has a new electric guitar. And it is a doozy. Oh, and it also not the kind of guitar we see the pop-rock superstar with all that often. Hands up who had a T-style on your Mayer bingo card?
The guitar in question is from El Cabron Guitars, a boutique brand headed up by Mike Eldred. You might recognize Eldred’s name; he has been in the business for almost 50 years, and was notably Grover Jackson’s first hire.
In fact, Eldred was head of the Fender Custom Shop when Mayer was still a Fender artist. His departure was a key factor in Mayer jumping ship to PRS.
El Cabron has some of that hot-rodded Fender spirit in its designs, with each instrument a unique built-to-order type deal.
Mayer’s is a Custom Esquire, with a cut blackguard, a single single-coil housed in an ashtray-style plate and bridge piece. There are volume and tone controls nested on a metal plate as per the traditional style.
The finish will go down easy with anyone who has a weakness for distilled agave. It’s finished in Adobe Grey with a “Mezcal y Cobra” graphic. You can hear it on Mayer’s latest collab with Lainey Wilson, Phone, Keys, Wallet.
Stick it on. That’s definitely some Telecaster twang 'n' grit you’re hearing. As Jonas Arthur noted in the comments, a certain PRS might have been the more obvious candidate.
"So cool! I was certain John Mayer was using a T-style on this track!" wrote Arthur. "My guess was it was the PRS NF. So cool to know it was this guitar! Looks and sounds KILLER!"
It is nice to see Mayer expanding his collection with something off-menu like this. And it caught Eldred and the folks at El Cabron off-guard too.
“A nice surprise to hear our ‘Mezcal y Cobra’ guitar on the Lainey Wilson / John Mayer track ‘Phone, Keys, Wallet’ today!” reads El Cabron’s post on Instagram. “What a great song and great playing as always by John! So grateful! Thank you!”
If it is anything like the other Custom Esquires in the El Cabron lineup, Mayer’s new whip will be packing some serious specs – not least a hand-wound 20K humbucker wound by Eldred’s fellow Charvel alum Willy Houston of Rocket Pickups.
This is hooked up to a Greasebucket circuit, and there’s a push/push switch on the volume for a “Eldred Esquire” notch filter. All of the artwork is done by hand. You can check out more at El Cabron Guitars.
In other John Mayer news, jazz-funk phenom Tom Misch has been speaking to Guitar World about the time he was headed out to play Eric Clapton’s Crossroads festival when he got a message from Mayer.
Mayer texted him and asked if he needed some help on guitar, duly turned up 30 minutes before showtime and got involved. Misch also reveals what Mayer taught him about his own playing.
