Bruce Springsteen has confirmed that he used to sweat so much during concerts that it would short-circuit his favourite Telecaster, and explained how the issue was resolved.
The Boss is one of a number of big-name Tele fans who’ve been discussing their relationship with the guitar to mark its 75th anniversary.
In Fender’s official video he showed off the instrument he’s had since 1972, happily describing it as a “mutt.” He said: “When I signed my first record contract, I was going to get to buy a new guitar, and I knew I wanted a Telecaster.”
Constructed out of a 1950s Tele body and an Esquire neck – as seen on the cover of 1975 album Born to Run – and costing him $185 (around $1,480 today), he had a preamp added because his cable was so long that it caused signal dropout.
He continued: “I had to insulate the entire inside of the guitar with rubber, because I was sweating so much that, halfway through the show, the guitar would short out. I’d lose all my highs and it would just sound like crap – and it was in the days when I was only using one guitar for the entire show.
“And so they insulated the entire guitar with rubber, so that when water came pouring down it continued to play.”
Illustrating his passion for the Tele, he recalled being mistakenly asked by the LA Times to write an appreciation of the Fender Strat. “I wrote this whole note back, going: ‘No! It’s a Telecaster… The Telecaster is a different animal!”
He added: “When I have this guitar on, I don’t feel like I have a guitar on … I feel like it’s some extension of your physical self. I may take it in the coffin with me if I go!”
