Build an Iconic Guitar – Bruce Springsteen’s Esquire/Telecaster “Mutt”

What’s your favorite Bruce Springsteen song?

Whatever your answer is, chances are the guitar that recorded it was probably the one in the picture above – Bruce’s Esquire/Telecaster “Mutt”. This guitar is made up from primarily two 1950’s era guitars: a 1953-57 Fender Esquire neck and a 1953(ish) Fender Telecaster body.

As the story goes, Bruce bought around 1972 from a New Jersey luthier named Phil Petillo for $185 (that’s equivalent to about $1,255 in 2022). Petillo had acquired the guitar from a record company that was at the center of the “Payola” scams of the 1960’s. According to Petillo, it had routed out under the pickguard to accommodate 4 pickups that were wired to different output jacks. This was so the recording guitarist could get paid 4x as much for playing slightly different sounds of the same guitar track or solo.

In any case, the massive routing job made the guitar incredibly light for a telecaster. And this was perfect for Springsteen’s long, energetic marathon live shows. It also gives the guitar an almost acoustic tonality.

After the Boss acquired it, Phil Petillo made additional significant modifications to the guitar. He did so to ensure that the guitar could endure all the wear and tear that the road brings. These mods included adding triangular precision frets, a titanium bridge, hot-wound pickups, and waterproofing the whole dang thing – more on these mods later.

In this second installment of “Build an Iconic Guitar“, I’m going to break down what makes the “Mutt” tick and provide a pathway to recreating it.

So what is the “Mutt”

Like I mentioned above, Bruce Springsteen’s guitar the “Mutt”, is made of primarily 2 different guitars – A 1953-57 Fender Esquire neck (a California luthier claims it dates to 1957, but Bruce’s techs maintain that it is 1953 or 1954) and a 1950’s telecaster body.

The Esquire necks of that time feature a “U” or “V” neck profile, making them very comfortable to play. The telecaster body is swamp ash.

His pickups are Joe Barden (JBE) Gatton T-style pickups. His pickups are modified to be completely water proof (I guess he gets pretty sweaty during his shows).

What about hardware, you ask? Well, his tuning pegs are Schaller and he uses a titanium bridge to prolong the life of this road warrior.

Finally, Bruce uses pretty dang thick strings – 12’s, to be exact. I’m assuming this is because they are heavy duty enough to last a full show.

The original “Mutt” is said to be worth around $5,000,000!! Let’s see if we can make one for less that that…

The Body

Like I mentioned earlier, the body of this guitar is from a 50’s telecaster. Buying a vintage body might break the bank for some of us. There’s a few on eBay right now that are fetching up to $9,000 each!

So instead of dipping into your retirement, finding a modern swamp ash alternative probably makes more sense. The best place to find exactly the one you want is Reverb.

Simply click this link and find the right one for your build: https://reverb.grsm.io/swamp-ash-telecaster-body. The one in the picture below is currently on sale for $425.

The Neck

The neck on the Boss’s guitar was from a Fender Esquire that, depending on who you ask, dated between 1953 to 1957. Finding a true original from that time period is going to be challenging. Instead, you can find a new replacement replica at a really decent price point.

Currently you can find these replacement necks readily available on Reverb, eBay, or Amazon. This one on Amazon will fit nicely into your build and has a nice roasted maple finish that I personally like better than the super light “maple-y” finishes that you usually find on after-market necks.

Neck Cost: $390

As a side note on the neck: Bruce Springsteen’s guitar tech, Phil Petillo, replaced the factory frets with his patented Petillo Precision Frets, which are triangular and (in theory) give you a more precision note.

The Tuning Pegs

Bruce Springsteen needs tuning pegs that hold up. Simple as that. So he goes with one of the top names in the tuning peg world – Schaller. These tuners will give you the precision tuning that you need and will last a lifetime.

Cost: $105

The Pickups

Now, the Boss’s pickups on the Mutt are definitely vintage. It’s said that Phil Petillo hand overwound and waterproofed them himself. However, on Bruce’s replica guitars, he uses Joe Barden (JBE) Gatton T-style pickups. These are more modern options that are actually better sounding than many of the vintage options out there.

Get your set on Amazon for only $395.

The Bridge

Another interesting modification that Bruce made to his guitar was to swap out the existing vintage Fender bridge and saddles with titanium replacements. Titanium is about 200x stronger than steel and is about 30% lighter. This combination of strength and weight makes it a perfect material for a touring guitar bridge.

You can find a fantastic titanium bridge and saddles set from RockRabbit for $295.

The Wiring

Given the checkered past of Bruce’s guitar, one can only guess as to what the wiring looks like under the pickguard. However, it’s probably likely that he uses a traditional telecaster wiring setup with a 3-way selector, one tone, and one volume.

Given that assumption, a pre-wired setup is sometimes the best option. I’ve purchased this harness several times for my various builds and have been very pleased with it.

Only $75:

The Completed Build

There you have it, your brand new Bruce Springsteen guitar clone! Let see if we kept it under the $5 million price point:

• Body – $425
• Neck – $390
• Tuning Pegs – $105
• Pickups – $395
• Bridge – $295
• Pre-wired harness – $75
• Pickguard and strings – $40

All together, we have an iconic guitar build for just $1,725! All you have to do is put it together. Then you’ll be playing Thunder Road on a guitar that looks, and sounds, just like the original!

And, just for fun, here’s the Boss himself talking about his iconic guitar!