"Guitar-Tech Revelation: Frusciante's Unimagined Return to the Chili Peppers"

# Honing Froosh’s Favourite Axes
*Dave Lee getting Frusciante’s guitars ready*
Top-tier guitar tech Dave Lee has rubbed shoulders with some bona fide rock and pop A-listers. His most well-known gig, though, is undoubtedly his long-standing role as John Frusciante’s guitar tech during his early Red Hot Chili Peppers days.

## Froosh’s Unexpected Call

So, owing to the fact he was in Froosh’s inner circle, it might come as a surprise that the esteemed tech didn’t immediately suspect the famed guitarist was considering rejoining the Chili Peppers in 2019 – even after he was summoned to set up Frusciante’s neglected Fender [electric guitars](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/best-electric-guitars).

“Right before he returned to the Chili Peppers again in 2019, John called me up out of the blue,” Lee tells [Boss](https://articles.boss.info/behind-the-board-dave-lee-john-frusciante-red-hot-chili-peppers/). “I was in my garage when the phone rang, and ‘John Frusciante’ appeared on the screen. I hadn’t talked to him in years.

“He said, ‘I haven’t played my Strats in years. I’ve been messing around with them lately, and I think they’re broken. They just don’t feel right. I’ve had them on a stand in my living room, and the sun gets on them. I think that might have ruined them.’

## A Shock for Lee

However, even after this call, it didn’t immediately cross Lee’s mind that Frusciante was seriously considering reuniting with Anthony Kiedis, Flea and Chad Smith.

“I got a text from John. He wrote: ‘I know that you probably don’t want the job, but I’m just letting you know that it’s available to you if you want it.’”

He concludes, “Maroon 5 had so much work planned, so I texted him back saying, ‘John, I’ve committed to a bunch of stuff that I have to do. But I’ll gladly help you in any way I can to get stuff sorted out.’ It felt so weird having to turn that down!”

And while Frusciante did eventually ask Lee to rejoin his team, the in-demand guitar tech had to – regretfully – turn it down.

“Do you want me to come over and look at them?’ He goes, ‘Would you do that?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll come by tomorrow,’ and he goes, ‘That’d be great!’”

## Frusciante’s New Gear
In recent John Frusciante news, [the highly-respected guitarist’s first-ever Fender signature guitar was recently unveiled](https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/electric-guitars/fender-john-frusciante-custom-shop-signature-stratocaster) – and it’s a $20k Custom Shop replica of his iconic 1962 Stratocaster.

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