“No-one is a bigger Buckethead fan than me!”: John 5 on how Buckethead inspired his signature Ghost Telecaster

Mötley Crüe guitarist John 5 has expressed his admiration of virtuoso guitarist Buckethead.

In fact, it appears that the masked musician actually inspired one of the features on his new signature Ghost Telecaster with Fender.

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John 5 – who joined the Mötley Crüe lineup back in late 2022 – gushed over the guitarist in an interview with Guitar World, and cited him as inspiration for his instrumental approach to playing.

“No-one is a bigger Buckethead fan than me!” He begins. “I love to go to his shows and get inspired. That’s one of the most important things about being creative. When you find the person or thing that really inspires you, it’s always best to roll with it.

“What Bucket’s done with instrumental music has inspired me greatly. I actually think he’s the reason I ended up doing my own instrumental stuff,” he explains.

“You see him live and it might just be him on stage with a backing track. I thought it was absolutely unbelievable when I first saw that. People like him made me want to explore the idea of using a kill switch. I love how creative you can get and use mine all the time, so why not add it as an extra feature?”

John 5’s Ghost Telecaster launched in May this year, and boasts a top-bound alder body and one-piece maple neck, finished entirely in an Arctic White gloss, with red accents on the nut, pickups, binding, and more.

It also has a mirrored pickguard/control plate, and is equipped with a pair of DiMarzio D Activator humbuckers that are designed to “replicate the sound of active pickups in a passive format”. There’s also a 3-way toggle switch, a single volume knob and of course, the Buckethead-inspired kill switch.

The guitar is currently out of stock, but you can take a closer look at it over at Fender.