I went on a great adventure with my good friend Ronnie Czajkowski, master carpenter for Bruce Springsteen, who has also worked with Dead & Company and Billy Joel. Ronnie, after many phone calls, got me an audience with Johnny Depp. As I worked in my shop and watched his defamation lawsuit I really felt a deep sadness for all Johnny has been through. When I first made this guitar, I had Pirates of the Caribbean in mind during its construction. I named this guitar “Shipwreck” which I first completed for my good friend Will Joseph, musician and Jersey Shore connoisseur of music and all things guitars. Will and I were the only ones to test out the guitar in detail before Johnny got it. I do a lot of collaboration builds with crazy ideas and designs Will commissions me to create. The first neck I made for it was constructed of Red Box alder and mahogany but the alder wood was too soft and the neck wouldn’t stay straight. I later got the guitar back from Will and started a new neck for it made of American flame maple grain and South American Ziricote fingerboard. Throughout the summer I worked on it on and off. When I found out Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp were coming to the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank New Jersey I got the idea to give the guitar to Johnny as a gift. I then went on a maddening rush dedicating day and night to get it done for the show. When Ronnie and I got backstage I had a chance to meet and bond with Johnny’s awesome tech David “Fozzy” Fozbinder and Jeff’s crew. After explaining the guitar to everyone David plugged it in and was happy the new Seymour Duncan custom “Buell Bucker” pickups didn’t hum and were quiet with lots of tonal clarity power. David then showed me Johnny’s vintage Fender Esquire with a broken cell phone glued to the top behind the bridge. I commented, “How do you adjust the intonation when the cell phone is blocking the intonation saddle screws?” He said the guitar is dead on with intonation but the Low E string is a little sharp. I then suggested to lower the bridge pickup down on the Low E side a little and see if the magnetic field influence would give you that clean note as an option to get the Low E string intonated, and the suggestion was appreciated as a solution to the Low E string intonation, but to say the least, the guitar was so cool and unique! Soon after that David took me to the stage again to meet his new friend Eric Collier who was in the audience and I said to David, “Of course I know Eric, he techs at Russo’s in Asbury Park and makes pickups.”
After all the excitement backstage David took us to meet Johnny. At first I thought I wouldn’t have enough time to explain everything about the guitar to Johnny but when I met him he wanted to know everything. I explained all the symbolism for him and his children, construction methods, staining processes and how my Dad (Dr. Phil Petillo) taught me as a child to inlay sea shell, metal engrave, cast metal, lacquering and the Italian style of guitar making we learned from the D’Angelico family. Johnny kissed me on the cheek, hugged me and thanked me from the bottom of his heart. He took a photo with me and Ronnie and asked if we’d hang out after the show. Also, during the meeting with Johnny I showed him the Brazilian rosewood/American flame maple box I made for Jeff Beck to hold his guitar slides. I engraved a doorway to the Universe with a Nebula-colored heat treated metal inlay in the keyhole. Underneath the brass doorway is a neodymium magnet to hold the meteorite that crashed in Algeria. The meteorite had iron deposits in it to make it stick to the magnet. I choose to give Jeff a meteor theme box because of his love of space and his galactic guitar playing. My good friend slide guitarist Oliver Kostrinsky acquired the meteorite for me from a dealer of Smithsonian level artifacts.
When I told Johnny that it was a real meteorite and my Geiger Counter didn’t detect any radiation he said jokingly, “Don’t worry I’ve put far worse in my body and laughed!” It was such a blast to bond with Johnny and talk about life and death, art, friendship and music. When we left his dressing room it was a relief to get the guitar in his hands, mission accomplished. When the show started Jeff stepped on stage and played a couple sets and then I saw Johnny come up with the guitar strapped on from the dressing room. I was so excited to see him playing it for the first song and the “Buell Bucker” pickups really cut through the mix. After the show Johnny hugged me and told me stories about the first time he met Bruce and his Mom at Frank Sinatra’s 80th birthday party. Bruce came up to Johnny at the party and said he took his mom to the movies to see “Don Juan DeMarco” (the 1995 romantic comedy) for Mother’s Day starring Marlon Brando and Johnny Depp, and said he loved the movie. Johnny never forgot that Bruce encounter to this day.
It was a great ending to a beautiful night and I made new friends. Johnny said those pickups are fire and he would be calling soon for more projects and really enjoyed our talk. Take a look at the videos, pics and description of the guitar details below!
PETILLO “Shipwreck” Tele Detailed Description
Body: 209 year old one-piece American Basswood
Body Stain Color: To mimic an old ship that was at sea and distressed by the sun. I used black, brown and orange Sharpie markers sealed with amber shellac.
Neck: American Flame Grain Maple with a Sunset yellow/orange stain to make the grain have a 3d effect.
Fingerboard Scale: 25.5″
Frets: 22
Fingerboard Radius: 12″
Fingerboard: South American Ziricote
Fingerboard Inlays:
First Fret – Deep Sea Diver made of brass, sterling silver and copper with an abalone name plate. Below the helmet is clam with a pearl inside, starfish, coral and sea anemone.
Twelfth Fret – Real silver for the silver doubloons in the treasure chest. The skull sockets have a 3D effect with Tahitian grey pearl against the white mother of pearl; this technique is the only way to give depth to the skull. The colonial hat made of petrified wood with abalone feathers is based on the time period of pirates on the sea. The copper outlines the treasure chest framing the old rosewood planked chest.
Nut: Black graphite
Back Headstock Overlay: African Wenge filed into the contour of the neck flush with Paua abalone KRAKEN squid inlay.
Front Headstock Oval Name Plate: Black Phenolic with Pirate ship inlay made of abalone sea shell sails, engraved skull and crossbones in red, petrified walnut boat and sterling silver Petillo logo.
String Trees: Black graphite
Hardware Solid Brass: Pickguard, Bridge, Control Plate, Porthole Window, Compass, Volume Knob, Switch Knob, String Ball Anchor and Tuning Keys
Pickguard Engraving: Never Fear Truth logo, Grim Reaper holding the sands of time with Victorian style scrollwork borders. The Reaper engraving is a reminder that life is short and should be cherished.
Pickguard Holographic Moving Pictures:
First Pic: Ship at storming seas fighting for survival against the tempest.
Second Pic: Lighthouse always guiding you home.
Third Pic: The eyes of the soul with flowers symbolizing a new beginning and you and your new love walking into eternity together.
Porthole Window Cameo: Hand-carved portrait of LilyRose Depp made of Tahitian grey pearl with pink and purple abalone background. The screw in the center of the lily flower holds the cameo together and the Phillips head screw shape is mimicking the pollen in the center of the flower.
Side Edge Design: Brass henge with threaded stainless steel screw with casted double edge skull heads.
Neck Plate: Solid Brass plate with metal casted Solar System navigation map and Sun at the center. Beneath the Swarovski crystals is threaded screws to hold the map to the plate.
Pickups: Buell Buckers! Kevin Buell is Bruce Springsteen’s longtime guitar tech and has done over 1000 shows with Bruce. Kevin designed new pickups from his years of experience in the studio and on the road. Our friends at Seymour Duncan made the Buell Buckers to our drawings. These pickups are limited edition; they’re one of a few left from the batch we made. The set is a blade neck pickup and adjustable pole pieces bridge. If you would like to hear what the pickups sound like they were used exclusively on Bruce’s record “Letter To You!”
Tone Knob: Deep Sea Diver made of steel and plated copper then painted a brass patina. The next step was to hand sand the helmet to show the three layers of copper, steel and brass. In the hose valve is a paua abalone dot inlay.
Volume Knob: Solid brass base with sterling silver Wave engraving with abalone seashell sky.
Switch Tip: Solid brass with allan screw holding it to the switch. The motif inlaid inside is white crystal April birthstone for Jack Depp’s birthday.
Captain’s Door Locket: Steel painted brass with a white rose inside. White roses mean love, affection, purity, innocence, spirituality, and loyalty.
Compass: Brass made in 1899 and is fully functional.
Neck Plate: Solid Brass plate with brass solar system with the Sun at the center with rhinestones.
Anchor String Ball Holder: Solid Brass with black phenolic with inlaid pink and purple seashell and a brass leaf motif to symbolize change.
Strap Locks: Dunlop black
Guitar Strap: Brown leather shoulder cushion with engraved copper compass held with a lock washer/nut.
Case: Coffin style with plush pinkish red interior. The coffin case was used because it was deep enough to fit the taller Deep Sea Diver tone knob.
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