Guitar Nerds Anonymous

It's incredibly utilitatian; there's something about how his shows are so sweaty (or he sticks his head in buckets of water to keep cool) he had it waterproofed with sealer and silicone gaskets and all hardware replaced with non ferous stuff to keep it going.

I've never been quite sure if I believe the bit about the drainage holes drilled around the jack. This is from tdpri, sources likely fairly uncertain!:

the '53 esquire is wired with Petillo customwound pickups(15.6k bridge,8.5k neck) thru a custom preamp(output bosst/tone control expander)the hardware is titanium, made by petillo, the neck is a medium V with the contour extending all the way to the neck pocket, this is the neck that all of his stage guitars are reshaped to fit, the neck is finished front and back with a tinted sealer that protects the neck but feels like bare wood, the fingerboard is 14" radius...he uses Petillo Precision frets on ALL his guitars, they are triangle shaped and allow for both PERFECT intonation as well as easier bending and more sustain and clarity, the nut is bone, the string trees are custom made by Petillo out of aluminum, the jackplate is square and has holes drilled in it near the corners to allow drainig of the control cavity which freqently fills up with sweat/water during bruces shows.

The decal was put in the wrong place....this guitar was originally sold as "second"....bought by a recording studio and fitted with 4 pickups and 2 output jacks.they used to charge the person who was "forced" to use it for the sessions and charge on a per track basis(the fee x 4 ) ....the studio was busted in a payola scandal and was forced to sell all of its guitars...Phil Petillo bought the guitar and several others. He sold it to Bruce in 1969 for
$185.00

Source:
https://www.tdpri.com/threads/springsteen-esquire-question.4194/

Edit: That $185 is about $1, 300 inflation adjusted, which seems a reasonable amount for a heavily messed about with, 15 year old partscaster guitar. That's what I meant when I said that I didn't think his guitar was one of those fairy tales where someone finds a '59 in a pawn shop for thruppence ha'penny :)