Marty Stuart Guitars & Gear: Clarence White’s Telecaster, Pre-War Martins and the Deluxe Reverb Rig
Marty Stuart's documented rig: Clarence White's 1954 B-Bender Telecaster, Esquires, Martins, Gretsch and Deluxe amps, with dated sources and where they disagree.
Marty Stuart plays one guitar that has a name, and the name is not his. He calls his 1954 Fender Telecaster “Clarence,” after Clarence White, the guitarist who co-created the Parsons/White StringBender on it. Vintage Guitar’s 2004 profile reports that Stuart says he has never thought of it as his own guitar. That attitude explains a lot about how he treats the instrument and about the rest of his rig, which leans on borrowed history: Telecasters and Esquires with famous previous owners, pre-war Martins, a Gretsch, and small Fender amps.
This guide collects what published rig coverage says Stuart plays, with the date of each report. Where sources disagree on a model, a year or a string, we say so rather than pick a winner. We found no Fender or Gretsch signature model named for Stuart in the sources we could read, so this page is about instruments he owns and plays, not products you can order.
How Stuart Came to Own “Clarence”
Our Telecaster B-Bender explainer and our Clarence White guide cover the engineering and White’s career. On ownership, Vintage Guitar’s April 2004 article by Edward B. Driscoll Jr. says White’s Telecaster sat unused at his Kentucky home after his death in 1973, until his widow, Suzy, contacted Stuart. Stuart bought it from her, along with some of White’s clothes and other belongings.
The price comes from Stuart’s own telling. In a June 2017 Guitar.com interview he says he bought it in the early 1980s from White’s widow, Susie, whose asking price was $1,450. Our Clarence White guide tells the sale differently, with Stuart offering a blank cheque, and we follow the interview figure here. Vintage Guitar’s 2023 profile by Dan Forte gives the year as 1980. Premier Guitar’s December 2025 rig rundown says only that he bought it in the 1980s while playing in Johnny Cash’s band. We treat “1980” as one magazine’s year and “early 1980s” as the safer description.
The Rig
Everything below is as reported in the dated source named. Stuart tours with the Fabulous Superlatives, and the most recent full gear coverage we could read is a Premier Guitar rig rundown dated December 3, 2025. A Premier Guitar feature by Jim Beaugez, dated July 28, 2025, covers the instrumental album Space Junk and includes a gear list. Rigs change, so read each item as “as of” that coverage.
Guitars
A 1954 two-tone sunburst Telecaster, according to Premier Guitar’s 2020 Forgotten Heroes profile of White, which describes it as the first guitar fitted with a StringBender and as White’s only electric. The mechanism sits in a section cut from the body behind the bridge, and a metal plate now covers the slot. Vintage Guitar’s 2004 piece says a wooden rim was added to the back to house the protruding parts, roughly doubling the body thickness, and that a Strat-style pickup was installed in the front position while Red Rhodes rewound the original Tele pickup. Brad Paisley called it heavy and double-bodied in the Premier Guitar profile. Stuart’s own changes are small. He moved one of the Scruggs banjo tuners from the fifth string to the sixth, and he and pedal steel player Ralph Mooney added a second bender, covered below.
Premier Guitar’s 2025 rundown names a 1952 Esquire that once belonged to Mick Ronson as Stuart’s backup. Vintage Guitar’s 2023 profile lists an Esquire that Ronson owned as well, but dates it to 1954. We cannot tell from the pages whether those are two guitars or one with a disputed year, so we treat the year as unsettled.
Vintage Guitar’s 2023 profile lists two Esquires tied to Perkins, Johnny Cash’s guitarist: a 1954 Esquire Perkins played with Cash, and a mid-1960s Esquire the article says Perkins played when Cash appeared at Folsom Prison in 1968. The article does not say how Stuart came by them.
A mid-1960s sparkle-finish Telecaster that, per Vintage Guitar’s 2023 profile, Stuart calls “Don” because it was previously owned by Don Rich, Buck Owens’ guitarist. Our Don Rich guide covers Rich’s own sparkle Telecasters. We have not seen a source that matches Stuart’s guitar to a specific one of those, so we leave that open.
Per the same Vintage Guitar profile, a gift to Stuart from Mavis and Yvonne Staples.
Premier Guitar’s July 2025 feature lists a Gretsch 6120 in Stuart’s gear. The same article gives its year as 1956 in the gear list and 1958 later in the text. Vintage Guitar’s 2023 profile lists a 1958 Gretsch 6120. For the model’s background, see our Gretsch G6120 Chet Atkins guide.
The same Premier Guitar feature lists a 1967 Fender Kingman, strung for Nashville tuning. We found no interview detail on it beyond that gear-list entry.
Premier Guitar’s 2025 rundown lists a Jerry Jones sitar, run through the upper of two Deluxe amps.
The 2025 rundown also describes a mandolin signed by Johnny Cash, Doc Watson and others, miked with an AEA Nuvo N22 ribbon microphone.
Amps
In the December 2025 rundown, Stuart’s main amp is a silver-panel Fender Deluxe Reverb that came from the California rental company SIR, with a second Deluxe alongside it. The rundown says an AEA R92 ribbon microphone is placed on the Deluxe. The July 2025 Premier Guitar feature calls his amp a Fender Deluxe with a power-boost modification and, later, a silverface Deluxe. The two pieces do not describe it in the same words, so we do not say which Deluxe is which. For what the model does, see our Fender Deluxe Reverb guide.
The rundown notes that a Radial BigShot ABY lets him run both amps at large shows. In Beaugez’s feature, Stuart is reported as saying that the sound is in the guitars, and that the Clarence Telecaster sounds good through any amp. In our view that is the sensible reading of the rig: the amp is a clean platform and the instrument does the work.
Effects
The 2025 rundown also covers a second guitarist’s pedals, so we cannot assign every unit to Stuart. It lists a Boss TU-12EX tuner, a JHS Mini A/B, a Radial BigShot PB-1, an MXR Six Band EQ, a JHS Switchback loop, a Keeley Super Phat Mod, an MXR Reverb and a Flamma FS06. An AmpRx Brownie is listed as powering both amps, and a Radial PZ-DI direct box is listed for the sitar’s feed to the front-of-house desk.
The Premier Guitar feature lists D’Addario NYXL or nickel-wound electric strings, D’Addario phosphor bronze acoustic strings and Fender medium tortoiseshell picks. The rundown itself names no strings or picks.
What He Changed, and How He Plays It
The Parsons/White bender raises the B string a whole step when the player pulls the guitar’s neck against the strap. Our explainer covers how the mechanism works. What Stuart does with it is documented in a few places.
Premier Guitar’s profile quotes Gene Parsons recalling that he told Stuart the spring needed tightening or replacing, and that Stuart did not want that change. Stuart says he likes the neck to drop while he holds it up. Vintage Guitar’s 2004 sidebar adds practical details from Stuart: the spring dries out and squeaks, so he sprays it with WD-40 now and then, and he has never cleaned the guitar. He considers the long pull of this prototype, compared with later production units, part of its sound, and he points to “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” as an example. Settings he liked were written on greenish paper inside the guitar, and the WD-40 has made them illegible.
The second bender is the less consistently documented part. Premier Guitar’s 2025 rundown describes a Ralph Mooney-built bender on the low E string, triggered by a button under the bridge. Guitar.com’s 2019 piece describes a palm pedal installed by Mooney, and its 2017 interview quotes Stuart saying he would not have trusted anyone else to install it. Vintage Guitar’s 2004 sidebar says the pedal lowers the first string by a half step, while the 2017 Guitar.com article says the E string. Because sources disagree on which string (our Telecaster B-Bender explainer follows the 2004 wording, our Clarence White guide the E string), we describe it only as a Mooney-installed half-step device and leave the string open.
For other players who use the same idea, see our guides to Albert Lee and Brad Paisley, and our Bigsby vibrato guide for the older, strap-free way of bending pitch.
Stuart’s own estimate, per the 2017 Guitar.com interview, is that it is “the greatest Telecaster in the world.” That is his claim, not a measurement, and the same article says he kept the original decals and finish. For the wider Tele family, our Fender Telecaster guide is the place to start.
Acoustics, Gibson and Other Guitars
The acoustic side is where documentation is thinner and sources disagree more.
Martin Once Owned by Hank Williams: Vintage Guitar’s 2023 profile lists a 1939 Martin D-28 that it says belonged to Hank Williams, then Hank Williams Jr., then Johnny Cash. Premier Guitar’s July 2025 feature names a 1939 Martin D-45 among Stuart’s guitars without linking it to Williams, and separately mentions a pre-war D-28 he keeps at home. Either one article has the model wrong or there are two guitars, and we could not settle it from the pages we could read. Neither article says how Stuart came to own it. For Martin’s best-known dreadnought, see our Martin D-28 guide.
1950 Martin D-28 (Lester Flatt): Per Vintage Guitar’s 2023 profile, this guitar was used by Lester Flatt on many of his recordings, and Stuart installed a Parsons B-bender on it. The article does not say how he acquired it.
1951 Martin 5-18 (Nicknamed “Marty Robbins”): Per the same profile, a gift from Connie Smith.
Martin Once Owned by Jimmie Rodgers: The profile ties a 1928 Martin OO-42 to Jimmie Rodgers and says Stuart now owns it, after a deal struck following a 2018 approach from the family that held it. We have no second source for that history.
Gibson J-200 (Johnny Cash’s): A customized 1954 Gibson J-200 that Johnny Cash owned, per Vintage Guitar’s 2023 profile.
Our Merle Travis guide quotes Stuart on Travis’s chord knowledge, a reminder of how much of Stuart’s playing and collecting follows the Nashville and Bakersfield players he admires.
Signature Models and Replicas
Vintage Guitar’s 2004 article on the StringBender says Fender’s Custom Shop sold a Clarence White Model Telecaster with the Classic StringBender, built by senior master builder Fred Stuart, and calls it a surprisingly popular guitar. The article does not tie Marty Stuart to that model, so we do not either. We could not open Fender’s own pages, so we give no current price or availability, and we do not state how many were made.
We also could not verify any Martin signature model from the maker’s own pages, so we do not list one. If you are researching a Martin edition, check Martin’s own announcements first.
Gear Table
Era: 1954 build — Detail: Parsons/White StringBender; Scruggs tuner moved; Mooney bender
Era: 1952 or 1954 — Detail: Backup guitar per 2025 rundown; sources differ on year
Era: 1939 — Detail: Vintage Guitar: D-28 owned by Williams; Premier Guitar lists a 1939 D-45, no Williams link
Era: 1956 or 1958 — Detail: Year differs inside the same article
Era: 1950 — Detail: Parsons B-bender fitted by Stuart, per one source
Frequently Asked Questions
What guitar is Marty Stuart best known for?
Clarence White’s 1954 Telecaster with the Parsons/White StringBender, which Stuart calls “Clarence.” Vintage Guitar’s 2004 article says he bought it from White’s widow, Suzy. Sources give the year as 1980 or the early 1980s.
What amp does Marty Stuart use?
In Premier Guitar’s rig rundown dated December 3, 2025, his main amp is a silver-panel Fender Deluxe Reverb, with a second Deluxe alongside it. This is as of that rundown, and his rig can change.
What is Marty Stuart’s backup guitar?
Premier Guitar’s 2025 rundown names a 1952 Fender Esquire that once belonged to Mick Ronson. Vintage Guitar’s 2023 profile dates a Ronson Esquire to 1954, so the year is disputed.
Did Marty Stuart own Hank Williams’ guitar?
Vintage Guitar’s 2023 profile says he has a 1939 Martin that belonged to Hank Williams, then Hank Williams Jr., then Johnny Cash, and calls it a D-28. Premier Guitar’s 2025 gear list names a 1939 D-45. Neither source describes how he got it, and we do not repeat unsourced trade stories.
Does Marty Stuart have a Fender signature Telecaster?
We found no source that says so. Fender’s Custom Shop has sold Clarence White Model Telecasters, but the Vintage Guitar article we read does not link Marty Stuart to that model.