“It began as a sharp abdominal pain. A decade later I received the shock diagnosis – I had ‘Telecaster Rib’”: I spent thousands trying to identify the source of my pain – it turned out to be my Fender Telecaster

Man playing Fender Telecaster while sitting down.

It began as a sharp abdominal pain that I dismissed as heartburn. Almost a decade later I received the shock diagnosis that I had “Telecaster Rib” – a little-known condition that’s whispered about on guitar forums but barely acknowledged by Fender.

The cause of my agony emerged after a parade of GPs, masseuses, osteopaths, personal trainers and yoga instructors failed to get to the bottom of it, until one astute chiropractor recently identified the culprit: the Fender Telecaster.