Robben Ford Discussion

Aeolian · Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:39 pm Post subject: Robben's 54 LP

Daved, when Robben came to Santa Cruz and Moe's Alley, you folks brought his special 54 LP, but were having problems with RF (radio frequency, not Robben Smile

) interference. At last Saturday's Brothers show, he had a 54 again. This time with a Zen and SR amp. Didn't hear any problems although he turned it down in between every song, and chatting with Myron afterwards, he said there was some noise it was picking up during soundcheck. You'd mentioned that Robben didn't want to shield the instrument for fear he might wreck it's special tone.

Here's the question. The guitar Robben played this weekend looked like the back was also painted gold. But it might have been the light. I thought the one you were waving around the stage (looking for the RF interference) had a conventional stained wood back. Does he have two of them? Or is that the same guitar? Someone on the Gear Page said it looked like there had been a headtock repair on the guitar he was using. Do you know if this is true? Usually that knocks all the specialness out of a Gibson when you have to glue this back together.
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Daved · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 6:52 am Post subject: Re: Robben's 54 LP

Steve,

As far as I am aware, Robben only has 2 gold LPs.

One is the gold all over '54 that he has had for years. We pretty much retired it from the road a few years back as it has very little sheilding and is unplayable in many "RF niosey" venues. I offered to sheild it for Robben but he prefers it to stay stock.

The gear page is correct. During the recording of the Blue Moon album, a studio tech accidently knocked it over and busted the headstock. We had it repaired, but that incident unnerved Robben and pretty much sealed its fate as a studio guitar only out of fear of further damage on the road. The repair was excellently done by Toru Nittuno in L.A. and the guitar is still used by Robben for recording.

The other L.P. is the "Gold top" '57, with a dark wood grain back, given to Robben last year by Larry Carlton. It is the one Robben has been usually taking on the road these days.
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sfhalo · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:23 pm Post subject:

Daved:

The LP Goldtop used at last week's Coach House show was definitely not one of the models you described. It had a dark back, P-90's, & a Stop Tailpiece. I'll send a photo in a PM message.

jconstant · Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:28 pm Post subject:

Here's the LP he played the night before (2/14) at the Malibu Inn Bar:

Is this the one you're referring to David?
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Daved · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 7:38 am Post subject:

Hmmm....

Hard to say from the angle of that photo.

I can't see the wear along the edge where Robben's arm would rest while playing it.

I also cannot see the back or the sides clearly. Especially the back of the neck. I could definitely recognize it by the unique, antique characteristics of the gold neck back if it were the '54.

From what I can see of the picture, the front finish appears to be more similar to the '54 than the '57... especially the dulled wear on the stop bar tailpiece and the fracturing in the surface gold (although that fracturing IS similar between the two).

If I rmember correctly, along the edge I can't see (that I mentioned above) Larry's '57 has more "down to the wood" wear than Robben's '54.

Perhaps Robben either has picked up another LP which I have not yet seen or is borrowing someone elses for some reason. I can't say at this point. Sorry.
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( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)

Aeolian · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 2:42 pm Post subject:

Daved, Thanks so much for responding. Man, I would hate to be that studio tech. Busting a legendary priceless guitar.

But that was the one that Robben brought. Amazingly, at the end of the set he just leaned it against the amp, the way most of us have done for years before portable guitar stands (I really love the Hercules ones for a compact, fits in a bag and is pretty solid although if someone bumps it over, it's not going to keep it in place). He didn't even take care to set the neck inbetween the knobs. And as they were walking off the stage, it slid a bit to the side towards the pilot light. My heart went up into my throat, and Robben looked back at it. If he'd yelled, I think Myron or Volker could have caught it. But it stayed there and they just walked off to the "dressing room" (if you can call that closet at Moe's that). I was tempted to plant myself at the front of the stage, ready to dive for it if some clown decided to walk up on the stage and trip over a cord or something. But they came back out for the encore and then Robben took it backstage with him.

I do recognize the difference between it and the 57 humbucker guitar from Larry. And that picture looks like a guitar I've seen a couple of times before. Maybe it's something in the light. The top looks very much the same. I kept trying to get a good look at it while he was playing. It was really hard to tell if it was gold all over or a stained wood back. At one point I thought it was a reissue, which would make sense as you've mention that the old one isn't something he wants to use on the road. But then I saw the neck wear and the checking on the top. I'm sure that the one I saw is the one you know about.

Interestingly, at the Showcase museum, there are a couple of the trapeze tailpiece 52 or 53 LP's. One of them has the gold all over, and the other has a wood back. Of course, there's no way to know if someone stripped that one. Red Suede had one for awhile, and let me try it. It was virtually unplayable so he traded it back in. But I would like to have a 54 someday.
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Ian Hurtt · Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:12 pm Post subject:

jconstant · Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 10:24 am Post subject:

I was there for the 1st set and 3-4 songs of the second. That LP was the only thing he played while I was there.

Anybody stay through the whole 2nd set?
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"Somebody's got to make some music around here." - Robben Ford

Phil T · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:21 am Post subject:

jconstant · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:58 am Post subject:

Here's the pic of the Super where you can see a little of the side of the LP:

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"Somebody's got to make some music around here." - Robben Ford

frank0936 · Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 8:11 am Post subject: Good picture!

Good shot JC! It looks like all the controls are set to "5" except the reverb which looks to be on "4". I couldn't tell if the Bright switch was on, but I would think it was. Did Robben use the Vibrato any? I see the controls are set, but did he ever switch it in? On the GT, I always wondered why in the world anyone would buy an LP with single coils! I mean, LP's mean humbuckers, ya know? Then a couple of years ago I heard Sean Costello playing his 54 and I understood why. It was right after that that I bought my Blueshawk with P90's! Those pickups are made by elves in a hollow tree - that's the only explanation for that sound.
Frank

Sweet_emotion16 · Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 11:02 pm Post subject:

wow, that's a great shot , and clearly the reverb is set to 6!!! which is a bit much in my opinion and can't imagine him actually using it like that. I wonder is that a reissue or an original?? Speakers? Mods?
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Mondoslug · Member Joined: 29 Feb 2004 Posts: 30

LongIslandRod · Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 11:37 am Post subject:

[quote]
The gear page is correct. During the recording of the Blue Moon album, a studio tech accidently knocked it over and busted the headstock.

Is that tech still working there?
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Danny · Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 4:58 pm Post subject:

Just about Robben's Les Pauls in general, did he retire/give back the 57? I saw Robben play it in August of 2006, and thought it sounded outright amazing. Dave, you even let me stroke the pickguard :P I'd love to see Robben play it again in the future...
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