Robben Ford Discussion

[65Strat]

Daved,
Hope you can help me out here. About 7-8 years ago I bought a 1965 Strat that Robben once owned (and I believe traded in for a Tele from a place in DC<Bruce>). I can see that the fretboard was shaved down a tad to flatten out the radius and some larger frets were put in. Do you happen to know what frets those are? Also-the body appears in almost immaculate shape (given the 40 years age of it). Do you know if it is the original finish? (sure looks it to me b/c I can usually spot a refin). And finally, do you know where it originally came from? (Kinda tracing it's roots). It's got a great vibe. Robben had told me that he used it on a couple songs of his as well as some he did with Tom Scott.-if that helps ring a bell.
Thanks,
Jerry (wydglide@charter.net)
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"Music is the most physically inspiring of all the Arts." - Frank Zappa
From a keynote address to the American Society of University Composers

[Daved]

Sorry, 65,

Sounds like that Strat came and went slightly before my time, as I've been working with Robben a little over 6 years, so There's not much I can do to answer your questions unless I happen to get any info from Robben himself.

The other person who I'm sure could help, is Jeff Rivera (Robben's tech of many years before me). Jeff is good at keeping track of gear statistics and details, has worked with Gene Baker as a sales/artist rep, and Robben will often use him as a mediary when buying or selling his vintage equipment.

Unfortunately, Jeff is a tough person to get a hold of. He does ocassionally help us out on west coast tours as a driver or merchandiser (Jeff is one of those 'business' kinda guys who always has his fingers in a dozen different pots at one time. ). If you live in central California, you could possibly catch up with him at the Bay area gigs (Yoshi's), coming up in about a month, as Jeff will be teching those gigs with Robben, covering for me after the Seattle gigs while I have to fly back east for a commitment with Allman Brothers during that period.

The only Strat I know about is a mid 60's Tabacco Burst that Robben owns, but only uses in the studio on ocassion.

And, as for the frets, my guess would be that he's had jumbo frets put on it, since Robben almost always has his new acquisitions refretted with the biggest frets available.

There are a lot of very knowledgable 'historians' here in this community. Maybe one of them can give you more precise information.

Good luck!
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B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)

[RobbenFanInNYC]

I had a pre-show chat with Robben's tech at a gig at the Bottom Line in New York (in the pre-Daved era) and was told that Robben had his guitars refretted with Dunlop 6100 wire -- the BIG stuff, as Daved said. I don't think Dunlop offers anything more jumbo. He also said that Robben likes the action set fairly high so that the strings don't make contact with the frets when they oscillate (there's probably better language to capture what I'm trying to describe).


Guitars set up to Robben's macho Marlboro Man specs would probably not go over too well with the buying public. Robben obviously makes it work.

Robben was playing a maple neck sunburst Strat for one of the Tiger Walk (love that album!) shows that I saw (at Tramps in NYC). He spent a lot of the night working the bridge pickup--it was WAY too ear-piercingly shrill for me.

[henkholland]

Here's a link to a short excerpt of the TV broadcasting Ohne Filter 1997 Germany where Robben is playing a Strat.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=017HSKCU