Robben Ford Discussion

kirk95 · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 1:01 pm Post subject: Robben's Tele....

Daved,

Is Robben's Tele all stock? Just curious what he has on there for frets and pickups.

Robben's Tele tone just kills me. The clean tones are just perfect...pure tele twang without the ice pick highs. And the neck pickup matches the the bridge pup perfectly. The pickups are in perfect balance. On a lot of Tele's the bridge pickup is too bright and the neck pickup is not bright enough. So you can get one pick dialed in, but the other one is way off. Robben was switching around all the pickup positions and they sounded just perfect. What's your secret?

I had the pleasure of sitting 5 feet from Robben at the first 2 Jing Chi shows at Yoshi's. So I was able to see Robben's pickup selections and hear his tone directly from his Dumble while drinking a Guinness and eating Sushi...pretty cool!

BTW, by far the best Baker tone what the Red Varitone. What happened to that guitar?
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edpesco · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:03 pm Post subject:

David, I lreally love Guinness and I love sushi - but does it really fit together? Maybe Mr. Ford made everything fit together? :-)

kirk95 · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 8:16 pm Post subject:

something like that....

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Daved · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 8:51 pm Post subject: Telecaster

Is Robben's Tele all stock? Just curious what he has on there for frets and pickups.
The Tele is stock except for the addition of large frets. The bridge p/u has been rewound once by Lindy Fralin, but purely for repair, not as a mod.

The pickups are in perfect balance. ...What's your secret?
Exactly. Answering your own question, huh Dave? Actually all I've done is carefully balance the height of the 2 pickups till Robben was happy with the sound.

Baker tone what the Red Varitone. What happened to that guitar?
Last I saw, that guitar went home with Robben. I think he may have returned it to Gene Baker.
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johan · Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2003 12:19 am Post subject:

Kirk95 - I asked Lindy the same question and he said he rewound the bridge pick-up as Daved just said. He recommended his High Output Tele pick-ups for that RF tone. They are strong, bright and clear sounding. I have a set and really like them...

The neck pick-up is all original. But like most stuff Fender made during the 50's and 60's, some are good, some fantastic and some magical...I guess the pick-ups on that Tele is not 100% typical Fender 60's Tele...

PierreL · Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2003 1:01 am Post subject:

I used to dislike Teles, thinking that they were too thin sounding for me, but after hearing Robben's tone with his Tele for some time now ( I have in mind a concert in Paris where he had the thickest tone ever ! ) , this will certainly be my next guitar purchase Smile

Frunk · Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2003 1:26 am Post subject:

HHB · Member Joined: 18 Jul 2003 Posts: 24 Location: Western NC

I used a 66' rosewood board tele for an album project in NYC a few years ago, a magic guitar! Make sure you get a rosewood board for that RF warmth. I'm currently using a Rio Grand Muy Grande tele for the bridge and a Duncan 54' for the neck of my current tele type ( Hamer T-51 rosewood board ) great balance between the pups and totally remincent of the 66' , maybe a little more drive on the bridge pup but very close, HHB
ps I enjoy RF's tele playing more than his Baker / Fender sig sounds, something about that tele!
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edpesco · Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2003 12:00 pm Post subject:

PierreL be careful with the acquisition of Teles. I recently had the chance to play a friend's Custom shop Muddy Waters Tele through another friend's Dumble. I almost fell off my chair - that was it - the man's tone, don't call me arrogant, if I could play like him it would have been... But this is the first time I could come so close. It's always the combination of wood-pickups-amplifier etc that makes it. Don't think you can get a similar tone out of a Mexico Muddy Tele or a standard and the same Dumble- I tried it, no way. Mainly the wood makes a great guitar. And this wonderful f.... expensive Tele was extremely lightweight.

marinblues · Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2003 9:40 pm Post subject:

I have a tele (which I love). By playing around with amp and overdrive settings I manage to get a thick tele tone. I use Barden pickups but I feel that that is not that important important.

Robben's dumble tone is characterized by a smooth responsive overdrive and plenty of bass. The treble is slightly reduced since Robben's touch, the way he plucks the cords, already has enough presence.

my 2 cents...

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telefunk1 · Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2003 9:51 am Post subject:

Glad there are some other tele-fans on the list (including Robben). I started playing one when I was in a country band years ago (we played both kinds of music, country AND western) and have gone through quite a few. I used to have an early 60s rosewood neck that sounded great but had some serious body/neck problems so I got rid of it. I played a strat for years after that before going back to the tele about 2 years ago in order to "simplify" my life. I found an American Standard with a rosewood neck that felt really good, but sounded like shit, so I put a Don Lace in the neck position - now it really smokes. I am very much into the no-frills approach to playing (boss compressor/sustainer is the only pedal I use). I figure if I can't cut it with a tele I need to just give it up.

And yes, be careful with choosing one (or any guitar or amp) there are good ones and bad ones, and every now and then one that will sing to you when you treat it right.

Leftbender · Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2003 10:29 am Post subject:

marinblues · Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2003 10:36 am Post subject:

I still play my strat but I play my tele more often. Strats are more populare since their first impact is WOW, this is IT. But after 20 years or so, one matures and starts looking for the REAL guitar and that's where the Tele comes into the story....

Fixed bridge, longer sustain, simple yet with a tremendous tonal variation, single cutaway (for grown-ups), clear sound so no mistakes allowed.....

marin

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telefunk1 · Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 10:55 am Post subject:

Marin - too true! The guitar for grown ups! I can see the Fender advertisement now!

How do you like the Bardens? I thought about getting a set (Danny Gatton's always sounded so good) but went with the Lace because of cost and availability. I have seen good reviews of the Fralins, too.

marinblues · Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 12:03 pm Post subject:

The Bardens have their good points and bad points.

The good points are: clarity; balanced volume across both pickups; very, very strong yet clear; responsive.

Bad points: responsive (!) - all the mistakes come out; expensive; trebly and slighty "metallic" - requires work on the tone knob.

I've got used to them by now and I would miss the good points too much if I changed them. Here's an example of what they sound like:

http://www.marinblues.it/music/2teletrick.mp3

marin
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