Robben Ford on his blonde 1960 Telecaster

Guitarist recently caught up with the legendary Robben Ford, who told us all about the gorgeous vintage Tele that’s all over his back catalogue: “It’s a ’60. I bought that in a guitar shop in San Francisco called Black Market Music. I really wasn’t looking for it. We just went to a music store, maybe to get strings or something when I was on the road, touring, and I saw the guitar. I thought immediately of Mike Bloomfield, because on one of the Butterfield Blues Band records, there’s a picture of him and Butterfield and he’s playing this white Tele that looks just like that. “So, I went over, picked it up and started playing it -- and I couldn’t leave the store without it. Honestly, prior to that time, I never would have even considered a Telecaster. I never would have gone: ’I gotta go out and get me a Telecaster.’ But this guitar was sitting there, so I started to play it, and by the time I’d finished I had to have it. “I play it 50 per cent of the time, now. It’s such a good guitar -- it’s kinda the workhorse. If I can only have one guitar, this thing will work for just about everything -- almost. It was a great find and I’m so glad that I got it.“ Guitarist on Apple Newsstand: Subscribe to Guitarist magazine: