Keith Richards has named the guitarist who turned him on to Fender guitars, prompting his early-career move from Gibson instruments. As the Rolling Stones rose to fame in the 1960s, he was mainly seen with a ’59 Les Paul Standard and a Hummingbird acoustic – although he played a Telecaster on occasion.
But around 1970 his change of allegiance was cemented when Eric Clapton gave him a 1950s Tele, and Richards never looked back. In a recent interview marking the guitar’s 75th anniversary, he remembered how the change came about.
“For a lot of the ’60s, my main work was with Gibsons,” Richards said. “I wanted that bottom full end. Really, I got into the Fender, especially the Telecaster, when I was hanging around with Ry Cooder for a while. We were playing around with tunings. He was showing me this five-string open tuning on G.”
He continued: “I just got interested in it, and I found [it was] the only guitar that could really sustain the chords and give you a beautiful, I don’t know – There’s no words for it. Every note is in place. And then I started to really discover what Leo [Fender] had invented. This is where I feel at home.”
He went on to say that his choice of guitar was partly down to the people he performs with. “The Stones is a two-guitar band – you try and match your guitar to what the other guy’s playing, you know? It was Brian Jones for most of the ’60s. He loved to say, ‘You play that, and in that case I’ll play this.’”
Richards – who once revealed the Stones colleague he’d found most difficult to lock in with – reflected: “I mean it’s a piece of wood with some electronics on it. But these things can take on a soul of their own. You get affectionate about these things.”
