“I was the only guy playing that guitar. It was their version of a semi-hollow”: How Robben Ford helped Fender design their short-lived answer to the ES-335

Robben Ford has looked back on the time he worked with Fender on designing the Esprit Ultra – the Big F's answer to a legacy Gibson guitar.

Across his career, Ford has lent his chops to George Harrison, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis, Little Feat, Kiss and more. Playing alongside different artists has meant that he's had to tweak his rig and upgrade his guitar arsenal over the years – and that lead to a collaboration with Fender on an oft-forgotten custom model.

“It was the Robben Ford custom model, the Esprit Ultra,” Ford tells Guitarist in the latest issue.

“It wasn’t initially called that – I was the only guy playing that guitar. It was their version of a semi-hollow, which it wasn’t, but it had sound cavities in it, and the woods were very bright. Somehow, I was comfortable with that guitar. It just sort of worked.

“I was a part of the choice of woods and design and everything, and I had this inclination to go towards solidbody instruments instead of the 335, which I’d been using really up until that point. Fender approached me about making something, so we did, and I used that guitar a ton.”

Fender Custom Shop Robben Ford Ultra FM Master Built Greg Fessler - 3-Color Burst - YouTube

Watch On

Ford reveals he employed that guitar extensively on his 1988 opus Talk to Your Daughter, and admits he “used one guitar exclusively for a few years.” Turns out, his commitment to the model meant that people started noticing that it was one of a kind.

He says, “They started asking Fender about it, and they [Fender] decided to make it a Custom Shop Robben Ford model.”

Now discontinued, the 24.75” scale Custom Shop model was built around Fender’s Esprit/Flame platform and aimed to deliver the quintessential blues-jazz fusion tone associated with Ford. Initially produced in Japan between 1987 and 1993, production moved to the US Custom Shop in 1994, with the last models built in 2002.

In more recent news, Ford divulged how Jeff Beck got him back to playing the Strat – and why he was never bored in his role as Joni Mitchell’s sideman.

For more from Ford, plus new interviews with Kim Gordon and the latest scoop on the historic Jim Irsay collection and auction, pick up issue 535 of Guitarist from Magazines Direct.