Fender Custom Shop Telecaster Keith Richards Prototype
Fender Custom Shop Telecaster Keith Richards Prototype
No guitarist has sold more butterscotch Telecasters than Keith Richards — and yet, no Fender has ever borne his name. There has never been a Richards signature model, while Ron Wood has had multiple signature models released by Duesenberg, Gibson, and ESP. The British rock pirate likely never saw the need to launch such a project.
No Fender model has carried Richards’ name, but this Tele comes as close as it gets. It’s an instrument built in 2014 by the Fender Custom Shop for the Rolling Stones’ leader, and he took it straight out on the *14 On Fire* tour. Even without knowing its history, one glance is enough to recognize Micawber — the legendary 1954 Tele that won Richards over and has been with him on every Stones album since *Exile On Main Street* in 1972.
Like Micawber, this Tele features a neck-position humbucker with a black pickup ring on a black pickguard, and a section of the guard trimmed near the neck. Like Micawber, it’s equipped with a five-saddle bridge, as Richards plays his Tele in open G tuning without the low E string. A few small details are missing to make it a perfect replica — such as the Sperzel tuners, the white Strat-style switch tip, or the missing dot at the seventeenth fret.
These approximations would likely have been corrected if the model had become a formal project. But Richards, always unyielding, returned the guitar to the Custom Shop after the tour — along with two cigarette butts still inside the case. The certificate clearly states “KR Prototype,” making this a historic instrument documenting a signature model that never came to be. And incidentally, it’s a butterscotch Tele played on stage by Keith Richards. Do you really need to know more?
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Keith Richards
(1943)
Band: The Rolling Stones
Main guitar: Fender Telecaster
Must-hear track: Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’
The human riff, the monkey man, the toxic twin… Keith Richards is an enigma that fascinates well beyond the realm of music. Scientists still haven’t figured out how he’s alive after a life filled with every imaginable excess.
But beyond the sensationalism of his legendary lifestyle, Richards is a masterful musician — the inventor of a unique style that has inspired the vast majority of rock guitarists who followed. In the early days, when he formed his band with Jagger in 1960 (before they even called themselves the Rolling Stones), Richards was deeply influenced by Chuck Berry, his lifelong idol. His playing was a mix of Berry's riffs and the loose bends heard on the old blues records he loved.
As the band’s music evolved, things culminated in the late '60s around the *Let It Bleed* era. The Stones had become the kings of a sweaty, blues-soaked rock 'n' roll that straddled London and the bayou. Around this time, Richards began crafting his greatest riffs using open G tuning. This new sonic palette, inspired by Ry Cooder, allowed Keith to develop a rawer, sharper style that perfectly matched the band’s grittier sound and Mick Taylor’s arrival on second guitar.
Richards is a rhythm guitarist — with all the nobility that this seemingly modest role implies. He holds the whole thing together, drives the band forward, and gives them that elastic sound born from two guitars weaving around each other in perfect sync. His chemistry with Ron Wood borders on telepathic — the two complement each other flawlessly without stepping on each other's toes.
And then there’s that tone: sometimes the merciless bite of a Telecaster, other times the more mellow (but no less sly) attack of an acoustic Gibson. Whether playing with the Stones, his side project The X-Pensive Winos, on his excellent solo albums, or guesting with artists like Tom Waits, Richards’ signature is instantly recognizable — just a few notes, and you know it’s him.
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