FROM THE FACTORY FLOOR – EPISODE 3: CHRISTONE “KINGFISH” INGRAM

An old soul whose take on traditional music is both reverential and highly innovative, the Clarksdale, Mississippi-born Christone "Kingfish" Ingram has traveled many miles over the course of his brief 26 years, earning his stature as a full-fledged blues prodigy while sharing the stage with icons ranging from Guitar Shorty to the Tedeschi Trucks Band to Buddy Guy. As a dedicated Fender player, it has been our privilege to work with Kingfish over the years to produce signature models for him and we’re thrilled to collaborate with this unstoppable force of nature on his all-new Delta Day Telecaster Deluxe.

While Kingfish is now practically synonymous with the Telecaster, he admits that, “At first I didn’t get the whole Telecaster movement because I felt like they were too twangy, but then some of my favorite Telecaster players out there, like Freddy Stone from Sly and the Family Stone, Prince, Keith Richards, Albert Collins and of course all of the country players like Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan – that kind of turned me on to the sound when I started to dig deep into the blues. Especially Prince, because when I found out how funky these things can get with the twang and everything, that made me get into it.”

Patrick Harberd, our Senior Product Development Manager had an opportunity to sit down with the budding guitar legend at our Corona, CA factory to talk about how Kingfish came up with the design for the Delta Day Telecaster Deluxe. From its custom pickups to its adjusto-matic bridge to its V-shaped neck and fat 70s headstock, every detail was hand-chosen by the artist and represent the features of the instruments he loves and the tones he chases. For Ingram, “Coming up with this was the perfect thing.”

And any opportunity to watch Kingfish play is always a thrill, but it was extra exciting for Fender to invite him and his band to the final assembly area of the factory for an exclusive performance of his songs, “Voodoo Charm,” “Bad Like Me” and “Nothin’ but Your Love,” from his latest album Hard Road, which came out in September of this year. Check out the episode now and see the Kingfish Delta Day Telecaster Deluxe played in the location where it was built by the inimitable artist who inspired it.