Fender Wanted to Make a Vince Gill Signature Telecaster But He Said No: “Why Would You Want to Do That?”

Whether Vince Gill is playing country music, touring with the Eagles, or making a guest appearance on another artist’s recording, his guitar skills are undeniable. While he has amassed a huge collection of guitars over the years, he regularly plays his 1953 Fender “Blackguard” Telecaster. In the early 1990s, Fender wanted to recreate his go-to guitar as a signature model, but he wasn’t interested.

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The Blackguard Telecaster is an instrument shrouded in myth and legend. To grossly oversimplify the history behind the instrument, Fender started producing Telecasters–originally called Broadcasters–in 1950. They featured white or transparent blonde finishes with black pickguards. Fender made internal modifications and switched to white pickguards after 1954. Serious collectors and players have been chasing original Blackguard Broadcasters and Telecasters for decades. Gill bought his in the late 1970s and has been playing it ever since. He has also gathered a collection of Blackguard guitars over the years, but none compare to his go-to Tele.

[RELATED: Vince Gill Recalls the Inspiring Story Behind Being Gifted His First Guitar Ever]

Last month, Gill appeared on the Shred with Shifty podcast to talk about his life, career, and, of course, guitars. During the conversation, he revealed that Fender offered to replicate his go-to guitar and why he turned down the offer of a signature model.

Vince Gill on the Signature Model That Could Have Been

Vince Gill had a string of top 10 country hits in the early 1990s. It started with “When I Call Your Name” in 1990 and ended with “You Better Think Twice” in 1995. It was during this time that Fender reached out to him with an offer many artists would jump at.

“Back in the early ’90s, when I was starting to kind of blow up a little bit…they came to me, Fender did. They said. ‘We want to make a Vince Gill model.’ And I said, ‘Why would you want to do that?’ They said, ‘Well, you’re doing really good and we think it’d be cool,’” he recalled. Gill wasn’t interested. “No disrespect intended, but you can’t make a guitar as good as my old white one,” he told them. The Fender representative told Gill they’d like to try to replicate his go-to. Later, they sent him a prototype. “It wasn’t great,” he said of the one-off model. Gill lost the guitar in a flood more than a decade ago.

“I told them, I said, ‘Look, why would you want to have a Vince Gill Model? I already play your instrument every night I’m on stage.’ It doesn’t make any sense to me. My ego is not such that I need a model with my name on it to satisfy me,” Gill explained.

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