This slab rosewood fingerboard guitar is considered to be three-tone sunburst that has faded, on the face, to two-tone but it still has a bit of red in the sunburst on the back. It has a body date of 3/60; the potentiometer codes on the volume and first tone pot are 304-5946 which declares that they’re Stackpole pots made in the 46th week of 1959. The bottom potentiometer was, in the past, replaced with a pot that has a click (detent) for “on-off.”
This highly prestigious instrument shows normal playing wear overall including nicks, scratches, scrapes, mars and chips, plus an triangular area on the back, treble side, that could be chemical reaction with a strap, finish worn off at least half of the back of the neck, oxidation on the metal parts (normal) including the tuners which appear tarnished but original. The serial number in this period appears at the bottom of the 4-bolt neck plate. The toggle switch remains original three-position, the crème-black bordered pickguard, held in place by 11 screws, is suitably green tinted; the original pickups have their staggered pole pieces, the cover remains over the bridge, the oranged color of the tremolo arm cap seems to suggest originality. The letter “A” in the word “Stratocaster” on the headstock decal is chipped off but the rest of the letters remain; it has “Original Contour Body” decal although the “O” and “I” are chipped, and it has the “With Synchronized Trem” decal but the “olo” portion is chipped off (it’s located just under the “A” in Stratocaster). The nut is old looking and properly discolored; the frets show normal wear but not a lot of wear.
We brought it down to the
workshop – where ALL of our repairpersons play professionally – one plays jazz,
two play rock ‘n’ roll. One of our guys
said that it sounds “WARM AND PUNCHY,” and another said “Very punchy, strong.” A
third person who played it says it has a full robust tone and that it has the feel
of a guitar that you’ve used for the past 35 years, every night; it fits your
hand like a deerskin glove. I would have
to say that the response we received for the sound and playability of this
piece is extremely positive.
If this is something you
would like to try out in your home
for a three-day trial (this is called “an approval period”) it is certainly
something we’d like to ship you. This guitar shows “honest wear” and it does have the replaced pot, but, aside from the replaced case, it’s all there and quite right. WAS $39,995 but NOW ON SALE for: