Oldest Known Strat For Sale

Rick 381

Rick 381

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Can't get the short video showing the guitar to load, but it's at this link at The Tennessean: Earliest known Fender Stratocaster on sale in Nashville

Earliest known Fender Stratocaster on sale in Nashville

Written by
Nate Rau

It wasn’t played by a rock 'n' roll hero like Bob Dylan or Elvis Presley, but a historic guitar is on sale for $250,000 at a Nashville instrument shop.

The guitar is the earliest known Fender Stratocaster, the electric guitar that has built a cult following all its own.

The guitar, which has a serial number 0100, is being sold via consignment at Gruhn Guitars by Fender historian Richard Smith.

Gruhn Guitars owner George Gruhn said the recordkeeping on the guitar is superb because Smith has owned the instrument for 30 years and is considered a foremost expert on Stratocasters. Smith published the book “Fender: The Sound Heard 'Round the World” and curated a museum exhibit on Fender guitars at the Fullerton Museum in California.

“It’s a guitar in a fine playing condition. It was acquired from the original owner by Richard over 30 years ago,” Gruhn said. “And it is extremely well-documented.”

Gruhn said he has already had some interest in the guitar, which he put on sale a week ago. He said the likely buyer would be a collector who appreciates the history behind the Fender Stratocaster, which Gruhn said is the most popular electric guitar in the world.

Gruhn said his shop, which specializes in new, used and collectible instruments, has sold more expensive guitars in the past, such as Maybelle Carter’s guitar to the Country Music Hall of Fame for $585,000. But Gruhn said he was more interested in this guitar because of the model’s place in music history.

“It’s the most popular electric guitar model in the world, and this is the first one,” Gruhn said. “It wasn’t owned by a celebrity performer, but it was made by a celebrity maker. It’s like if you had a Picasso painting or a Van Gogh. Who’s the celebrity – the previous owner or the (piece of art)?”

While there are some Stratocasters in circulation with lower serial numbers, those guitars have the serial stamped on the neck fastening plate, which Fender didn’t begin doing until later. When the guitar first hit the market, the serial was stamped on the tremolo cavity plate, and the company began numbering them at 100, Gruhn said. The guitar is dated to 1954.

Late last year, the Fender Stratocaster played by Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival sold for nearly $1 million. Gruhn said the price of that guitar was inflated because of Dylan’s celebrity status.

“To me this guitar is more important,” Gruhn said. “It’s the first Stratocaster.”

FirstStrat_zps49a86408.jpg


More photos also at: http://www.gruhn.com/


 
meh.

I'd have to put on an aftermarket pick guard on it with a single volume and single tone, to get the volume knob out of the way of my picking hand.

For that kind of price, they should do that for me :embarrassed:
 
that top looks gorgeous from the little i can see in that pic. i don't have that kind of money, but if i did i'd actually consider buying this because of it's historical significance.

for what it's worth though, i disagree with Gruhn's comment that the instrument should be considered the celebrity. unlike a finished painting, which is the complete artistic expression (in and of itself), a guitar (just like any instrument) is more fully realized as a complete artistic expression when it's being used to create music by a skilled player. while i consider a musical instrument to be beautiful in and of itself, it needs the player in order to be complete, in my opinion. a painting no longer needs the artist in order to be complete. a guitar is only complete when it's paired with an artist (a skilled player).
 
Gruhn said he has already had some interest in the guitar, which he put on sale a week ago. He said the likely buyer would be a collector who appreciates the history behind the Fender Stratocaster,
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Ya think? Because I was pretty sure the buyer was going to be a toothless hillbilly who wants to use this guitar to pound rocks.
 
Gilmour certainly has that white/gold strat with a serial number of 0001, but there is at least one other guitar that has a serial number of 0001, and some people suggest that this was a serial number fender used early on for promotional stuff. That might explain the fancy gold hardware and aluminum guard on Gilmour's strat. The location of Gilmour's serial number on the neck, and the date codes written on the neck and body suggest that the guitar was made in that first year of production, but other guitars have earlier dates. I understand the record keeping in the early days were not so good. Seymour Duncan claims the Gilmour 0001 is a parts guitar made from early run pieces. In the case of the Gilmour strat, it probably doesn't matter much for the value, as it is owned by Gilmour, so that adds more value than the serial number.
 
Tiltsta said:
Gilmour certainly has that white/gold strat with a serial number of 0001, but there is at least one other guitar that has a serial number of 0001, and some people suggest that this was a serial number fender used early on for promotional stuff. That might explain the fancy gold hardware and aluminum guard on Gilmour's strat. The location of Gilmour's serial number on the neck, and the date codes written on the neck and body suggest that the guitar was made in that first year of production, but other guitars have earlier dates. I understand the record keeping in the early days were not so good. Seymour Duncan claims the Gilmour 0001 is a parts guitar made from early run pieces. In the case of the Gilmour strat, it probably doesn't matter much for the value, as it is owned by Gilmour, so that adds more value than the serial number.
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Doesn't the guy from the Beach Boys own the first one?
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
The first one to be burned if I win Lotto.
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"Is it true, . . . that a long time ago, fireman used to put out fires and not burn strats?"



Howie, who knew?

I like it as a museum piece and like that it exists. I think it should be in a museum where people can see it, rather than in some dude's great room or wherever it might wind up after sale.
 
Guitar Heel said:
Doesn't the guy from the Beach Boys own the first one?
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Carl Wilson claimed to have the first production model stratocaster, but I'm not aware of any pictures of him with it. I think it was from one interview back in the 80's. He certainly has the first jaguar, but it isn't clear if he also has the first production strat. He certainly could have owned the strat too. I can't see why he would lie about it. Anyway, the details of that guitar are unknown, other than the claim that it exists.

There were a bunch of pre-production models made before regular serial numbers started, and these are a mixed bag of guitars labeled 0001 and pro-1 and other oddball things. Scotty Turner has a 54 labeled pro-1 with a date that is probably in the first few prototypes. It is really hard to nail down which was first, as the serial numbers jump around in order, many are not conventional numbering, and the location of serial numbers move around, so dating these things in order is really hard. Gilmour has a neck number of 0001, but there is another guitar labeled 0001 on the neck plate stamp. Which is the real 0001? I think most of these details are lost to history. Also, Leo was kind of famous for recycling parts from prototypes back into production runs in the early days, so it is possible to have the first ever neck and number mated to body number 180. He also gave some away to musicians in the prototype phase, and some of these are probably mongrel guitars where the artist might have wanted a fatter neck or something. I think we will never really know which strat is the first, because no one ever expected it would matter in 60 years.
 
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Fender was known for pretty much indiscriminately putting "random" bodies and necks together. This was assembly line like manufacturing, so there was little concern about matching parts. Any Tele neck fit any Tele body and on down the line. There are factory guitars that had bodies and necks dated years apart. The first few years of the CBS ownership of Fender many of the guitars feature pre-CBS bodies and necks (before the obvious headstock remodel for the Strat).

As a result of this stuff, the multiple 0001 serial numbers don't mean a whole lot. One thing going for the Gilmour is the aluminum pickguard. There are some shots of them working on a sunburst prototype with the anodized aluminum guard. What's more decking out your first guitar of new model with the gold hardware to promote at trade shows is right in line with the marketing of the day...and to now I'd guess.
 
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