Earliest Fender strat up for sale..

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Jimmi

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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: Gruhn Guitars


Sorry George, you should have paid more attention at this weekend's Nashville guitar show....Nashville Vintage has you beat by almost 50 guitars.

Super clean '54 Strat with original poodle case:

.
13048256745_b93d128876_z.jpg
 

geochem1st

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Sorry George, you should have paid more attention at this weekend's Nashville guitar show....Nashville Vintage has you beat by almost 50 guitars.

Super clean '54 Strat with original poodle case:

.


Nope.

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, .....
 

geochem1st

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Lol....I didn't read carefully enough. I thought it was a plate stamped guitar.

Btw, these supposedly are not as good as the '55s for what it is worth.


In this particular case, that info is worth nothing. This guitar is the first of it's kind. That's what matters.
 

slapshot

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'54 has an A+ collector rating
'55 has an A

'55 same specs as a production '54 except

1955 Fender Stratocaster guitar specs:

Peghead edges are less rounded, and more sharp.
By mid-1955, the round string holes in the rear tremolo cover are changed to oblong holes.
Tremolo block has more squared sides.
Front edge of bridge saddles (closest to the nut) are longer.
Bobby Lee strap pad is banana shaped.
Tremolo bar's bends are less pronounced.
White pickguard now has a shiney backside.

make **** all difference really
 

Jimmi

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'54 has an A+ collector rating
'55 has an A

'55 same specs as a production '54 except

1955 Fender Stratocaster guitar specs:

Peghead edges are less rounded, and more sharp.
By mid-1955, the round string holes in the rear tremolo cover are changed to oblong holes.
Tremolo block has more squared sides.
Front edge of bridge saddles (closest to the nut) are longer.
Bobby Lee strap pad is banana shaped.
Tremolo bar's bends are less pronounced.
White pickguard now has a shiney backside.

make **** all difference really

I think the 55 had different wood bodies or something ton adress overly bright tone of the '54 to my memory. Not sure how true it is as I am not that big of a Strat fan but that seems to be the consensus.
 

Svet

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Here I am gassing for a Danelectro that is finished with vinyl tape!
 

colchar

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Sorry George, you should have paid more attention at this weekend's Nashville guitar show....Nashville Vintage has you beat by almost 50 guitars.

Super clean '54 Strat with original poodle case:

.
13048256745_b93d128876_z.jpg


You might want to check your facts.......
 

Big John

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I've played three '54 Strats in my life; one at Dave's Guitar Shop, one in Tacoma, and one in Davenport, Iowa. I remember the necks on all three felt amazing in the hand. Why Fender stopped using that neck profile, I'll never know.
 

martin H

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I'm pretty sure thats not "the first strat ever made" Local legend aroud here says that that belonged to deceased western swing guitarist Eldon Shamblin, who was given it to test by Leo Fender before the guitar was commercially sold. That one went to a collector in somewhat dubious circumstances after Shamblin died. There's a picture of it about one third of the way down this link
Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys: Eldon Shamblin
 

Shadowplayer

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I've played three '54 Strats in my life; one at Dave's Guitar Shop, one in Tacoma, and one in Davenport, Iowa. I remember the necks on all three felt amazing in the hand. Why Fender stopped using that neck profile, I'll never know.

what was the neck profile? isnt it that soft C shape?
 

lineboss58

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Also the first strats to go into production did not have the same floating bridge as the ones that are now associated with the guitar.
 

LtDave32

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Well, If Dave Gruhn, world-renowned expert on such matters insists that it is the first made, I'm believing it.

If he says "It's among the first made", then there's some wiggle room.
 

slapshot

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there was 107 strats made between May & September in 1954 and they had numbers on the trem cover.They started at 0100 and went to 0207.
Factory production started in October and they used the neck plate stamp.
How's this even up for debate it's the first? :laugh2:
gonna split hairs & say the prototypes were first?that's ridiculous nitpicking

Also the first strats to go into production did not have the same floating bridge as the ones that are now associated with the guitar.

what did they have :hmm:
cause this is the bridge from the '53 prototype
MVC-002S.jpg
 

LtDave32

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there was 107 strats made between May & September in 1954 and they had numbers on the trem cover.They started at 0100 and went to 0207.
Factory production started in October and they used the neck plate stamp.
How's this even up for debate it's the first? :laugh2:
gonna split hairs & say the prototypes were first?that's ridiculous nitpicking



what did they have :hmm:
cause this is the bridge from the '53 prototype
MVC-002S.jpg

That's pretty much it, right there. I'm goin' with what's documented and numbered.

Slappy, you seem to be well-versed in this. After trem cover #207, did they start with a neck plate stamp of 001?
 

slapshot

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not really just what I've read.I was a bit asleep earlier though I haz made error ...

107 trem plate strats were made between March & May (0100-0207)

Neck plate strats are started in May/June and they started with 0001

Fender Sales takes over the selling of strats when order #242 (100 strats) is delivered 13th October

But yeah bottom line is strat 0100 is the first non-prototype/available for sale/demo/preproduction/artist/factory direct strat known/made/available ect.

Between March & October the strat is pretty much hand made which accounts for the varying little inconsistencies they get with solid specs & factory assembly line starting in October.

I don't care for any other stratocaster other than a '54 style
ash body - thick neck - alnico 3 pickups

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irI8A_Ehmw0]1954 Fender Stratocaster 01035 - YouTube[/ame]
 

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