This has been evolved into a topic of interest just as it has on several other forums over the last two plus years following the same line of discusion. It's ridiculous that no one has come foward in that time willing to authenticate this body. I am not questioning as to it authenticity because no one could do such over a computer. I do not mean this as a slight to you 53strat because I dont no your station in life but if it were me in over two years of the same line of talking about this on all the forums I would have found the result of its authenticty by now one way or the other. And if one were to tell me it was not authentic or there was no way to prove it I would go to another and ask them and not make it known as to what the first already told me so to not influence . After two plus years it would be done though I may still be lobbying for who knows .

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

53strat,
Have you tried George Gruhn??

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Ignorance IS bliss - and I am the happiest person here!

You are right. I have two companys that I run in addition to some real estate I have to stay on top of and some times the time just gets away from me but, on the other hand I have been in no hurry untill this Christys thing came up.
One thing I have found is that many of the people that claim to be experts on Strats actually have very little depth in their knowledge and when I have to tell them what to look for and where to find the info it seems like they are just possibly not up to the task. A few I have talked to admitted up front that they are not qualified to inspect the piece. Being quite the stubborn guy that I am , up untill now there was no need for "Expert documentation" as I knew what it was and the guitar was not really up for sale so I saw no rush to get this done. My feeling has always been that you look at the pictures Leo took , then you look at my guitar and you say "yep" thats it alright. Just about any body with a lick of sense knows you can't fake the grain of the wood and all the mineral deposits so the pics tell the story and the body and bridge are the only parts that are of any real value.
Another thing I have found is many of the people that claim to vintage guitar lovers are actually lovers of the bottom line. If they can't profit from the piece they have no real interest in it and others I have also run across elitist snobs that think they are the gods of guitar experts.
Also don't discount the fact I got to have my 15 minuets of fame on the internet and unlike John Mayer I have had only a few people want to take shots at me. His ratio being about 50/50, mine being about 3/100. Now someone is going to want to take shots at me for bringing up John Mayer,who I think is a great guitar player by the way and can play my guitar any time he wants.

53strat I've spent a couple of days considering this and just read the latest batch of posts.
CV makes a very valid point. 2years+ with no authentication or valuing. What have you done regards insurance? Such a piece would require insurance. Bet its not covered under home and contents as its not been validated also theres no recipt for it.

This isnt a knock, more a friendly shove in the right direction. Accidents happen and things go wrong. It would be an absolute crime against the strat if that body was lost to the mists of memosry. Nothing more than a few photo's, without being authenticated. As you said before there is a responsibility to owning such a guitar.

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No no and no

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JayRay

Actually I have spent very little time in the last few years looking for verification. There really is nothing to prove, there is only a written verification from some one of stature in the vintage instrument business that is required , if I decide to sell it. I have no great expectations as to what its worth or if its worth very little. What ever money It brings will either go to my estate or in my I.R.A. so it matters not.
Perhaps in my haste I assumed that because of the article in Vintage Guitar magazine and the hundreds of people that have seen the guitar including the folks at Fender, that every one interested in vintage guitars has seen the Strat and knew about it and the story behind it. To you I will apologize, for assuming you had prior knowledge of the subject.

Oh, you are so right. This guitar has been treated like a step child most of its life and been in the closet off and on for over 50 years without any thing going wrong but that was before I actually saw the pictures Leo took and realized what it was. .That was just a few years ago and up untill then I just knew the guitar was a factory mule my dad brought home and not an early prototype and possibly the only one like it in the world.
I have dragging my feet on the Insurance question for some time now and really need to do something about it and that at least partially is why I am stepping up my desire to get this thing Validated.

I have posed a question to Mike on this topic.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

after watching this thread for a while, I'll put in my two cents:

after reviewing the known photos, and the little comparison photo on 53's website, I concur that based on the dead-on grain patterns of it, on top of the numerous other facts 53 has supplied us with, that this guitar is the only legit '53 Stratocaster in the world.

HOWEVER

there is a possibility that this guitar was one produced before the demonstrator Stratocaster given to Eldon Shamblin, who played with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, and was a good friend of Leo Fender. here it is:



(You can also see a better picture of it on page 34 of "The Stratocaster Chronicles")

that was made around February of '54. that means on the chain of prototypes, your Stratocaster could be the Demonstrator made in December of '53 or January of '54.


now, I have absolutely No proof on this. it is just a theory. I also read in "The Stratocaster Chronicles" that the first batch of demonstrators had the precursor to the Tremolo that we know today, which was made of an inferior metal, making the guitar sound very hollow, twangy, and, as Bill Carson put: "Like a damn cheap Banjo!"

so, just curious, do you have any sound bytes of this guitar? just want to hear it.


now, 53, I am not trying in any way, shape, or form, disproving your claims. nor am I agreeing with bigjay or anyone who wouldn't believe you. I am just fascinated by the thought, and am trying to help you authenticate it. I really can't wait to hear from ME about this.

best regards,

Chandler

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For I am very certain that 53's 1953 Fender Stratocaster is indeed an original one. Else he would've been shoved up the ... by Fender representatives a very long time ago.

And probably he wouldn't be bragging about how authentic it is, on so many different websites.

Fender probably asked him to warn them about its sale before he does it, because perhaps fender just wants to trace the item. Besides, it is a very unique guitar. Not just a modified 57, or an aztec gold 56. It's the only ever produced 1953 stratocaster model with different specs.

Just like the original broadcaster.

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One of God's own prototypes. Too weird to live, too rare to die.

+1. could not agree more.

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There are many elements to the story of this old Strat some of which are historical facts and some of which are conjecture based on other documents and papers that bear the dates and and lists of old inventory.
I'll try to keep this short but get some popcorn anyway. All of this info and facts are available in Richard Smiths book "Fender, the sound heard around the world"

Leo started in earnest to build the Strat in early 53. By spring he had the first prototype and and actually geared up for production of that first design. The first one off the production line did not sound right and was said to sound like a cheap banjo. It is said that Leo spent about 6 months trying to save the old design before he trashed it and began from scratch on a new design, I would guess a design he had already been thinking about . It only took a few months before he had the new design and built the first prototype of it. The first prototype had only 3 springs and one must sumize that he figured out it didn't work very well and then went to the 5 spring. There are no factory records or pictures of that first 5 sping guitar that any one knows about.

Now Leo was an amature photograper and actually took some of the pictures that were used in the company catalogs at the time And being the camera nut was , he took a lot of pictures in and around the shop. When Richard Smith asked Leo about many of the old pictures, in spite of his age at the time remembered most all the pictures and when they were taken. It is the picture of the 3 spring prototype that leo told Richard was taken in 53 and was sure about it. There are 2 more pictures of the guitar on pages 128 and 129 that leo told Richard was the same guitar and that those photos were taken in late 53. If Leo was wrong about the dates he took those picture then I would ask why would he be taking pictures of last years old prototype that was abandoned and layed aside a year ago. Probably not likely.
There is no record or pictures of where that guitar was for about a year. Bill Carson suggested that one of the early prototyps went to Canada for at least a few years before they got it back but he dated its return as being in 57 which was a few years after my dad got the guitar in 54. Bill also mentioned in his book that some early guitars were stolden from a storage area but again those guitars went missing in 57, again a few years after my dad got this one.

My dad got the guitar in the later half of 54 when it was given to him by a friend that worked at Fender. The part about it being given to him is what was said in the family at that time but that could have been a cover story my dad used to conceal his G.A.S as he already had 2 Teles and Gibson flat top. My dad had several friends

that worked at Fender and although I am pretty sure who gave him the guitar it could have been someone else.

My dad died in 57 at a fairly young age and I became the foster perent of the old guitar. I was young and stupid and did some things to it I shouldn't have done.

Bill carson was said to have used this guitar in much of his session work at the time but no one can point to a particular recording and say that is it.
The only sound clips I know of are on this album. It was recorded in about 62 and my band did the "Hollywood Surfers" tracks on that album.

The lead guitar on all thoses tracks is the 53 prototype.

awesome, this supports my theory! have you ever considered carbon dating or something similar to check it? this is incredible... to think I was right about it... now the puzzle all fits: your guitar, being made in late '53 as a demonstrator for that year's music trade show, is indeed the Fender of all fenders! Eldon's Stratocaster has been confirmed as the first 5-spring Stratocaster demonstrator. I already knew that one. his is a March of '54 model.

wait a minute... what is your name? I have heard that album many times! always wondered about you guys, and couldn't find any info on your band!

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My band was actually the Rhythm Crusaders. Dick Hug aka Huggy Boy an L.A. disc jocky owned Dub-Tone records. He had bought some Dick Dale tracks and to be abel to market them he needed an album. His producer whom we knew was John Gardel and he called us to fill out the album. We did about 10 tracks as just sesion guys and when the album came out we were billed as the "Hollywood Surfers", not uncomon in those days to have the session guys named on the spur of the moment. We never used that name so that is why your research has turned up nothing.
Here is a pic of my band although not all the same guys as on the album.