I love hearing people's guitar stories. I'm interested in hearing your worst Strat horror story (i.e. how you lost a strat, how it was destroyed or any other nightmare that you might know).

I have two:
1. I made the foolish mistake of selling my beloved '87 Strat Plus (a very early one). I traded it for a piece of junk and when I came back to the store the next day to swop back, the guitar was already gone. Never to be seen again.

2. A good friend of mine bought a 3CSunburst strat which he loved dearly. He made the mistake of leaving it in the front seat of his car with the doors unlocked and no case. He might as well have put a big blue light on the roof of his car. He went into a local 7-11 and when he returned it was gone. Time it took to lose guitar: 2 minutes.

The worst thing that's ever happen to my Strat is that I stripped out the whammy bar. I got it fixed, but it took nearly a month to track down replacement parts that worked.

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I found a MIJ 62 reissue in a pawnshop in Okinawa, thought the price was 12000 yen (about $130) went back to get it reread the tag, real price was 120000 yen (about $1300) felt so bummed I couldn't even pick up my cheapo knockoff for a whole day. Should have known it was too good to be true.

I had 4 guitars wrecked by a flood once. I had a 80s or 90s Japanese Strat, A parts-o-caster Tele, a 77 Musicmaster, and a Yamaha nylon acoustic-electric.

The flood was caused by Hurricane Floyd in October of 99. At the time I figured the guitars were destroyed and made no attempt to fix them. They were left alone in a garage for 10 years. Last year I managed to salvage the Musicmaster and the Tele, and I'm currently working on the Strat.

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A friend of mine was at his brother's house party last year. His brother and another guy were all jamming with him. When the party started getting crazy, everyone set down their instruments in a back room. The next morning, they discovered a few of their instruments were missing. Whoever stole it left some expensive amps and an expensive bass guitar but took my friends Heritage 535 and his brother's cheap BC Rich guitar. After I posted a warning on Craigslist about every pawn shop and ebay knowing the serial numbers of the guitars, the theives left the guitars at the end of the driveway of the house where the party was. The BC Rich Warlock was a little scratched, but the Heritage was crushed. What a huge bummer that was!

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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Not a strat, but back in the 80's while moving a couch fell on my original '58 Les Paul and cracked it. At the time it was valued at just under $5000, Gibson wanted almost 1/2 of that to fix and restore it, so sold it to a buddy of mine for $2500. S#@t, wonder what its worth now? Anyone want to ponder a guess.

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The worst thing to happen to one of my guitars was when I had my beloved Squier HM III in a stand, my kids were running around th house and they knocked it off the stand. It hit the table so hard the neck broke around the 4th fret, it broke the pine all the way to the rosewood and splintered it. I took it to the shop to see if I could get a replacement neck for it. They said Squier no longer made the headstock like the one I had, so they glued it back in place. It worked but it had a bump where the joint was and I could not stand to play it anymore. Eventually I had a Warmoth neck built for it. I wish I still owned it, but I traded it for another guitar.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

The worst thing happened to any of my guitars was when I dropped my first electric on a hardwood floor. Literally a chunk of the coating came off, and the wood is visible there. That guitar isn't a strat, so the "worn-in" look doesn't really apply...

Worst thing to happen to my strat was when I noticed some zipper scratches on the tummy cut, and in attempt to cover it up and "relic" it, I used a nail file (!!!) to take off the poly coating! Thankfully this is in the back of the guitar, so no one will really see it when I play, and it doesn't look that conspicuous. Still, every time I look at it, I feel extremely stupid.

back in the day i drink very heavy....anyhow I had a 77" black strat with maple fretboard ....pawned it for a fith of segrams V.O. ....needless to say at the time i didnt have a job so i lost it

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2008 Am. Std. Strat
2008 Am. Deluxe Strat
2010 Am. Deluxe Strat
2011 Am. Std. Strat
2011 Am. Std. Strat
Hot Rod Deluxe
Hot Rod Deville 410

I've told this tale before but In that it's you who are asking, might as well kick in again. In summer 1969 I sent my '58 to what was then CBS-Fender to have it refinished. We were not into playing relics in my time and the guitar needing some tidying up from the dings and bangs of long use. The guitar was returned with the "new" sunburst in which the red band is much more prominent. I thought nothing of it. You should also keep in mind that in this time period Fender's idea of an 'authorized service center" was nothing like what is available these days. Any podunk electrical appliance outfit could qualify and you had to travel far and wide to find one. However, I digress.

I was to learn some 30 years later that the body had not been refinished, it had been replaced. For the record...Mandolin Brothers on Staten Island took this guitar apart to authenticate it for an appraisal and it was from them that I received the news. The neck remained original.
Doc

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"Another day in paradise!"

Hi Newwt,considering that a 58 Les Paul Standard with a figured maple top can command as much as $275,000 + in mint condition even with a crack your guitar would still be worth a big hunk of change.I made the mistake in 1975 of letting a friend refinish my 65 sunburst Strat.Since the guitar was only 10 yrs old I saw no harm in letting him do it never dreaming that today it could be worth $30,000.Long story short he made a balls of it and stripped off a fair amont of the wood trying to remove the finish.NEVER do anything to a guitar that has even a remote chance of becoming a classic.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

You did tell that tale once before if memory serves me correctly and we agree on your closing remarks. Hindsight is foresight in this regard. There's no way in 1969 that we were foreseeing what we know now and the company itself was going to hell in a hand basket.

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"Another day in paradise!"

My house burned down in July 2009, all 6 of my Strats (MIM, and Squier) and the Power Chorus amp I'va had for years were lost.

But you were not. And we have your valuable contribution as a member of the Forum.
Doc

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"Another day in paradise!"

That's the only reason I'd want an American Strat, just because they have the chance to be valuable over MIM/MIJ/MIK guitars....

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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