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Post subject: Prototype Strat body
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:40 pm
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The April '08 issue of Vintage Guitar magazine, besides a nice article about Mick Taylor (the best guitarist the Rolling Stones ever had), has an article called "Pieces of a Prototype" which tells a bit of the story of what is probably the first Fender Strat body with the classic synchronized tremolo.

There's no link to the magazine article, but there is this web site:

http://soundlogic-usa.com/electron/FDP/fdp229a.html

It's been reported that the first trem system that Leo Fender designed for the strat did not work very well. There are no pictures of it or details besides it being somewhat like the trem that ended up on the Jazzmaster. The second try was the trem system we've known and loved. A photo of the prototype guitar with the new trem has shown up in Stratocaster history book(s).

The magazine article tells how the body ended up in the family of the current owner. We've all heard stories about how Leo would never throw anything away, and this body got reused.

It was painted over the years, but the owner has been trying to restore it to the condition it was in when his father acquired it. This makes identification easier, because in the known photos the body was bare wood. The above link allows the viewer to compare the "fingerprint" wood grain patterns (keep in mind that the body has been sanded a few times and is a bit thinner!).

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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:49 pm
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interesting find


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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:55 pm
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citizenerased wrote:
interesting find


Yes. It was cool that it resurfaced a couple years ago. This body would be the oldest (verified) strat body known to exist.

I'm not sure if this is the body of the "Bill Carson" strat -- the prototype strat that Bill was given to try out.

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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:00 pm
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citizenerased wrote:
interesting find


nice


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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:40 pm
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Good find indeed. That looks like the first production prototype Strat to me, Leo's personal, a 54 I think.

I have read that the first Strat prototypes actually had zero contours, basically a double cut tele.


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Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:15 am
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anyone rember a meber called 53strat??

well that is his guitar!

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Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:24 am
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Yes it is 53strat's 1953 (probably) strat body. He's also called JMPRO on other Fender Forums. But I think he decided to stop posting here.

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Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:25 am
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It's great that it still exists. It just worries me that it's sitting in someones house and not in a museum with proper security and fire protection.
And i'm not sure why it bothers me that it's someone who would choose THAT carpet :)

-Eddie


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Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:44 am
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According to the owner the original neck was put onto a tele...and later sold (that's why the '05 neck).

EDIT: Here's a pic of the tele with the strat neck (bottom of the page).

http://soundlogic-usa.com/electron/FDP/fdp229d.html


Last edited by Sandwich on Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:49 am
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One more thing.....in the link on the bottom of the post, if you look on the first pic, the bottom of the bridge plate has beveled screw holes. This is the same design that Callaham uses for their bridge plates, as their design is superior.
So could that also be a prototype bridge?

http://soundlogic-usa.com/electron/FDP/fdp229c.html

Here's the bridge plate that Fender used from day one on strats....
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And here's the Callaham bridge plate...
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Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:53 am
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orvilleowner wrote:
Yes it is 53strat's 1953 (probably) strat body. He's also called JMPRO on other Fender Forums. But I think he decided to stop posting here.


Yeah. He showed up, made his first coy posts about the guitar, waited for the outpouring of amazement, and when somebody (namely me) expressed the slightest doubt that the guitar was real (mostly because he had withheld information that might have led people to believe so), he got all prickly, and when a few other forum members told him he was acting like a bit of a jerk, he flew into a rage and stomped off..

From my point of view, this prototype is no more important to this world than the newest body in Warmoth's showcase. What is this, some kind of religion, with anything Leo touched a holy relic? The gear doesn't mean a thing. Only the music that gets made with it is important.

I kind of wish everybody who has some kind of fetish for gear would give up on guitars and go collect model trains or wine or something. :D


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Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:24 pm
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It's not religion, it's history. History is worth preserving and by someone who knows what they are doing. The most damage that is done to "old things" is done by people who are trying to "restore" them but don't know what they are doing.

-Eddie


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Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:17 pm
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Very interesting find. That old strat is almost as old as me and brother, that's getting old...


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Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:25 pm
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Gravity Jim wrote:
orvilleowner wrote:
Yes it is 53strat's 1953 (probably) strat body. He's also called JMPRO on other Fender Forums. But I think he decided to stop posting here.


Yeah. He showed up, made his first coy posts about the guitar, waited for the outpouring of amazement, and when somebody (namely me) expressed the slightest doubt that the guitar was real (mostly because he had withheld information that might have led people to believe so), he got all prickly, and when a few other forum members told him he was acting like a bit of a jerk, he flew into a rage and stomped off..

From my point of view, this prototype is no more important to this world than the newest body in Warmoth's showcase. What is this, some kind of religion, with anything Leo touched a holy relic? The gear doesn't mean a thing. Only the music that gets made with it is important.

I kind of wish everybody who has some kind of fetish for gear would give up on guitars and go collect model trains or wine or something. :D


I can't imagine why Jerry would leave this forum after such a warm welcome from Gravity Jim.

I believe Jerry does have a real piece of Fender history that is obviously authentic if one looks at the photographic evidence, and I hope it is eventually preserved for all of of the Fender "fetish" folks to enjoy.

If Jim is right there would be no market for fender Custom Shop models and no reason for museums of any kind to exist; To say "the gear doesn't mean a thing. Only the music...is important" is like saying only tire tracks matter and the cars that make them are all alike and all unimportant.

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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 6:37 am
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Gravity Jim is correct. 53strat did withhold information on the guitar and then the owner of the prototype got all insulting and arrogant. Fender Strats were not officially released until 1954. It's a prototype. There were probably many. Most get destroyed. Prototype's are made for everything, guitars, cars, toasters etc. Is it a piece of history? Depends on how you look at it. I would consider the Strat or Tele with the first serial number more important. The Tele, Mustang, Jaguar, Jazzmaster all had prototypes too. Les Paul had "The Log" It is a prototype of a mass produced product. If Leo thought it was of historical importance, why did he give it away and not save it as a "museum piece." Prototypes are an evolving process to work out design flaws.

The problem was the sheer arrogance of 53strat. It took away from the interesting nature of the guitar. If he would have explained the whole situation from the beginning, none of the insults would have happened.


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