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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:26 am
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Aspiring Musician
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>If Leo thought it was of historical importance, why did he give it
>away and not save it as a "museum piece."

Because at that time he didn't know it would change the face of music. BTW "The Log" IS in a museum now (The Experience Music Project in Seattle).

>Prototypes are an evolving process to work out design flaws.

Thats why they are far more interesting than the production version.


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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:55 am
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I never said the Log wasn't in a museum. The prototype Strat is in some guy's home. Whether or not he'll sell it or put it on display is another story. By the way, Fender and Gibson already knew they were changing the face of music. Gibson, Martin and many other manufacturers have instruments on display either in on-site museums or other locations. Some include prototypes and Patent Applied For pieces. Fender actually sold the Broadcaster prototype to a private collector that was on display in the Fullerton museum in 1994 for $375,000. It's all about the money.


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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:51 am
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63supro wrote:
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.


I just did several searches looking for the original posts using 53strat or 53 strat as author and the topic/message strings and got no results - not even these recent posts - so I must be doing something wrong.

Reading Jerry's first post on the FDP site in Feb 2005, I don't see anything I would call arrogance there.

He wrote:
"I have a very early 54 strat{3 spring trem w/ narrow spring route} that was assembled on our kitchen table by George Fullerton and my father. The parts were all right out of the parts bin, no finish on the body, no chrome on the bridge or the neck plate.The neck was finished, so there might have been a # on it but i transfered the neck to a tele i was playing a few years later and in the early sixtys sold the tele with the strat neck on it.{ if you see a 62 tele with a strat neck on it for sale - snap it up
] I am now trying to restore the strat to as close to its original condition as i can but can't see the high price for an original 54 neck . I spoke with Fender custom shop and they expressed some interest in maybe suppling a ri neck but have'nt called me back yet. I know 1 of the pups is original and maybe 2 of the pots. The pickgaurd is original although it has been altered. The trem cover is not original although it is old. so what would you do? JMPRO"

Is this similar to the post referred to as "coy"? What information was thought to be withheld from this forum?

That Leo Fender took photographs of a guitar with this body (later published in the book "Fender - The Sound Heard Around the World") indicates to me that this body was an important step in the development of the Stratocaster design, and I think we all agree on the significance of the Stratocaster in music history; well almost all of us.

That it survived appears to be a chance happening, but that it did seems to me to be an important a piece of Fender history on par with the Bill Carson strat, the first production model, and all the famous strats played by famous people who came after.

There is a long history of prototypes being destroyed in development stages and only later being valued when the product achieves classic status and folks become interested in its evolution. Is the history important for current production? Perhaps not to the kid buying his first car or his first guitar, but I think the world would be a poorer place without an appreciation for the history of designs and products that pass the test of time to be come classics.

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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:51 am
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I just meant to say that they didn't know they would be something that would belong in a museum way back then. I don't think they knew that this design was going to be the one that would "stick", and from what I understand it didn't at first.


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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:57 am
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It wasn't like that post at all. He pretty much attacked Jim's reading skills along with a bunch of other stuff that I don't feel like getting into. It seemed almost like a personal attack. Look, 53strat might be a nice guy, but that wasn't demonstrated in his post. Edit...Looks like the powers that be may have deleted the whole thread.


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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:10 am
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quote="63supro"]


I just did several searches looking for the original posts using 53strat or 53 strat as author and the topic/message strings and got no results - not even these recent posts - so I must be doing something wrong.

[/quote]

here you can find all of his posts....
http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... le&u=96509

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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:59 pm
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bluestube wrote:
quote="63supro"]


I just did several searches looking for the original posts using 53strat or 53 strat as author and the topic/message strings and got no results - not even these recent posts - so I must be doing something wrong.



here you can find all of his posts....
http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... le&u=96509[/quote]

Thanks for that link. (Not sure why a search didn't find those posts.)

Now I see how things got out of hand and it is a shame. Jerry posted a picture of his guitar in response to the thread title "vintage strats are firewood man!" with the caption "Fire wood? probably not", and folks jumped on his user name signature and made assumptions about the picture without asking any questions. That's how wars start, and it did start a small war of words in that thread.

The post I quoted earlier from the FDP site in 2005 was before Jerry knew he had a documented prototype body and by Nov 2007 when he posted the picture in the "firewood" thread his guitar had been confirmed as such; too bad folks got blunt about displaying their "knowledge" and the hackles went up before they could discover or explain the truth of the situation.

This is still an important piece of history and I hope the article in Vintage Guitar gives the story a wider audience.

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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:47 pm
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Phil that link didn't work either. Just search firewood and you'll find the wule thread.
I did find it though.
PostPosted: 04 Feb 2008 20:23 Post subject: Reply with quote
I will asume some of you are not stupid and probably can read. Put down the bong and get Richard Smiths book "Fender, the sound heard around the world" And read about when the prototype guitars were built and see the pictures on pages 127 & 132 of that book . The guitar I have was built in 53 and photographed by Mr. Fender himself. The pictures were found in Mr. Fenders files when Richard was doing research for his book. A few of you need to read a little history before you profess to be experts in the field. The guitar is going to be featured in Vintage Guitar magazine in the next few months.
53 STRAT

It is a shame it got to this. Looking at the guitar without a ccomplete explanation, it looks like something my son built.


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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:51 pm
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63supro wrote:
Phil that link didn't work either. Just search firewood and you'll find the wule thread...It is a shame it got to this. Looking at the guitar without a ccomplete explanation, it looks like something my son built.


Oops, the link worked for me in blusetube's post, but when I replied using the quote button the word quote got added into the link.

I agree the picture didn't look like a typical factory strat finish, but then it didn't look like one when Leo first built it. If your son can build guitars that look like Jerry's I'd say he is pretty talented. Suppose you could get him to build me one? :lol:

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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:02 pm
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He's still messing with one for me. I'm not holding my breath though. :D


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