Thats just cool.

Wouldnt trade my lipstick red for anything..but for a half second I thought about that blue..okay maybe a whole second..really nice!

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Mona
"Music is What Feelings Sound like"

Holy crap

Icestorm is the perfect strat color. It just is. That guitar is stunning Xhefri!

Also, thanks for your contributions to the forum. You're good people.

What a stunning guitar. Truly amazed.

I am glad to finally hear the full side of your story Xhefri. That's what I was waiting on. Now back to this Blue guitar, those are my favourite colors on a guitar for me right there. Do you think there are a lot more old Fender guitars hiding in old houses and buildings around America that are waiting to be found, kept hidden for ten's of years. I guess that would be a silly question as every ten years more guitars are added to that number.

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GUITAR: Fender USA JazzMaster.
BASS: Fender USA 58'AVRI
AMP: Fender USA SuperSonicTwin - Blonde.

Beeeeeeeutiful. Amazing in the sun.

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...I for one, sure would appreciate the return of intelligent conversation, spirit of assistance and the simple yet effective ignoring of those who can't seem to hang with that...
Best regards,
rob

Hey Mr Aaronk, This whole matter has been very interesting for me. It once again shows how dangerous it can be to gather a few facts, paint a big picture from those few facts and then try to intimidate some one with that "made up" big picture. A lot of innocent people have been persecuted over the centuries by such methods—that of using a few assumptions to convict the supposed guilty. I could write a lot on this topic! Part of my "demanding day job" is investigating, researching, script writing for TV production. Right now I am in the middle of a documentary and we are interviewing well known scientists in the area of Zoology, Bio-medicine, palaeontology, geology, etc. They supposedly use what is called "The Scientific Method." That is where as many facts are gathered about the topic in question as possible to draw the most scientific conclusion about that topic. But what I have seen is some scientists have an agenda—maybe some pet theory they are wanting to prove. So while supposedly using the Scientific Method, they are in fact looking through colored glasses trying to prove there presupposition. This is what these two (or one) gentlemen have done from the start.

But saying all that, I still have unanswered questions. While there is obvious variation between these guitars. Looking at all the facts on the table so far, I believe these bodies could have been trial runs, proto-types, maybe trying to get the desired look just right, limited release (as several people have started they remember seeing the blue models—two people in this thread in fact). Maybe the owner picked them up from Fender, or worked there and took them home, and some of them were never intended to be sold. We do not know. If I was in Greenheart's shoes and compared the two, I might conclude the same as he. But we need to be open minded all the facts and that there might be something else going on here, rather than the presupposition of a grand conspiracy by this Rod guy and myself. Investigating this whole thing further really intrigues me.

I wish I could see inside the cavities of this supposed "fake" (maybe it is not a fake but a reject from the back room at Fender? We do not really know) to see of there is stickers, like in other Fender bodies. Also what is the date in the neck stamp? Why does the neck socket have the GH written there? Why are all these bodies dated from late 1989 to 1991? I still have a lot of questions. What I would like to do is find out who it was that worked at Fender, years ago, who painted these bodies and interviewing him (much in the same way I did Jeff Lace from Lace Music Company about the history between Fender and their company). That would be really interesting and could lay to rest a lot of our speculations.

Here is another bit of information. When this whole thing started to explode I emailed this Rod guy (tenstarguitars) about this red firestorm body he sold one of these gentlemen, (the one that keeps getting posted). He told me, "The guy you mention is an acquaintance of a buyer - he took the body from the buyer making all kinds of wild accusations and threats...the actual buyer called me as was cool with the whole thing but the other guy wouldn't let it go - I really don't know why he's now going after you. I did refund the cash to the buyer, not because I was "scared", but because I didn't have much in the thing and it wasn't worth the hassle dealing with this other guy." Well I can understand that. Then he explained that the body that was sold was the last of the ones he had from that estate sale and that it was dirty and there was something on the body. He said he used some mild solvent to wash the body down to get the the grime off it. Ok, so could it be this is where the "fresh paint smell" was coming from? When things like this come up I like to try to get everyone's side of the story—The Scientific Method! For now i am done, but it is at least nice to be able to explain some of this in a calm and honest way without name calling and such.

Regarding you question, "Do you think there are a lot more old Fender guitars hiding in old houses and buildings around America that are waiting to be found?" Yes I do. They keep popping up. Like the guitar below. It belonged to an old fellow who is not passed away. He traded a nice acoustic for it back in 1961, from the original owner. He kept it under his bed in his trailer home in New Mexico up till 5 years ago when I got it. The serial number is #A 34719 indicating it was made in late 1959—the very first of the 1960 TD Series. I ended up selling it to a collector in New York for $20,000. So yes these are out there and some even show up on eBay, being poorly advertised. I could tell you a number of stories.

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Great story Xhefri. I admire your ability to keep your cool through all of this.

I always stick up for those who are being unfairly persecuted. X i find what you do very interesting and hope you continue.

Sure, both unusual and truely rare guitars do turn up from time-to-time. Every so often someone gets up with "grandpa's old guitar" and it winds up being a 50s Tele, early Strat, or maybe even a Les Paul (more likely a Jr., but occasionally a goldtop, Custom, or maybe an early SG with the "Les Paul" on the truss rod cover). While most of them are accounted for, there will still even be the occasional "under the bed" discovery of a '58-'60 Les Paul Sunburst, although that occurance is getting pretty rare.

Sometimes these odd one will turn up at a music shop. I'm one of the people who reported seeing an Ice Storm in person. I was living in Akron, Ohio at the time and had a falling out with the Akron Fender dealer. Every so often I would take a vacation day and explore the shops up in Cleveland - some like Lentine's Cleveland location and the Music Center of North Olmstead (who was a Tom Anderson and Valley Arts dealer) I went to often, others I just hit once. In trying to find a different Fender dealer I wound up at a shop that was somewhere on the east side of Cleveland - I remember going up through Twinsburg and Hudson to get there; maybe it was in Aurora but I know it wasn't in Kent. Being as this was back in 1992 or 1993 I just don't remember the name or the exact location; I would have to look through an old Cleveland phone book to jog my memory.

At any rate this place was really the home of odd guitars - you wanted a Les Paul or SG, you were out of luck. If you wanted an Ovation Breadwinner, Yamaha SGB or a Guild X-79 - then you were in the right place. They even had a set of Micro-Frets brand guitars and basses - a USA company that came and went in the early 1970s and had some features that were way ahead of their time like compensated-tuning roller nuts. From the layer of dust on the Micro-Frets they had probably been in stock since 1972. They were, however, an active Fender dealer. They had a few of those 1985 Contemporary models still hanging around and some HM Strats as well as the more common American Standards, Strat Pluses, etc. They had a pair in Ice Storm - a Strat Plus Deluxe and a Tele Plus. While I had seen the Firestorm finish a few places that was the first and only time I ever saw the blue version.

I have no doubt that in some small towns you'll still find an odd music shop that may have something like this hidden away back in their storeroom. The odds are getting lower - the economy has likely forced a lot of places like this to close up, but I'm sure there are still a few around that would have some really unusual pieces.

Great story John. I always have respected your knowledge as you have been around the block a time or two. Speaking of finds in music stores, I came across this NOS Made in Japan DX Telecaster in the Foto-Flame finish. I just do not get how this can happen but a music store in NY had this, still in the box unopened, sitting in the back room. It was delivered to them in 1996! What is up with that? How can a box that size be just left unopened? It could have been, who know what. Too bad it was just a MIJ Tele and not a vintage USA reissue or something! But, yes this kind of thing does happen.

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

+1 brother

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...I for one, sure would appreciate the return of intelligent conversation, spirit of assistance and the simple yet effective ignoring of those who can't seem to hang with that...
Best regards,
rob

If anyone disagrees with the evidence provided on this thread, and the other locked threads.....

Welcome back greenheart/schweeson. You have already been reported to the mods.

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Bill

it's obvious where their heads are.