A friend of mine found out that "old guitar" he had was a '57 Strat

What a find!


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He also has an old early '50's Fender Harvard amp, which I've not heard of before.

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He's wanting to sell it to a player - not a collector. I'm not trying to sell it here - just sharing the story. Its been presented to some big name players in Nashville and he's waiting to hear back.

Wow.

I'm familiar with the Harvard, but damn that is a rare find. Not a common amp at all.

Also, just wow again - the guitar is incredibly clean.

fender harvard: the sound of the old stax records tunes..

what a beautiful pair.. i'd love to see some real high-def close-up shots.

That's just brilliant! :smile:

Man, thats incredible! Did you get a chance to play it?

Wow indeed. I have one of the last harvards made, a 1961 a couple hundred serial #'s
from the last one listed for those amps. It's a wonderful sounding amp. The tweed
vibrolux was the same amp with the tremolo.

I sometimes daisy chain my harvard with 2 6G2 princetons to get the steve cropper tone.
It really nails that tone with a tele.

That strat is mouthwatering indeed.

Neat, great year!

That friend better buy you a beer with all his new money!

I would like to say that I'm jealous but if I got my hands on that set up, I would lock it up and never use it because it's simply too cool for me. Congrats to your friend on that. I hope someone 'famous' gets it so we can all hear it really being played on an album in the not too distant future. Duke Levine, Vince Gill, etc. that guitar and amp both look like they've got some mojo.

Incredible!

Did a clinic once with Ray Flacke and he was using a Harvard. Un-mic'ed, it kicked my Music Man 65-115 into the ditch (could have been partly the skills of Mr. Flacke, too...)

*FAINT*

Man !!! Now I have to leave work and go home and change my pants

I'd say NICE
but it would be an understatement

Man, thats incredible! Did you get a chance to play it?

If not has the pizza delivery guy played it yet? :mrgreen:

Wow! Anyone have an estimate of the value of this guitar and amp? Ballpark?

Cool story.

I've never been much of a Strat guy myself, but I have a friend who owns a 54 Strat. I played it and it was amazing, both the sound and feel.

And, hey, thanks for getting me gassing for a tweed again! :twisted:

He's wanting to sell it to a player - not a collector.
Kudos to your friend. Too many of these wind up locked away in some collectors vault, many overseas. Rare guitar collectors should consider doing what rare violin owners do, loaning them to master players.

It may have been built on my birthday. I think I should be "presented" with it for a nominal consideration.

Man, thats incredible! Did you get a chance to play it?

I did not. He lives in Austin, TX, and I'm in Nashville. I did not even know he had the Strat. He's a film maker who used to work on guitars back in the 60's (that's actually Carlos Santana's strap on the guitar in the picture, but he has no way to prove it - he used to work on Carlos' guitars in San Francisco back in the 60's and my friend had made a few straps - Carlos saw one of them, wanted it, and traded him his strap for the home made one).

Someday I want to play a vintage Strat and a vintage Tele. Not some 70's thing that people call "vintage," a real one from the 50's through mid 60's.

I played a '57 Gold Top LP once that was other-worldly and need to try a Tele & Strat, too.

Thanks for the pics.

Beautiful amp and guitar! I want to hear the story of how he got the guitar and how he found out it was a 57.

wait a minute, here ... how could anybody in their right mind own a real '57 Strat and not know it ??? !!! ... i mean, i might find an old cheap stomp box around the house that i forgot i had that might be worth 20 bucks on a good day !!!

wait a minute, here ... how could anybody in their right mind own a real '57 Strat and not know it ??? !!! ... i mean, i might find an old cheap stomp box around the house that i forgot i had that might be worth 20 bucks on a good day !!!

Especially someone who worked on guitars???

wait a minute, here ... how could anybody in their right mind own a real '57 Strat and not know it ??? !!! ... i mean, i might find an old cheap stomp box around the house that i forgot i had that might be worth 20 bucks on a good day !!!

No, I can see it.

Some folks build a mental picture around an old possession based upon how precious (or not) it seemed to him and others back a long time ago.

A friend of mine got a '60 Pontiac convertible, very sweet low mileage original from a fellow who'd inherited from his Dad. The seller always had mixed feelings about it because his Dad had had a '55 Thunderbird before that and had traded the T-bird on the Pontiac - he saw the '60 as a bust because he'd a liked to have had a T-bird. The seller never stopped in 51 years seeing the Pontiac as a "mistake" and he let it go cheap and he never gave it a second thought.

People never used to go nuts for stuff like this - it was nasty old stuff and many is the daughter who threw her Dad's Strat away without thinking twice. Sometimes that 50 year old attitude is there and it takes a LOT to move that old attitude aside.

Awesome!

But I don't like the Tobacco Sunburst finish...:(

Oddly enough I believe I saw this guitar and amp and talked to the guy at Austin Vintage Guitars yesterday. He was there to put it on consignment. Small world :)

wait a minute, here ... how could anybody in their right mind own a real '57 Strat and not know it ??? !!! ... i mean, i might find an old cheap stomp box around the house that i forgot i had that might be worth 20 bucks on a good day !!!

Especially someone who worked on guitars???

OK, try to look at it this way. This guy did work on guitars - in the 1960s. He Bought this guitar used for $150 - in the early 1960s. When he bought it, he just knew it was a used Fender Strat - back then it wasn't that big of a deal what year it was made because Pre-CBS did not yet exist and there wasn't a demand for Pre-CBS guitars.

He changes careers - in the 1960s. Becomes a film maker. Does not visit guitar shops. Does not surf the internet about guitars, participate in guitar forums, etc. He just has an old guitar in the house. Its been 50+ years since he bought it and 40+ years since he worked on guitars. He's not in the loop on the value of old Fenders.

Make sense?

Oddly enough I believe I saw this guitar and amp and talked to the guy at Austin Vintage Guitars yesterday. He was there to put it on consignment. Small world :)

That is a small world. If you got to talk with him, you know what a cool guy he is.

OK, try to look at it this way. This guy did work on guitars - in the 1960s. He Bought this guitar used for $150 - in the early 1960s. When he bought it, he just knew it was a used Fender Strat - back then it wasn't that big of a deal what year it was made because Pre-CBS did not yet exist and there wasn't a demand for Pre-CBS guitars.

He changes careers - in the 1960s. Becomes a film maker. Does not visit guitar shops. Does not surf the internet about guitars, participate in guitar forums, etc. He just has an old guitar in the house. Its been 50+ years since he bought it and 40+ years since he worked on guitars. He's not in the loop on the value of old Fenders.

Make sense?

Yes.

OK, try to look at it this way. This guy did work on guitars - in the 1960s. He Bought this guitar used for $150 - in the early 1960s. When he bought it, he just knew it was a used Fender Strat - back then it wasn't that big of a deal what year it was made because Pre-CBS did not yet exist and there wasn't a demand for Pre-CBS guitars.

He changes careers - in the 1960s. Becomes a film maker. Does not visit guitar shops. Does not surf the internet about guitars, participate in guitar forums, etc. He just has an old guitar in the house. Its been 50+ years since he bought it and 40+ years since he worked on guitars. He's not in the loop on the value of old Fenders.

Make sense?

Makes total sense. When I worked for stores, I once bought a '54 (for the store, with the store's money, not for myself) that walked in off the street.

Guy was retiring, and he and his wife wanted to buy an RV and were trying to come up with cash for a down payment. He'd sold off some other things, and now was getting rid of the guitar. Here's his story-

He comes bopping in when we opened Sunday at noon. With a raggedy, but not destroyed tweed case. My radar immediately went off, like it was trained to. I was the "vintage guy" then. I approached him, and we talked about it. He's got an old Fender Stratocaster. how old? He doesn't know, but a really old one, and he knows they're worth money. Where did he get it? He bought it off a neighbor who needed cash to bail his son out of jail. When was that? Around '64 or '65 probably. Does he play guitar? A little. Likes to jam with some friends sometimes, but doesn't gig at all. Figures the guitar is worth some money, he and the wife want an RV, so he's gonna sell it. How much does he want for it? He says he won't be scammed, he's been talking to an "expert", his church band leader, and he won't be ripped off. No way is he taking less than $2,000 for this guitar. No way.

So I open it up, and get a lump in my throat. '54, really clean, center pocket case, the whole nine. Some wear, but nothing bad. Volume knob has crumbled, but the pieces are in there. Trem bar, cover, back cover, all the parts are there, nothing missing. I take him in the back and walk him through removing the neck and pickguard to varify everything, when he wants to know why we have to do that, I tell him the guitar is indeed worth a lot of money, and I can't buy it if I don't authenticate it.

We get done, and I tell him I will not give him $2000 for it. He gets huffy, understandably, and asks why not. I tell him because I have to give him $9000 for it. He freaks out, and says "That guitar is worth $9000?!?" I say no, the guitar is worth about $15000 (this was many years ago), but I have to buy at whole sale, that's just business. He went for a walk. It took him more than an hour to make up his mind, but he sold it to me.

The point is, the guy was sitting on this guitar, and had NO IDEA what it was worth, or how special it was. We're guitar nuts. To us, a vintage guitar is a big deal. To many people, it's just an old thing. Which is why I contend there are still some real beauties out there under beds, couches, or tucked away in attics and storage units. Probably not a ton of them, but they are still out there. I believe it.

I'm also not screaming "FAKE!!!" whenever something unbelievable pops up. If it's one thing I learned from working in the vintage business for several years, it's that you just never know. Not until you really dig into it. There's no such thing as an unrealistic wear pattern. there's no such thing as one that's "too nice" or "too clean". And sometimes, when the guy with the '59 burst or the '54 strat seems to be clueless, he really is.

great story Jakedog! thanks for sharing, and kudos to you for not taking the guy to the cleaners . . . good karma!

So this guitar is at Austin Vintage Guitars? Hmm....I'm may go take a looky look tomorrow.

Wow! Simply GORGEOUS!!

Oddly enough I believe I saw this guitar and amp and talked to the guy at Austin Vintage Guitars yesterday. He was there to put it on consignment. Small world :)

So what's the price on it??

The last time I was at Elderly, about three years ago, an old guy walks in with a cream tolex case. Inside was an Olympic white Strat. He wants to sell it. Frog wasn't in that day so they ask him to leave it and come back.
I couldn't tell if it was real or a reissue without being too nosey.
A few days later it was listed on their site for $50k and gone the next day.

So this guitar is at Austin Vintage Guitars? Hmm....I'm may go take a looky look tomorrow.

Me, too.

Anyone that does not know an old guitar could be worth money must not watch TV.

Anyone that does not know an old guitar could be worth money must not watch TV.

Ah, TV.

Don't miss it.

Ah, TV.

Don't miss it.

So, Boris, does that mean you might have an old guitar laying around you might like to sell me, CHEAP? :mrgreen:

Anyone that does not know an old guitar could be worth money must not watch TV.

I've been in this guy's very cool house. And yes, you are correct. No TV.

No, I can see it.

Some folks build a mental picture around an old possession based upon how precious (or not) it seemed to him and others back a long time ago..

People never used to go nuts for stuff like this - it was nasty old stuff and many is the daughter who threw her Dad's Strat away without thinking twice. Sometimes that 50 year old attitude is there and it takes a LOT to move that old attitude aside.

+1
I read this as he didn't know it was a '57, not that he didn't know he had it lol( although it WAS the 60's)if he did know NBD, in 67 that was a 10 year old USED guitar, same as a 02 A. Standard today.
Tweed amp ?
What did Neil Young buy his Deluxe for $50...used amp, people use to paint 'em black..

I check the "shop goodwill" site from time to time, and while most of it is low end stuff, I'm amazed at how much good stuff pops up.
I know you can take it off your taxes, and they come & take it away, but really...you don't want the 1k or so a dealer would give you for a 50s j45?
But to many people thats just a old guitar, get I t out of here.

Anyone that does not know an old guitar could be worth money must not watch TV.

nope, don't have one, they all just stopped working one day, so I stopped watching them:grin:

Awesome... what a great set.