1961 Fender Stratocaster real guitar not relic - $17,000 (Sarasota)

1961 Fender Stratocaster real guitar not relic 1 thumbnail

condition: good

make / manufacturer: Fender

model name / number: Stratocaster

QR Code Link to This Post

This one needs a little explanation. My vintage Fender guru told me what the weird stamping on the body actually means. I bought this guitar a long time ago and was told it was a 1961 with new pickups and bridge installed in the 80’s, The PO told me the original pickups had already been changed out and the pots were toast so he installed grey flat bottom pickups and new pots so he could “sound like Jimi”. I took the pickguard off and to be honest thought that I had been swindled because of the numbers and the word “white” stamped on the body. I just assumed it was some sort of aftermarket body and got on with my life. I decided to try to make it sound as close as possible to a stock 1961 so bought some True Vintage 1961 pickups from Fender and replaced the pots with correct indented CTS pots and a correct vintage red dime cap [ not easy to find] . I had the guitar apart on my work area when I had my local vintage guru checking out my 1960. He saw the body and asked if I knew what that meant. He told me that in the 60’s you could send your guitar to Fender and they would repaint it any color you wanted. What they did is stamp the order number and the color on the body, not the serial number. Otherwise the could not get all the parts back on the same body and once it was stripped the guys in the paint shop would know what color to paint it. Sure enough there are vestiges of white under the black that you can see in the neck pocket. This sounded like bullshit but I called Fender and they asked for detailed photos and said that was exactly what they did, who knew. As it stands now it is an original 1961 other than the bridge and electronics but has the most beautiful curled neck that I have ever seen. Personally I think that all these near perfect vintage Strats that seem to be coming out of the woodwork smell very fishy. You know the story, “ my uncle died and we fount it under the bed”. “It belonged to the parish priest who only played hymns”. “My neighbor gave it to me because he had it in the bedroom of his son who died in Nam and they are selling the house”. There is an entire industry of putting these near perfect 65 year old guitars together. See https://www.eddievegas.com/. All I know is that any Strat that was used like it should be by drunk, junkie, drug addict blues players in honky tonk bars in Florida and Texas for 65 years will usually look worse than this. Do you want to jerk off looking at your guitar or play the hell out of it. I thought they were supposed to be valuable because of how they sounded. I have moved out of the country and just need to lighten my load, down to 60 from 250 and just recently decided to sell a few I said I would never sell. I also have a 1959 and 1960 listed. Asking a very fair $17K but will listen to offers. I have owned this guitar about 15 years and the Po says he bought it already beat to hell in 1980 or so. It is not some bullshit relic job. Take a hard look at the neck, wow!

post id: 7907178726

posted: 2026-01-07 16:13

♥ best of ^[?]

reading

writing

saving

searching

refresh the page.