Guitars That Got Away

If ever there was a Fender Stratocaster that I should have never let go, it is this one. A one off Jon English Masterbuilt that unless you looked at the neckplate you would never know it was not a vintage Strat.

This Gibson Les Paul Standard ’59 Historic Reissue was meant to be owned by Andy Summers of The Police, in fact it was on hold for him, but things do not always go to plan now do they?

I purchased this Ice Blue Matallic Stratocaster and Telecaster set somewhere around 2010 for memory, they are a rare Custom Shop set with serial number 10 of 10 and both are as mint as the day they came out of the Fender factory..

This 1989 Fender Stratocaster American Deluxe was never meant to be anything special, but having let it go, it leaves a lasting memory as it was simply such a good guitar.

These ‘Smith’ Strats were a precursor to the first reissue guitars announced in 1982, and released in 1983. I decided to get a ‘Smith’ Strat and this gold on gold example came up for sale at Mahars Vintage Guitars, USA which I landed for around AUD$2,050.

Somehow, the guitar came out a horrible mustard colour and not anywhere near Shoreline Gold. At this point I had lost all interest in the guitar and sold it to Brad Shepherd of the Hoodoo Gurus.

This guitar was only made in one year, 1975, and was commissioned by the Sam Ash music store chain in the USA. They also commissioned a sparkle blue finish which ran for a couple of years more, so this guitar is pretty rare.

On my first ever visit to San Francisco in the early 1980s, I happened into a Guitar Center store to see what they had in the way of vintage Fender guitars. It was then I spotted this 1963 Strat with the most amazing flamed maple neck.

Thinking back, it was amazing that my first ever Fender Stratocaster was a 1960 Pre L slab board in the gorgeous Candy Apple Red finish! How lucky was I?

This is it, the holy grail of my guitar collecting days, a guitar with so much history within the Australian music industry, it became known as the Johnny Wade guitar and was at one time owned by Martin Rotsey from Midnight Oil.

One day in a vintage guitar store in Sydney, in walks these three Fender Telecasters that belonged to Tim Farris from INXS. The guitars were in for insurance appraisal and we took the opportunity to photograph them.

Upon entering Johnny Wade’s home that was full of interesting old guitars, amplifiers and lap steels, I saw this rather worn old Gibson L-50 Archtop guitar, which he handed to me to play.