The Ultimate Collection

The name, 'Stratocaster,' was intended to evoke images of newly emergent jet-aircraft technology (such as the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress), and to express Fender's modernistic design philosophy. In designing the Stratocaster's body, a significant area of the back of the guitar, and the area where the strumming arm rests, were beveled to accommodate the player's chest and arm. The upper bouts featured two cutaways, for easier access to the higher frets. The new 'Custom Contour Body' and 'Synchronized Tremolo' bridge made the Stratocaster a revolutionary design. The guitar also featured more complex electronics than the Telecaster: a then unheard-of three single coil pickups, each with staggered magnetic poles; a three-way selector switch; one volume knob, and two tone controls. Price G Base

The Collection Click on picture for more information			The not longer Collection Page 2
The Custom was also sometimes called the 'fretless wonder', due to the fact that the fret wire used was flatter and wider than on the Gold Top, which, combined with an ebony fretboard, made it seem easier to play. The Custom was fitted with a standard P90 pickup in the bridge position but a newly designed single coil pickup in the neck position. The new pickup was visibly different from a P90 in that the polepieces were rectangular; it was also louder than a P90. Known as the Alnico pickup due to its use of aluminum/nickel/cobalt alloy, the unit was designed by Seth Lover. More........ Price G Base			Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty 1955
The Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company (now known as Fender Musical Instruments Corporation) developed the first commercial solid-body 'Spanish' (as opposed to 'Hawaiian,' or lap steel) electric guitar in the Telecaster, a simple design whose earliest models were offered under various names beginning in 1950. Though the Telecaster and its variants were successful, many guitar players of the day insisted on using a Bigsby unit, a fairly primitive spring-loaded vibrato device with which players could bend notes up and down with their pick hand. Instead of adding a Bigsby, Fender decided to produce a new, more expensively-made line of guitar with his own design of vibrato. More.... Price G Base			Fender Stratocaster Feiesta Red1963
The Stratocaster appeared in Selmer's UK March 1963 catalogue, priced at 160 guineas (£168) in red or 153 guineas (£160/13 shillings) in sunburst. A case was extra. At these prices most aspiring UK guitarists could only drool at the catalogue or the shop window. Anyone fortunate enough to have bought one then and kept it in A1 condition would have made a very sound investment, with early mint condition instruments now fetching prices in the tens of thousands. Even more desirable to collectors are Strats with the provenance of having been played by their guitar heros More... Price G Base			Fender Stratocaster June 1963
The Fender Stratocaster is no less than one of the most popular, recognizable, influential, and best-selling electric guitars ever made. The Stratocaster was introduced in 1954 and has thrived fundamentally unchanged throughout 47 years of production, becoming the favored instrument of millions of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The Stratocaster—along with another revolutionary guitar, the Gibson Les Paul—stands head and shoulders above any other solid body electric guitar made. Ever. It is a model of good product design. More.... Price GBase			Fender Stratocaster 1964 Olympic White
The name, 'Stratocaster,' was intended to evoke images of newly emergent jet-aircraft technology (such as the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress), and to express Fender's modernistic design philosophy. In designing the Stratocaster's body, a significant area of the back of the guitar, and the area where the strumming arm rests, were beveled to accommodate the player's chest and arm. The upper bouts featured two cutaways, for easier access to the higher frets. The new 'Custom Contour Body' and 'Synchronized Tremolo' bridge made the Stratocaster a revolutionary design. The guitar also featured more complex electronics than the Telecaster: a then unheard-of three single coil pickups, each with staggered magnetic poles; a three-way selector switch; one volume knob, and two tone controls. Price G Base			Fender Stratocaster Sunburst April 1964
Introduction of the three-bolt neck plate with Micro-Tilt adjustment system. Truss rod adjustment switched to the "bullet" style at the headstock instead of at the body end of the neck. Bridge saddles are no longer stamped and bridge becomes a one-piece die cast chrome, replacing the two-piece bridge. Most of these changes occur in late 1971.The Stratocaster fell out of fashion in the mid-sixties, to the point where the Fender company (Leo Fender had sold it to CBS for $13 million in January 1965) reduced its price and considered removing it from their production line. However, Jimi Hendrix and many other blues-influenced artists of the late '60s soon adopted the Stratocaster as their main instrument, reviving the guitar's popularity. More.... Price G Base			Fender Stratocaster Black 1971
In 1959-1967, the Stratocaster was refitted with a rosewood fretboard, as well as color choices other than sunburst, including a variety of colorful car-like paint jobs that appealed to the nascent surfer and hot-rod culture, pioneered by such bands as the Ventures and the Beach Boys. The maple fingerboard discontinued in 1959 was reintroduced as an option in 1967, the guitar could be purchased with either a maple or a rosewood fretboard. Other, often subtle changes were made to the guitars over the years, as though in the spirit of tinkering for which Leo Fender was famous, but the basic shape and features of the Strat remained unchanged. More... Price G Base			Fender Stratocaster Black 1973
As Fender Stratocaster fans around the world anxiously await the unveiling of 2004's 50th Anniversary Stratocaster, what better time to take a look back at the instrument that marked the 25th Silver Anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster. In 1979, Fender celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Stratocaster (introduced in 1954) with the first "anniversary" instrument, and the first Fender instrument to be issued in a pre-determined and numbered, limited quantity .The first 500 or so instruments produced were finished in Pearl White. However, due to the instability of the finish and the checking that resulted, many were recalled and re-finished in Porsche Silver (though Fender refers to it as "25th Anniversary Stratocaster Silver"), the color that was used in the rest of the production run. An example of the checking problem with the Pearl White finish More... Price G Base			Fender Stratocaster Anniversary 1978
Specs: An important transition year. While at the beginning of 1981 the basic model is still the 1976 version, by the end of the year a new model will go into production: the Standard Stratocaster, also known as the Dan Smith Strat, that is clearly a return to pre-CBS design principles: smaller headstock, four bolt neck, and body end truss rod adjustement (no bullet) - it does, however, retain the CBS-style logo decal (see 1982). Note: some transition variations can be found, such as white plastic, four-bolt neck, bullet truss rod adjustment and large headstock. Price G Base			Fender Stratocaster Sunburst1980
The "STRAT", a customized and souped-up variation of the Stratocaster, was introduced by Fender at the 1980 NAMM Show. Designed by Gregg Wilson, then chief of guitar R&D at Fender, with the help of Dan Armstrong serving as a consultant, the STRAT tried to blend classic features with modern electronics to rejuvenate the Stratocaster concept. With the STRAT model, Fender gave a nod to the past by reinstating the smaller 1954-1965 pre-CBS headstock design (however, since the original worn-out tooling was used, the STRAT headstock, though smaller than the CBS era design, was not an entirely accurate re-creation of the pre-CBS model); and, like the 1979 25th Stratocaster Anniversary models, the STRAT was fitted with the popular pre-CBS style truss-rod adjustment and four-bolt neck plate, replacing the CBS Bullet truss rod adjustment and three-bolt neck plate. Price G Base			Fender "The Strat" Red
After a peak in the 1970s, driven by players such as David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, another lull occurred in the early '80s, during which the Fender company cut costs by deleting features from the standard Stratocaster line, despite a blues revival that featured Strat players such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray, and Buddy Guy. However, once the company became independent of CBS, the trend abated with a rise in mainstream popularity for vintage (and vintage-style) instruments. More.... Price G Base			Fender Stratocaster Sunburst 1974
Fender Stratocaster 1979 International Colour. An important transition year. While at the beginning of 1981 the basic model is still the 1976 version, by the end of the year a new model will go into production: the Standard Stratocaster, also known as the Dan Smith Strat, that is clearly a return to pre-CBS design principles: smaller headstock, four bolt neck, and body end truss rod adustement (no bullet) - it does, however, retain the CBS-style logo decal (see 1982). Note: some transition variations can be found, such as white plastic, four-bolt neck, bullet truss rod adustment and large headstock, as seen in the second image below). Also offered this year: the International Color series Strats, of which one, Monaco Blue, is pictured below. Apart from their colors, they're basically a '76 Stratocaster with the exception of the Sahara Taupe model that has a four bolt, no bullet design			Fender Stratocaster 1979
In the midst of its scramble to compete with Fender by developing its radical Flying V and Explorer guitars, the Gibson company likely didn’t realize that Leo Fender was similarly trying to loosen its grip on the jazz guitar market of the late 1950s.At the time, Gibson’s grasp on the segment was indeed firm. Its hollow and semi-hollowbody electrics, along with the introduction of the warm, midrangey humbucking pickup combined to give most jazz players exactly what they were looking for in terms of feel, tone, and playability. Plus, among the sometimes hoity-toity jazzer set, More... Price G Base			Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst1960
When Fender introduced the Jazzmaster in 1958, it was designed to replace the Stratocaster as the top model. It featured a new body shape – the “Offset Waist Contour Body”, that meant to provide a better balance and comfort. The Jazzmaster was an attempt to enter the jazz market, too, so it was equipped with newly designed pickups with a mellower sound than the Stratocaster or the Telecaster, rather like a hollow body guitar. Unlike the single coils of the Stratocaster, the single coils of the Jazzmaster are wide and rather flat, covered in a white rectangular housing. So they pick up a wider area of the vibrating strings and thus their sound is less “pointy”.			Fender Jazzmaster Sherwood Green 1963
So it was that in 1957, Leo began tinkering on a design that would go beyond anything he’d previously attempted. He started by changing the body, giving it different curves and a bit more size. Bouts featured softer corners, and the instrument’s “waist” was offset slightly, so if a player preferred to sit down, it would balance comfortably. Leo believed high-brow or “old-school” players sat dow played, and he wanted the body to be comfortable in the most popular positions for sitting (it must have been an important element, given that the patent application contained drawings of a man sitting in two positions, Jazzmaster snugly in place). He also incorporated the Strat’s beveled back and arm contours, which were key to that model’s popularity. More.... Price G Base			Fender Jazzmaster Olympic White1967
The neck of the Jaguar is a short 24" scale containing 22 frets. A new "Fender First" in the Jaguar is the Fender Mute. This movable string mute is attached to the bridge and may be activated or disengaged by a light touch of the finger. With the Fender Mute it is no longer necessary to remove the bridge cover and dampen the strings with the hand to shorten the sustaining period of the notes. Other features of the Jaguar are: newly designed wide-range pickups, on-off pickup switches with controls making possible six different tone selections plus standard tone and volume controls, rhythem circuit, Fender "Floating Tremolo", "Off-set" waist design, and adjustable neck truss rod. ." Price G Base			Jaguar 1963 Matching Headstock
The Telecaster was developed by Leo Fender in Fullerton, California, in the 1940s. But like many great ideas, the solid-body electric guitar was created independently by several craftsman and companies over a similar period (roughly 1932-1949), such that any claim of a 'first' demands a great deal of qualification. Leo Fender's Telecaster was simply the right guitar at the right time, and like many other great ideas, it began as an accident. Price G Base			Fender Telecaster Sunburst 1967
In late 1968, Fender introduced the Telecaster Thinline. Much like Gibson's 335, the Thinline has a solid center with hollow "wings" and a single "F" hole.When it was introduced in late 1968, the Telecaster Thinline was offered with either a natural finished ash or mahogany body. In 1969, a three tone sunburst finish was also offered as an option. Also in 1969 the maple cap fingerboard gave way to a one piece maple neck with the back "skunk stripe". Finally in late-1971, the Telecaster Thinline was outfitted with a pair of Fender’s new humbucking pickups and it remained unchanged in the Fender line until it was discontinued in 1980. More.... Price G Base			Fender telecaster Thinline 1976
The Telecaster Custom was an attempt to enter the humbucker market largely dominated by Gibson. Fender's first humbucking design was the wide range humbucker created by Seth Lover, who had overseen the development of the original Gibson humbucker. Lover's Fender humbucker is felt by many to be brighter with more bottom end than his Gibson versions, and a better match for the classic Fender bridge pickup.The original Telecaster Custom was in production from 1972 until 1981. Early examples sported a curly "Custom" logo and "Welsh-hat" vol and tone knobs. Later examples differed; the knobs changed to Stratocaster types, and the "Custom" logo changed to the standard italicized block typeface used for Fenders of the period.			Fender telecaster Custom 1978
Fender introduced Mustang during August 1964. The Mustang model brought new improvements over its Musicmaster and Duosonic counterpart. The Mustang was designed by Leo Fender while he still owned the company. It was based on the Fender Duo-Sonic with the addition of a new bridge assembly, Dynamic Fender Vibrato tailpiece and tremolo arm.Tim Pershing: "The redesign and introduction of the Musicmaster and Duosonic coincided with the introduction of the Mustang (August 1964). I would say that, clearly, the Mustang inspired the redesign of the other student guitars, or the change in design. The earliest production Mustang neck date I've seen is JUL 64.			Fender Mustang Black 1965
The Fender Musicmaster is an electric guitar by Fender, and was the first of their 3/4 scale guitars. Design work on the Musicmaster and a two-pickup version the Duo-Sonic began in late 1955 following a request from the Sales Department. Prototypes were made in early 1956, followed by sales literature announcing both models. Production of the Musicmaster began in late April of that year, using a body routed for two pickups to be common to the Duo-Sonic, which followed a little more than two months later. The Duo-Sonic and Musicmaster also shared a single piece maple neck and fingerboard, with a 22.5 inch scale length and 21 frets.There was one major redesign of these two Musicmaster-bodied guitars, in 1959 when the entire Fender catalog was updated. At this time the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic both received a plastic pickguard in place of the previous anodized aluminum, and a two-piece maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard.			Fender Musicmaster 1978
The Starcaster was a high quality instrument (designed by Gene Fields) manufactured at a time when Fender's standards had lowered considerably. It was commercially unsuccessful, perhaps because of a public notion that Fender was a "solidbody, single coil brand" and Gibson was the "semi-hollow, humbucker brand". Although the Starcaster was semi-hollow and had humbucker pickups, it retained Fender's bolt-on neck design (using a somewhat trouble-prone three-bolt joint that it shared with other Fenders of the time), which may have added to its unpopularity. As a result it was only in production from 1976 or 1977 to 1980 or 1982, depending on sources. It had a unique headstock design, with a painted bottom curve matching the color of the guitar body, that no other Fender guitar has had before or since.			Fender Starcaster 1977
The Fender Coronado is a double-cutaway six-string hollow-body electric guitar. The very un-Fender like instruments were designed by Roger Rossmeisl, who had also designed for Rickenbacker previously, and went on to create numerous models for Fender.Three versions of the Coronado were produced from 1966. The Fender Coronado I was the original single pickup design and the Coronado II, had an added bridge pickup. The Coronado XII was the two pickup model, with twelve stringsThe Coronado II and Coronado XII were also offered in Wildwood finish; a veneer of heavily grained beech, made by injecting chemicals into growing trees, years before harvesting.			Fender Coronado II1966
This was done to make it easier for upright-bass players to make the switch to electric bass. It has three control knobs (instead of the two of the Fender Precision Bass), two of them controlling the volume of the two pickups and one for the overall tone.A fourth, push button control is available on some models of Jazz Bass produced after mid-2003. Known as the "S-1 Switch" this feature allows the pickups to operate in standard, parallel wiring, or alternatively in series wiring when the switch is depressed. Blonde Bassman Fifty: These amps were produced at the same time as the brown amps, but were covered in a white (more like biege) Tolex and had round white knobs. This color scheme was reserved for the new "piggyback" amps (Showman, Bassman, Tremolux, Bandmaster) and the Twin combo. Early blonde Tolex had a rough texture while later amps have a smoother surface. Grille cloth varied with early amps having the brown grille cloth of the tweed amps. Later amps had maroon grille cloth, and the last having a wheat or gold sparkle color. The handle was changed to a brown plastic strap which held up a little bit better than the leather handles Fender had been using for over a decade. More ...			Fender Jazzbass 7 oktober 1965 Fender Bassman Fifty 1965
The originial Fender Bass V was a quirky and unusual electric bass guitar model produced by Fender between 1965 and 1970. It was the world's first five string bass guitar, a popular concept today that, like many of Leo Fender's ideas, was well ahead of its time.The Fender Bass V is unusual in its dimensions: Although it is three inches longer than a P-Bass, the Fender Bass V inexplicably has only 15 frets. A high C string was added to a combination of traditional Fender body designs. (At the time, not much about electric bass construction was traditional because it was still a brand new technology.) Only about 200 Fender Bass V models were produced, before being discontinued in 1970.			Fender V Bass Sunburst 11 January 1966
Ibanez This 1978 Ibanez Custom 2350, made in Japan, features a mahogany body, arched birch top with an ebony finish. It has a laminate maple neck with 22 frets, inlays and a bound Rosewood fingerboard. It also features the original ornate Ibanez bridge and star tuners. This guitar was made in September of 1978, roughlyone year after the infamous Gibson vs. Ibanez lawsuit began.
Ibanez 2342 1976
Manhattan Guitar, 1961 Was made at the Egmond factory which was the main supplier for electric guitars in the Netherlands. This Manhattan model does not have a lot of vintage value but for me its an emotional thing because my father designed it. He was owner of a music shop called Manhattan, and this guitar was produced in the beginning of the 60's. It was made from plywood and used one pickup. I hope to find more of these guitars.
Ibanez SC500AV Nylon Electric Acoustic guitar. Made in 1997 in Japan. This is what they now call a Prestige Model.Finish: Natural, Antique Violin Fretboard: Rosewood Neck: Mahogany Body: Mahogany Back & Sides: Not Available Pickups: Piezo Transducer.See and hear the SC500 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4TkgLnkBs4
Bozo Podunavac (pronounced bo-zho pod oo nav ack) is a Serbian born master luthier / guitar builder who emigrated to the U.S. in 1959. He was raised in Belgrade, Yugoslavia and served his apprenticeship with master luthier Milutin Mladenovic and graduated in 1950. He moved to Chicago, when he came to the US and for a time worked in the repair department of a musical instruments dealer and manufacturer. In 1964 he opened his own shop and began building guitars with his name "Bozo" on the peghead. Bozo apprenticed in the old world tradition of his homeland, and relishes building highly ornate instruments.			Bozo 399-78
Ibanez Artwood AW150 This beautiful guitar was owned by my father. This is the last acoustic Ibanez guitar produced in Japan.Unfortunately Ibanez was forced to move the production to Korea because the production costs increased enormously.. It had a nice solid sprucetop, and Jacaranda Back & side with Mahogany Neck. The sound is warm and bright.			Ibanez AW150
Ovation Legend 1617 Body Type: Deep Bowl Top: Sitka Spruce AAA Bracing: Ovation A Scale Length: 25 1/4" Scale: Fretboard: Ebony, Ivory Binding Fret Inlay: 15 Pearl Bridge: Walnut Rosette: Pickup: Piezoelectric Nutwidth: 1 11/16" Machines: Deluxe 24k Gold Plated Case:			Ovation Legend 1617