Under The Bed for Forty Years.

1969 Fender Stratocaster.

This absolutely like new Candy Apple Red Stratocaster weighs 7.80 lbs. and has a nut width of 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Solid alder body, contoured on back and lower bass bout, one-piece maple neck, and veneer rosewood fretboard with 21 frets and pearloid dot position markers. Single "butterfly" string tree with nylon spacer. Large headstock with decal logo with "Fender" in black with gold outline, "STRATOCASTER" in black beside it, "WITH SYNCHRONIZED TREMOLO" in black below it, and two patent numbers "2,741,146" and "3,143,028" below that. Fender "F" closed-back tuners with octagonal metal buttons. Four-bolt neck plate with serial number "262143" between the top two screws. Three single-coil light grey bottom pickups with staggered polepieces and nicely matched outputs of 5.55k, 5.54k, and 5.63k, respectively, each one with "9319" stamped in black on underside. Three-layer plastic pickguard (white/black/white) with mother-of-pearl on underside and eleven screws. Three controls (one volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch, all on pickguard. White plastic Stratocaster knobs with greenish gold lettering. Fender "Synchronized Tremolo" combined bridge/tailpiece. The neck is stamped "22 JUN 69 B"; the potentiometers are all stamped "137 6618" (CTS May 1966). There are just four tiny surface chips (three of them slightly larger than a match-head), one on the lower treble edge by the waist, one on the lower treble edge near the strap pin, and two very tiny ones on the lower treble edge near the strap pin. There is some very slight fret-wear to the first three frets only (hardly noticeable on the third) and two small indentations in the fretboard between the first and second frets. With all that miniscule triviality said, this guitar is so mint - it is unbelievable. The color is rich and vibrant and shows no sign of fade whatsoever. By far the finest Candy Apple Red Stratocaster of any year that we have ever seen - A 9.50 rating does not do this guitar justice! Complete with the original tremolo arm, bridge cover, instruction manual with matching serial number, case key and a contemporary? Fender Guitar Strap, which is still sealed in the original plastic wrapping. Housed in its original Fender black hardshell case with black leather ends and dark orange plush lining (9.50).

One does not have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out the 'playing history' of this guitar - purchased new in 1969, played only in a bedroom (probably whilst wearing pyjamas) by someone obsessed with the lovely ring of the open "A" and "E" chords. There is some slight evidence of a few "F" and even some "D" chords having been played on this one -BUT THAT IS JUST ABOUT IT MY FRIENDS!

"The Stratocaster was launched during 1954 [and was priced at $249.50, or $229.50 without vibrato]...The new Fender guitar was the first solidbody electric with three pickups [Gibson's electric-acoustic ES-5, introduced five years earlier, had been the overall first], meaning a range of fresh tones, and featured a new-design vibrato unit that provided pitch-bending and shimmering chordal effects. The new vibrato -- erroneously called a 'tremolo' by Fender and many others since -- was troublesome in development. But the result was the first self-contained vibrato unit: an adjustable bridge, a tailpiece, and a vibrato system, all in one. It wasn't a simple mechanism for the time, but a reasonably effective one...Fender's new vibrato had six bridge-pieces, one for each string, adjustable for height and length, which meant that the feel of the strings could be personalized and the guitar made more in tune with itself...The Strat came with a radically sleek, solid body, based on the outline of the 1951 Fender Precision Bass. Some musicians had complained to Fender that the sharp edge of the Telecaster's body was uncomfortable...so the Strat's body was contoured for the player's comfort. Also, it was finished in a yellow-to-black sunburst finish. Even the jack socket mounting was new, recessed in a stylish plate on the body face...the Fender Stratocaster looked like no other guitar around especially the flowing, sensual curves of that beautifully proportioned, timeless body. The Stratocaster's new-style pickguard complemented the lines perfectly, and the overall impression was of a guitar where all the components ideally suited one another. The Fender Stratocaster has since become the most popular, the most copied, the most desired, and very probably the most played solid electric guitar ever" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of Fender, p. 18).