EUREKA!

"The Golden State" Stratocaster was specially built for California Governor Pete Wilson by master luthier George Amicay with the assistance of Jason Davis at the Fender Custom Shop in early Fall 1998. Unique, the bass side features a gorgeous, finely rendered five inch diameter carving of The Great Seal of the State of California overlaid with gold leaf paint. This handwork, quite labor-intensive, took Amicay 200 hours to complete and is signed "G. Amicay '98." On the treble side are the signatures of former California governors, Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian carved in facsimile, and adjacent to the Great Seal is the carved facsimile signature of Dan Lungren, California's Attorney General under Wilson who ran for but lost the 1998 governor's race. What had been planned as very special congratulatory gift from Wilson to Lundgren became, instead, a heartfelt token of consolation.

This highly unusual guitar weighs just 7.60 lbs. and has a comfortable nut width of 1 5/8 inches, a medium-to-thick neck profile (very similar to a '55 Strat) and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. One-piece ash body with a two-piece 'book-matched' quilted maple top. One-piece highly figured Birds-Eye maple neck with 21 medium frets. Highly figured Birds-Eye maple fretboard with inlaid abalone shell dot position markers and black side dot markers. At the twelfth fret is a large rectangular inlay of Abalone and Mother-of-Pearl with the words "The Golden State" engraved in black. Headstock with "Fender Stratocaster" inlaid in 18k gold. Individual "no-name" Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons. On the back of the headstock there is a gold decal with the Fender Custom Shop logo and the name "Jason Davis". Gold-plated four-bolt Fender Custom Shop neck-plate with the serial number "GA 035" engraved between the top two screws. Three gold covered Fender Lace Sensor pickups with outputs of 7.11k, 7.09k, and 7.17k. Single volume control plus three-way pickup selector switch. Stratocaster hat-shaped metal knob with knurled sides. Fender combined bridge/tailpiece with six saddles and through-body stringing. The tremolo cavity is signed in red marker "Jason Davis 98". All of the hardware is gold-plated and this amazing guitar is in mint (9.50) condition. Complete with the original gold-plated bridge cover and tremolo arm. Housed in the original G & G burgundy hardshell case with black plush lining (9.50). With the original Fender Custom Shop black leather guitar strap, Fender guitar cord,Custom Shop catalogue, warranty, and polishing cloth.

The Great Seal of the State of California was adopted at the California state Constitutional Convention of 1849 and slightly redesigned in 1937. It is the 1937 rendering that is found here. The seal is laden with symbolism, featuring the Greek goddess Athena (Latin: Minerva), the goddess of wisdom; a California grizzly bear (the official state animal) feeding on grape vines, representing California's wine production; a sheaf of grain, representing agriculture; a miner, representing the California Gold Rush and the mining industry; sailing ships, representing the state's economic power; and San Francisco Bay or the Sacramento River. The phrase "Eureka," meaning "I have found it!" is the California state motto.

The original design of the seal was by Robert S. Garnett and engraved by Albert Kuner. Garnett later became the first general to be killed in the Civil War, where he served as a Confederate general.

This is The Great Guitar of the State of California. Eureka! You have found it.

George Amicay is well known for his work as one of the Fender Custom Shop's Master Builders. While with the Custom Shop (1993 - 2003), George was involved with some of the most creative and unique Custom Shop guitars Fender has produced to-date including "The First Breath Stratocaster", "The Western Set", "The Egyptian Tele", "The Custom Kingman Telecoustic", "The Waylon Jennings Tribute Telecaster", "The White Buffalo Miracle Telecaster", "The Carved Floral Stratocaster", "The Father and Son Cowboy Tele Set", "The Freddie Tavares Commemorative Aloha Stratocaster", "The Dragon with Mermaid Stratocaster", "The Horseshoe Tele", "The Rhinestone Strat", "The La Riata Thinline Telecaster".

Jason Davis of the Fender Custom Shop was the builder (together with Alan Hamel) of the "Tribal Strat" which is featured on pp. 48/49 of Richard Smith's The Fender Custom Shop Guitar Gallery, 1996 (also featured in the Fender Calendar for 1996). He was also the assembler of the White Buffalo "Miracle" Telecaster, which was designed by Dru WhiteFeather with inlays by George Amicay (see Smith, pp. 72/73).

For another example of Jason Davis's work see:
http://www.imagineguitars.com/archive/electric/007_strat_davis/index.html