I guess it's vintage now...

[Rain]

When I was 12, I made friend with a kid whose older brother and father were musicians. Walking into their house was like visiting Disney. There were all kinds of guitars and amps everywhere in the house. And whereas the local music store only carried cheap knockoffs, all the instruments in my friend’s house were the real deal. Mostly Fenders, but also a few Gibsons, including limited run instruments. His father even had a pedal steel (that thing fascinated me to no end).

They also had a Simmons drum kit in the basement. Sometimes, the guy who dated his sister would drop by with his Kramer and Mesa Boogie. All stuff you’d only see in magazines. That was in 1984/85, in a minuscule French Canadian town, far from everything…

I vividly remember the first time I visited and saw his dad’s mythical 1957 Fender Stratocaster in the corner of the living room. That’s like Iron Maiden’s Dave Murray’s! I thought. “Go on, try it! It won’t bite”. For a kid playing the cheapest knockoff guitar you can imagine, this was almost inconceivable.

From that moment, that guitar became my holy grail. Black, white pick guard, darker maple neck with the thin headstock and spaghetti logo.

As fate would have it, through an extraordinary series of unlikely events, 12 years later, I ended up buying an instrument that matched that description.

A friend offered a lift to take me to my old apartment to pick up my mail. On the way, I asked him to stop at the music store so I could buy some strings.

I walked in and immediately saw that guitar at the other end of the store. It drew my attention not just because it looked my dream guitar, but because it was displayed separately from the rest of the instruments. You couldn’t just grab it off the wall, you had to ask for it. That in itself was rather strange. They normally didn't take this kind of precaution with the instruments they carried.

And indeed, as I soon realized, it was a US Strat - something still unheard of in that store at the time. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It even had the darker maple neck and the spaghetti logo!

Of course, I had to at least try it. So they handed it over. And as I turned around towards the amp section, I saw something I never thought I would see there - a 1959 Fender Bassman (reissue). My dream amp back then.

But there’s no way I could afford either the guitar or the amp... 

So after playing for a while, I reluctantly left  with a few sets of strings and went to pick up my mail. I thought I'd have to stick with my Korean Squier strat (my first half decent instrument). But in my inbox sat an envelope with a check. An unexpected tax return adjustment for the past several years that covered the full price of the guitar and half the amp...

That was 28 years ago today - meaning that my black Strat is now as old as that old 1957 was when I was 12 and first played it…

The '59 Bassman (behind me on the first photo) I sold in 2000, but I can't imagine letting go of the guitar.

Edited May 10 by Rain

[craigb]

Meant to be!

[Jacques Boileau]

Wow, great story. The stars were aligned that day. 👍

Being from Montreal, I'd be curious to know what that small french canadian town was.

Not the same, but I still play my 1974 Olympic White Strat. I have had other guitars through the years, but always come back to my first real guitar I bought used for 300$ some 45 years ago. Jamming with my band this afternoon with it.

[bitflipper]

Great story, Rain! 

And to think nobody took you seriously when you said "I'd give the shirt off my back for that guitar!"

 

[Rain]

21 hours ago, Jacques Boileau said:

Wow, great story. The stars were aligned that day. 👍

Being from Montreal, I'd be curious to know what that small french canadian town was.

Not the same, but I still play my 1974 Olympic White Strat. I have had other guitars through the years, but always come back to my first real guitar I bought used for 300$ some 45 years ago. Jamming with my band this afternoon with it.

A fellow Québécois!

Une petite ville du nom de Matane.

Love Montreal. Lived there for a while on a few occasions, and for almost 2 years before leaving for the US.

The white Strat has always been a very close second on my wish list. In fact, as soon as I bought the US one, I repainted the Korean one white. And a disaster of a paint job that was... 😆 Probably has to do with Hendrix. Actually, a lot of my favorite guitar players played white instruments, and my main guitar is a while LP Studio.

I've purchased a couple of them since but always ended up having to sell them back. But I got one in 2022 - not Olympic unfortunately, had to settle for Polar White, and not a US, but a Player series. Honestly, I could not justify the expense, so a Player was more than enough. The frets were a bit rough, but other than that, it's a fine guitar. That being said, I don't play it as much as I should. But I "need" a white Strat.

You might notice a certain trinket on my desk that should bring memories for a fellow Quebecer/Montrealer...

Edited May 10 by Rain

[Rain]

16 hours ago, bitflipper said:

Great story, Rain! 

And to think nobody took you seriously when you said "I'd give the shirt off my back for that guitar!"

 

😆

That must be the David Gilmour in Live at Pompeii influence (another factor that reinforced the black Strat status as my holy grail back then).

[smallstonefan]

Rain - It's cool to see the Rock and Roll Over art on your desktop! 🤘 That was my first rock album. I still remember coming home (I want to say third grade) and going up the stairs to my room and the album was sitting on steps staring me in the face. Such a great moment! For years when I listened to the CD I expected to hear very specific skips where I knew they were in my album. 

Here is my favorite Strat - my 1963. It's a re-fin but done really well -sometime in the early 90s I'm told. I had to sell SO MUCH stuff to buy this. Chess sets, guitars, kidneys. I called it the Great Purge. lol

[Byron Dickens]

I'm not quite sure how I feel about having vintage gear that I bought brand new....

[craigb]

7 hours ago, smallstonefan said:

Rain - It's cool to see the Rock and Roll Over art on your desktop! 🤘 That was my first rock album.

It was my first rock album too! 

[Rain]

19 hours ago, smallstonefan said:

Rain - It's cool to see the Rock and Roll Over art on your desktop! 🤘 That was my first rock album. I still remember coming home (I want to say third grade) and going up the stairs to my room and the album was sitting on steps staring me in the face. Such a great moment! For years when I listened to the CD I expected to hear very specific skips where I knew they were in my album. 

Here is my favorite Strat - my 1963. It's a re-fin but done really well -sometime in the early 90s I'm told. I had to sell SO MUCH stuff to buy this. Chess sets, guitars, kidneys. I called it the Great Purge. lol

It is absolutely gorgeous. 
And I love the rosewood fretboard.
I can imagine it mustn't have been a cheap one....

My best friend and I both got our first guitar on Christmas in 85. I got that awful Les Paul copy and my buddy got an olympic white Harmony strat copy with the maple neck from Sears. Come to think of it, that's probably the reason why I also wanted I white strat - because his was so much better. Another older friend got a candy red one, also maple neck.  Those Harmony were so much easier to play - they felt like high quality instrument compared to my guitar. The irony is that my mother paid more for the piece of junk than she would have for a Harmony.

Not to mention that a sunburst LP didn't exactly spell metal... I developed a profound dislike for the model and for rosewood fretboards. And that aversion lasted for decades.

At least I had my Iron Maiden t-shirt to try and look metal, depsite the short hair and what I felt looked like a cowboy guitar... 😁

Edited May 11 by Rain

[Jacques Boileau]

On 5/10/2024 at 5:06 AM, Rain said:

A fellow Québécois!

Une petite ville du nom de Matane.

Love Montreal. Lived there for a while on a few occasions, and for almost 2 years before leaving for the US.

The white Strat has always been a very close second on my wish list. In fact, as soon as I bought the US one, I repainted the Korean one white. And a disaster of a paint job that was... 😆 Probably has to do with Hendrix. Actually, a lot of my favorite guitar players played white instruments, and my main guitar is a while LP Studio.

I've purchased a couple of them since but always ended up having to sell them back. But I got one in 2022 - not Olympic unfortunately, had to settle for Polar White, and not a US, but a Player series. Honestly, I could not justify the expense, so a Player was more than enough. The frets were a bit rough, but other than that, it's a fine guitar. That being said, I don't play it as much as I should. But I "need" a white Strat.

You might notice a certain trinket on my desk that should bring memories for a fellow Quebecer/Montrealer...

 

Ah! Matane famous for it's shrimp industry! 🙂

I was born in Montreal, but now live in Laval. Not much difference, just a bridge away.

Like your Expos baseball. I was gifted an autograph baseball bat by Rusty Staub as a very young kid. Unfortunately it was lost somehow. But I know my mom would clean up our rooms with a bit too much zeal while we were away in summer camps. I can't seem to know where that baseball bat went along with a rug with the faces of the Beatles on it, my Beatles black and white mint original card collection and my Batman mint card collection. Loved my mom, but wish she hadn't done that!

I was of course a big Beatle fan back then. When I saw them on the Ed Sullivan show as a very young kid I had two take away: one, I wanted to learn English so I would understand what they were singing and two, I wanted to play guitar. I did both! Great influence.

Here is a shot of my 1974 Strat. It is far from original since I played it a lot and experimented on it. Although I still have the original parts, it is now outfitted with a Callaham vintage tremolo, locking tuners, a graphite nut and older, not available anymore, Seymour Duncan stacked pickup. Changed the 3-way for a 5-way. I have a wiring that has volume, a master tone and a blend control that enables me to mix in some of the neck while in the bridge position for a little fatter sound. Great for the Comfortably Numb second solo. Changed the knobs a few years ago since I couldn't read anything on the old ones anymore. I know I lost in value, but hey I was young for some of the changes and didn't know better, but gain so much in playability. I have no regrets.

 

Edited May 13 by Jacques Boileau