THE HISTORY ON MY 65 FENDER STRATOCASTER

     In June of 1965….  I was 15 years old and playing guitar about 6 months when my father surprised me one day. I went to a concert where my father played Tuba in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and before the concert backstage he went to his Tuba Trunk and told me to open it up. I looked inside and there was this Fender Black
Tolex guitar case inside his case. He was standing there with the horn section of the orchestra. John Melick the 1st Trombonist owned a small music store and my dad asked him what a good guitar would be for me just starting out…. John said “A Fender Stratocaster is the best thing going right now”. So he said  “Happy Birthday” and take good care of it… I was so happy because I knew what they were and all and had only seen some hanging on the wall of some music stores. I never played one but compared to the “Andre” Japanese guitar I had  this guitar really rocked…well now 46 years later  they were right  There are only 3 classic guitars ever in my and most every guitar players closet,  the Gibson “Les Paul”….  The Fender “Telecaster” which were
played mainly by Country Music guitar players. and The Fender “Stratocaster”.



     According to the neck plate serial number “L659772” it was made
in 1965 and is a “PRE” CBS model made before CBS bought “Fender Musical Instruments” in late 1965. They made immediate changes to the guitar. The Headstock Curl became larger which looked funny   a little distorted compared to the PRE CBS model. It started out as a Standard Sunburst color which is black around the edges of the body with the color blending to a transparent red.. then to a transparent orange and finally to a transparent yellow with the wood grain showing thru…I had the guitar for about a year.and was in a band and we played a few Teen Clubs around the Adelphi, Maryland area where I grew up.  I waxed and polished the guitar a lot.. I was so proud of it and then one night during the bands break I set it on a stand right in plain view of a bright stage flood light.. and after a few minutes my best friend Bob Farris said  “ Hey Mike…. Your guitar is smoking…   Oh My God…it was just about to catch fire so we ran up and moved it…
the paint on the bottom right front was melted and no longer had that beautiful Sunburst Finish… I was devastated…my beautiful guitar finish was ruined…It still played and sounded great and was still a Stratocaster so all is not bad…I just kept playing it the way it was for a few years after that…


1968 -      I graduated from
High School and was in a popular band called “The Nowhere Men”. Our Sax player “Jimmy Robinson” worked part time at Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center” and suggested that I “Hot Rod” out my guitar….. I didn’t want to at first but he talked me into it… he had me sand down the finish to bear wood like one of Eric Clapton guitars…. He routed out behind the pick guard and made room for a Gibson
Hum bucking pickup replacing the middle pickup and had three “3-way” mini toggle switches which would allow me to select any or all 3 pickups in and out of polarity phase which did generate some cool sounds…He also was able to get guitars at a great price working at “Chuck’s” so I got a 1968 Fender Telecaster Thinline semi-hollow body.. we switched necks and now my Strat had a Telecaster maple neck on it, I put my Strat neck on the Telecaster and another  friend of mine wanted to borrow it for a while to learn how to play guitar so I let him… A year later he was drafted to Viet Nam and had to sell everything including my guitar so I never got the original neck back


1970 -  I started to play full time  most jobs we had were 6 nights a week so the Strat was getting lots of play causing the frets to
wear down…


1972  - We “3 Easy Pieces” played a job at the Officers Club in Quanico Marine Base in Quanico Virginia. We loaded our equipment thru the back loading dock and thru the kitchen. We lived in Gaithersburg, Md about 150 miles away. The next day unpacking our gear I noticed my guitar and case we not in the Van..I freaked out   I must have left it at the gig. We called down there and go thru to the kitchen folks… they said yes we have it. It was sitting on the loading dock all night long. That was close…. Another 3oo mile trip down there and back I had my Strat back home safe and sound.


1973 – I had the Strat refretted by Mike Faour, a guitarist friend of ours that worked at a guitar shop that either Danny Gatton or Roy Buchanan owned or had work done on their guitars. Mike suggested that I have the frets replaced with Gibson wide jumbo size frets and the maple net refinished keeping the wear stains an aged vintage style yellowing to show the real age of the guitar neck. I did what he suggested and the neck looked great and played really smooth after that. I still have the neck and it’s ready for another refret job.  I plan on using it on a 68/69 style telecaster body styled after Larry Carlton’s Valley Arts guitar on the cover of his “On Solid Ground” album.



1980   The guitar was still just bare wood which by now had darkened with age, sweat and the elements and someone had told me to have the finish sealed with clear lacquer or painted. I liked the bare wood look but he was right, even though it still played great it was time for the Strat body’s first face lift. I had the body painted pure white at Thoroughbred Music in Tampa, Florida. The guitar looked great and I also replaced all the tuning pegs screws and bridge with gold plated hardware.  I switched back to the Tortoise Shell pick guard and that is the way the guitar has been played since 1980. I played it full time thru 1984 so as careful as I was with it. It started to show signs of wear, a few scratches and some chips and dings. The clear coat started to yellow a little and it is ready for another fret job. 1990-93 I started buying and collecting guitars since I started
working at IBM in upstate New York so my Strat kind of took a backseat to the other guitars for a while. I believe I picked up 2 more Strats, 1 black and one Sunburst both American Standard models, also 1 1992 Telecaster Thinline Hollow body made in Japan and 1 1992 Telecaster Rosewood also made in Japan…. The Jap Tele’s have excellent finish and fit. They look great and play easy. I still have them both. I also have a 1993 American STD Fender Jazz Bass Midnight Wine color which in 1993 they redesigned the body and called it the “Longhorn” or “Bonner Bass”. They only made them for a short time
so it is now more collectable and rare. One other guitar is an Ovation Elite LTD with Angel Step Walnut wood that is very beautiful. Usa made as well. My poor 65 Strat was being neglected and just sitting in the case but it still plays better than the rest of them.  One day I
will restore it again.

Mar 2011  Now that I am playing a little more and recently flying back home to Maryland for the last 2 “Nowhere Men” reunion gigs I decided to have the 65 Strat refinished in a White Pearl and finally get a Strat neck back on ever since the Tele neck was switched back in 1969. The bvody was just painted by Sims Custom Guitars in Nashville. It was shipped with some damage to the paint where the guitar strat fits and Patrick Simms did not make good with my paint job. It still looks great. I just had a new White Tolex with Lavender Plush Fender Custom Case made by G & G Cases.