A lefty '64 Strat...
And in a rare finish, Shoreline Mist, Aztec Gold, Mary Kaye, Coral Pink ;]
I traveled out of state once for a 1976 Lefty Sunburst Strat that weighed near ten pounds, some old country player wayyyout in the boondocks. Chatted for a while, bought it, and started beating it home, it was getting late and dark. I come into this little town, Spirit Lake, and it's foggy and I missed the 30mph sign, and I get pulled over.
He comes up to the car and says, verbatim "You need to be careful, we got a lot of drunks walking around", I tried to talk my way out it, apologizing, etc, but he gives me a ticket.
So I mailed it in.
And then comes a letter. The amount wasn't right. They want the same amount again.
So I called their courthouse and said that ain't right, I signed the ticket for that amount, not twice that amount. And the gal says write a letter to the judge, and so I did. And never heard back.
So iweeks go by and it's due in a week, I called back, and they said "why did you write a letter to that judge, wrong court", and wisely advised me to just pay it.
So I paid it.
A couple weeks later, I get a letter from the DOL, says I got a ticket out of state, didn't pay it and I'm going to be suspended.
So I call that courthouse again, "Any way y'all can Fax a letter to out our DOL that says I paid it?". Nope, never heard of Fax apparently...
So I had to drive out of state to their courthouse, get a letter, and stand in line at my DOL with 200 stinky people trying to get a license so I can show the letter in person and not get suspended. It was down to the wire, one day left. This is a full six months after my trip to get the Strat.
I sold the Strat, but never forgot about the trip...
And I still have the vintage stand it came with, most vintage USA stand I've ever seen, its branded "It's a Hamilton", and my Strat is on it as I type ;]
This is what I would do if I wanted a "vintage Lefty Strat". Forget Fender, it ain't gonna happen unless you think you're good enough to drop $20k on a guitar that somebody else put together from parts... The vintage AVRI Fullerton or even Corona guitars have gone crazy in price also, more in the realm of "collectors" than players.
Start looking for an olde Warmoth or Boogie Body Lefty body. Then look for a Warmoth neck. Electronics are near a dime a dozen and everywhere.
Warmoth will make you anything you want. Any neck radius you want, and the 10-16 compound radius plays like a dream.
I had a real 1960 Strat. The frets were awful, and even the guitar techs in town wouldn't touch it "because of the value". So I found this young luthier, cocky as hell, said "he'd mastered the blues while he was still in High School" and he was wiling to refret it, and I let him.
So it's refretted and the radius is so round, you can't bend the strings past the 12th ftret without the notes dying out, unless you raise up the strings like crazy. So I says "What it I flatten the frets out in the middle". He didn't want nuthin to do with that, but he said I could use his tools, so I did it. Never even heard of a compound radius but it seemed like a good solution to a real problem.
Later, right after a house break-in where some cranksters stole my VCR and leather jackets but left my Les Paul Flametop, the '60 Strat and a Blackface Deluxe Reverb, I sold the Strat to the biggest collector in town, and one day he called me and he says "Who did the fret job?, it's incredible"...
