In 1959, the Fender electric guitar line
was revamped to include rosewood
fretboards attached to one-piece maple
necks. Rosewood fretboards were standard on most other brands and were
thought to give Fender’s space-age
oddities a more traditional, classy look.
This Strat, with a neck date of 7/59, is
one of the rare transition models with
combined features of the maple-board
and rosewood-board eras.
Like the maple-neck Strats of ’ 58, it
has a three-color sunburst finish with
a single-ply pickguard (instead of the
three-ply ’guards seen on most rose-
wood-board Strats). The pickguard has
10 screws instead of the 11 that would
soon be seen on the three-ply ’guards.
The fretboard is the thick rosewood
“slab” that would be used until 1962.
This guitar is also a non-tremolo “hard-
tail,” which makes it even rarer—but not
necessarily more desirable.
From Dave’s notes: “After telling me
for years that he had this especially
rare Stratocaster belonging right in the
middle of my collection, my friend Jack
Stowe finally brought it up to La Crosse.
We made a deal to put it on my wall.”
Detailed information on Fender
Stratocasters can be found in The
Fender Stratocaster by A.R. Duchossoir,
and in The Stratocaster Chronicles by
Tom Wheeler.
Dave's Guitar Shop
Daves Rogers’ Collection is tended to by
Laun Braithwaite & Tim Mullally
Photos and words by Tim Mullally
Dave’s Collection is on display at:
Dave's Guitar Shop
1227 Third Street South
La Crosse, WI 54601
davesguitar.com
www.premierguitar.com
PREMIER GUITAR MAY 2010 75
