You're probably familiar with George Gruhn and his iconic guitar shop, a fixture of Lower Broadway through all of its ups and downs, until
last summer's relocationto Eighth Avenue. Earlier this week, the Associated Press paid Gruhn a visit and filmed the above interview segment. The subject: Coming up on its 60th birthday, the earliest known production model Fender Stratocaster, serial number 0100, is now for sale at the shop. This simple workingman's axe was never owned by anyone especially famous, and consequently can be yours for the modest sum of $250,000. Compare that to Eric Clapton's "
Brownie," which sold at auction in 1999 for $497,500, and "
Blackie," which went for $959,500 in 2004 (prices far exceeded estimates in both sales, partly because they were to benefit Clapton's Crossroads Centre addiction recovery initiative — about which I have a little cognitive dissonance considering that it's an executive-style program located
in Antigua, but that's another story).
If you're interested in how it plays, you could ask Lin Crowson, Gruhn's tech and all-around swell guy, who gave 0100 a thorough going-over before it was made available, and who played it in the video. Some people find Strats unfasionable due to their sheer ubiquity, while others consider them to be a sign of good taste. I think they're a solid and versatile piece of gear, but I'm biased since my first electric guitar (which I still play) is a black Stratocaster from Fender's budget Squier line, so I'll just let Buddy and Jimi do the talking.
