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"The tweed guitar case bears Brian Welch's initials"

The guitar is a rarity in itself, because only the first few were in white. When it was found that the finish crackled and fell off, it was replaced by silver (a Porsche colour, in fact!) which admittedly was more appropriate for a 25th anniversary. Another unique feature was the use of the original type 4-bolt neck, as opposed to the then standard 3-bolt neck.

I'd love to own this, but could never play it for fear of wearing the signatures away - or even worse, more of the white paint becoming detached and taking the signatures with it!

I read an interview in one of a special series of guitar magazines back in the early '80's- both Hank and Bruce were interviewed together.

They were talking about guitars, and Bruce mentioned that he had this guitar- and that he hated it! He said it was far too heavy, and jokingly said 'anybody want to buy it?' !!

Amongst other comments I recall, was that Bruce also mentioned that he had used acoustic guitar for rhythm on the early Shads records (i.e. Cliff's Gibson J200)- which was the first time I had heard that fact confirmed.

He and Hank also joked that they should have had shares or some such endorsement deal with both Fender and Vox, in view of how many guitars and amps were sold because the Shads used them!

There was a lot of comment etc years ago, about how 1970's Fenders were rubbish- but these days, they don't seem to have suffered as regards prices being asked- and possibly presumably being paid for them..

Hi Steve,

The first few??
500 were white and a lot of those got back to Fender and got a re-spray...
Strange case with this guitar, the official was kinda the first serie black pvc ones with especialy for this 25th anniversary a dark blue velvet inside.....
Back then I ordered 5 for friends of mine and 1 for myself but I hatted it too, so my sample was out of the door in about two hours....


Cheers Rob

Funny. Silver seems the obvious colour for a 25th (silver) anniversary guitar!!!!

I remember seeing Kevin Peek using a silver one in Sky, in the early 1980s. I thought it looked really cool. Still do.

I had noticed Bruce's anniversary Strat on the Rotterdam live concert. I had assumed it was the same one Cliff is seen holding on the front cover of the 1979 album Rock 'n Roll Juvenile. But perhaps not.

drakula63 wrote:Funny. Silver seems the obvious colour for a 25th (silver) anniversary guitar!!!!
I remember seeing Kevin Peek using a silver one in Sky, in the early 1980s. I thought it looked really cool. Still do.
I had noticed Bruce's anniversary Strat on the Rotterdam live concert. I had assumed it was the same one Cliff is seen holding on the front cover of the 1979 album Rock 'n Roll Juvenile. But perhaps not.

Not!

Bruce's 1980 Anniversary guitar was (and apparently still is) finished in the unsatisfactory silver.

The one wielded by Cliff on that album cover was white and was anyway just a bog-standard white Stratocaster of the day, complete with the toffee-apple finish, the ungainly large headstock and the unattractive bullet-shaped truss-rod adjuster. The photograph cannot have been taken later than a date in 1979 and the Anniversary Strats (whether white or silver) were not released until 1980.

Fender had made a start (of a sort) on getting back to basics with the issuing (in 1979) of the model they called "The Strat" (in a couple of classic metallic colours, plus walnut, and with brass hardware and a revised, smaller, headstock, though not yet back to the classic early sixties shape), but even that is not the model on Cliff's LP sleeve.

My mistake. I thought the anniversary was 1979. A great year though!

To be honest, I think the R'nRJ Strat looks great! I love the oversized headstock (introduced about 1971?) as it seems to give the guitar more 'weight' and authority. Hank's black Strat is a great example of this. Just my opinion of course!

drakula63 wrote:My mistake. I thought the anniversary was 1979. A great year though!

To be honest, I think the R'nRJ Strat looks great! I love the oversized headstock (introduced about 1971?) as it seems to give the guitar more 'weight' and authority. Hank's black Strat is a great example of this. Just my opinion of course!

The larger Stratocaster headstock (borrowed from the Jaguar, Jazzmaster and Bass VI) was actually introduced as early as 1965, though on its own, it didn't seem too bad, and it was the subsequent changes which were the real killers.

These included the dropping of the nickel-plated Kluson Deluxe tuners and their replacement by the garish chromed Schaller-made, but Fender-branded, tuners with the squared-off buttons (c.1967/68 depending on model). Another was the polyester finish - perfect for a Burns but dead wrong for a Fender. Then there was the introduction (circa 1974) of the headstock-end truss-rod adjuster (the "bullet"), which in aesthetic terms was a bit like adding "We've got your money so we don't care" to the swing-tag owner's manual.

It took Fender a full five years to realise that these had all been wrong moves. They did "The Strat" in '79 and the Anniversary Strat in 1980, but it was only in 1982 that they went back to the drawing board with the Vintage Reissue Strats, Tele and basses.

You say 'the bullet' headstock end truss rod adjuster was 'circa 1974'? I have a 1971 Stratocaster with a 'bullet' adjuster..... or am I reading this wrong?

Regards,
Baz.