Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

Thames said:
Dont you know that PF didnt have a bunch of money in the late 70's ?
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Well it was before 'The Wall' and 'Dark Side...' and 'Wish you were here',

But you gotta remember Syd Barrett got them incredibly famous... they had a decent amount of cash by the 70's.
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

Mattt said:
But you gotta remember Syd Barrett got them incredibly famous... they had a decent amount of cash by the 70's.
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sid was there, he didnt get them famous by any means. dark side got them famous.
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

This is one of those folklore legends that has taken on a life of its own. Here’s the real story – and it’s actually a tale of two guitars. In 1976, right before he started Seymour Duncan Pickups, Seymour was doing guitar repair at Jensen’s Music, here in Santa Barbara. While he was there, a guy from Nipomo, California named Richard Green brought a ’57 Strat to Seymour to fix and refinish – he wanted the new color to be see-through root beer, like Bonnie Raitt’s guitar. Seymour remembers the original color as a light mint green; probably the same finish Fender used on some lap steels.

Seymour sent the body to his friend and colleague Wayne Charvel for refinishing. Wayne was an authorized Fender repairman. But Wayne couldn’t refinish the body because the dings and nicks were too deep for a see-through finish. So Wayne used another Fender body, which he sprayed see-through root beer, and he sent it back to Seymour. (Back in the ‘70s, when you sent a neck or body to Fender for replacement, the practice was to saw the original in half and throw it away. However, in this case, the original body wasn’t destroyed...)

The original neck went to another Santa Barbara repairman Phil Kubicki, who refinished it. It eventually made its way back to Seymour who re-plated the hardware gold, put the guitar back together (with the new body) and returned it to Richard Green. The neck plate said serial number #0001, but Seymour knew it wasn’t accurate since Fender didn’t do solid color finishes back then.

Some time later, Seymour was visiting Wayne’s shop and saw the original ’57 body and bought it to use for a test guitar he was building. Seymour bought a ’57 maple neck from Kubicki for $85 and he bolted it onto the ’57 body. He wound some ‘60s replica pickups and used the guitar as a test bed. Eventually, he sold the Frankenstein guitar to a guy named Phil Taylor who in turn sold it to David Gilmour for $600. The neck plate said #0001; but like Richard Green’s, Seymour believed it to be non-original. Keep in mind, this was long before the vintage guitar craze had started; and was 15 years before the first Antiquity pickup was ever sold.

So there ya have it. A Seymour Duncan User Group Exclusive! :cool3: Unfortunately, Richard Green’s guitar was stolen in the ‘80s and is out there somewhere. If anyone has an idea of where it is, let Seymour or me know and we’ll get it back to Richard.
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

cool, thanks! thats a really cool story!


on a serious note, have you ever thought about sending that to a guitar magazine? that would be a really cool article!
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

Very Very cool. Thanks a ton Evan!! I owe ya one.:)
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

You know, in the movie Dogma, when people think they're talking to God its really an angel, so is Evan kinda like Seymours angel? Like maybe every once in awhile Evan sneeks on here as Seymour and tells us to settle down cause we all think its SD? lol, just a funny thougt.
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

HEY EVERYONE!!!

I sent Evan's explanation the guys at Fender Europe... here's the full coverage... : private:

===============================================
Sacha,

I have forwarded your E-mail to Phil Taylor, who helped me write the
piece about the "001" Strat. I will forward his reply to you.

Thanks,

Mike Charalambous,
Fender Europe
==========================================
==========================================
Sacha,

Phil is David Gilmour's guitar tech and he regularly works on the
guitar. Having taken it to pieces on numerous occasions, he knows the
guitar (literally) inside and out! It seems unlikely that the body is
from 1957, as there is a 1954 date and employee's signature on the
inside.

Anyway, here is Phil's reply:

----------------------------
"Dear Mike

An interesting tale

There are numerous reasons why this story is incorrect as far as the
0001 Strat I purchased is concerned.

If Seymour has told this story he either has a memory problem or has
confused different guitars!

kind regards
Phil"
----------------------------

Maybe the truth is we'll never know, but for the sake of the site, I'm
sticking to Phil's version of events

Thanks for your contribution to this convoluted story!

Mike Charalambous,
Fender Europe
=============================================

ISNT THAT THE 2ND COOLEST THREAD EVER, of course AFTER THE HOT CHICKS POSTED ON "THE SOUND ROOM" ? :) :32:
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

Didn't someone say he had a couple of sons? Maybe one of them will get into the forum one day.
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

Actually, after thinking about this story some more, Seymour recalls that he didn’t sell the guitar to Phil Taylor. Actually, he sold it to a guy named Alan Rogan who sold it to Phil (who sold it to David Gilmour).

The reason Seymour believes Richard Green’s guitar to be a ’57 instead of a '54 is because (a) Fender didn’t do solid color finishes of that type in 1954; (b) it had an anodized pickguard, which wasn’t used in 1954; (c) the back cavity plate, also anodized, had oblong string holes -- ’54 Strats had round string holes.

However, keep in mind that this was a Frankenstein guitar. Richard Green got the original hardware back on his re-fin guitar. The parts on this guitar mostly came out of a box of spare parts at Jensen’s Music.

The neck, which was purchased from Phil Kubicki, could have been a ’54 – though Seymour remembers it as a ‘57. He does remember that it had a scrape mark on the back of the neck and the cigarette burn behind the nut.

With all due respect to Phil and Mike Charalambous, there are some inconsistencies in the 1954 theory. But also keep in mind that this was nearly 30 years ago, and if you’re like me, you can barely remember what you had for dinner last night.

But again, just to reiterate, Richard Green’s ’57 re-fin was stolen some time ago and Seymour would like to do whatever he can to get it returned to Richard. So if anyone has any information about that guitar, please let Seymour or me know.
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

Thanks for the update Evan.:)
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

cool thanks....
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

xerxes said:
cool, thanks! thats a really cool story!
on a serious note, have you ever thought about sending that to a guitar magazine? that would be a really cool article!
Click to expand...
I just did.

You folks in the UK will see it first...
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

Great story, Evan. A 'three beer' story, for sure!
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

Far out!! this thread is as old as dirt.
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

JOLLY said:
Far out!! this thread is as old as dirt.
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Oldies but Goldies - boy its good to remember this can't wait to see the article!!
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

Do I get an honorable mention in the article for starting this thread? :9: :biglaugh: :smash:
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

I think this thread has vault written all over it. Scott, Evan, Jeremy? :)
 
Re: Is It True That Seymour Once Owned David Gilmour's Famous 0001 Stratocaster?

Evan Skopp said:
I just did.

You folks in the UK will see it first...
Click to expand...
So what magazine didja send it too?? :laugh2:
 
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