When I see comments on Fender,,,my ears perk
up. When I see gene Jones post something my
eyes light up. So I will post this for all of you to see. I will make my comments and I will copywrite this as it will be part of my
book on my life with Fender.
As George Keoki,,,a good friend advised me,,,
dont tell too much on the Forum,,,no one will
buy your book,,,unquote. I will take this last chance and tell you my feelings.
First off and as short as I can make this. I'm pressed for time.
My very first Fender triple neck guitar was a guitar I bought from a "then independant"
sales rep,,,(this can be seen elsewhere on the Forum as I posted this a few days ago.
It was because of this guitar,,that I was destined to meet Leo Fender & Donald D. Randall. You can see that in another thread
here on the Forum.
The second guitar I received was a triple neck custom,,,it was then that I started endorsing Fender and working as a sales rep..
probably before most of you were born. With
more than likely the exception of my good friend Gene Jones,,,,who can tell his own story of his custom Fender and the history behind his guitar. Its interesting, I know his story.
This second guitar was a "killer" I used it on sessions here in NY,,,I did numerous TV shows with it,,Como Show,,,Dean Martin Show
Steve Allen Tonight Show etc etc.
I did NOT however like the design that Leo had which was the three legged tripod setup.
There is another story regarding this as I called it "my middle leg".
I constantly asked Don Randall to have Leo put a fourth leg on the custom to make it more stabile,,Leo insisted his design was best,,,How does a young fellow tell Leo how to design a guitar???
Story goes as follows,,,,,the first guitar I bought off the street in Manahattan was a nice guitar,,but "beat up" as it was used as
as salesman sample by a rep by the name of Jack Douglas,.
I sent that back after I got into the "Fender
Family"....it was then that I became a Fender rep.
Leo & Don "gave" me gratis a brand new Custom triple neck guitar,,,great guitar but
once again,,,,,those three legs,,,I hated them. I was then able to convince Leo ( a difficult man to convince) that I wanted a guitar with 4 legs,,,he and Freddy Tavares made the extra leg available to me,,but much to Leo's insisting I was wrong.
Dont sweat this,,,,its coming to an end,,,the first guitar was turned back in to Fender,,,,probably "refinished it" and sold to a Fender dealer as an endorsers guitar,,these were common back then,,,they would re-do the entire guitar and offer the guitar to a salesman to sell it to a dealer for an additional discount.
You would never know the guitar was re-done
but this was Fenders policy....they were up front with their salesman and dealers. The discount was a nice amount of money and the dealer would sell it for whatever he wished.
We did however explain that it was a guitar played by an endorser,,,but for reasons that
Leo & Don had,,,,no names were mentioned,,,,such as "this guitar was played by Leon McAullife or Noel Boggs etc etc.
We just sold them or a better word transferred the guitar or whatever bass etc to a Fender authorized dealer.
Im trying to hurry here,,I didnt care for the
4 legged guitar,,,,,dont ask me why,,it was much more stable than the tripod guitar,,but WHY???did it sound and feel different??? It was probably me.
I didnt use the 4 legged guitar on the CBS National TV show that the guitar was intended
to be used for,,,I used the tripod guitar,,
Leo was besides himself after watching me on the show which was a network show.
There was something missing from that last Custom,,,I'll never know what,,,Leo wracked his brain trying to figure out what I didnt get the sound I liked,,,It was because of that 4th leg,,,
,,I knew Leo was putting me oon,,
. I then had Leo go over the guitar and they did resolve the problem,,,,it was not the 4th leg,,,I wont go into that now.
I kept using the triple custom with the tripod leg,,but I then had a console stand made up that would hold the guitar in place and not only stabilize the guitar,,but looked a lot better. I have photos of myself playing that guitar on that console table.
I was then asked to tranfer my tripod guitar
to a Fender dealer,,,I did just that. I transferred it to a Fender dealer in Connecticut by the name ( not important to you but is to me) Le"Donnes Music Box Bridgeport Connecticut, he was given the option of selling it as is,,at an exrea discount OR sending it back to be re-furbished and sent back to him.
LeDonne knew this was my personal guitar so he kept it as sold it as it was. It was in
"mint condition" keep in mind I didnt pay for this guitar,,,I earned my living as a sales rep and a musician with that guitar.
I have all my documents and letters of days gone by with my Fender years,,,,a few years ago,,I thought of how nice it would be to have a triple neck custom again.
I do have a four neck Fender which I wont tell about here,,,but that too has been documented and a writeup that was in Guitar Player Magazine back in 1988,,,if any of you would like a copy of the writeup I will be happy to mail it to you snail mail.
I searched the Forum and E Bay for a triple
neck custom,,,there were a few,,,I always asked for the serial number,,,I have a thing for that.
The very same fellow who started this thread posted that Elderly Music in Michigan had a mint Custom for sale,,,but it was "quite expensive"..indeed it was.
I called Elderly and asked them to ship the guitar to me on approval,,,,they did,,their
asking price was $1.850.00 lot of money right? Damm straight,,,,,but you know what???
This was my guitar that I transferred to LeDonnes Music Box years and years ago.
I didnt disclose this to Elderly Aat the time
I wasnt looking for any bargains,,,I did however inform Dawn Nash,,a sweet gal that I was an original Fender rep for years.
She then asked Jerry Werbin if he could offer me any consideration under the circumstances,,,and he did. I have my guitar back.
Its as clean as it was the day I transferred it to LeDonnes Music Store,.
I will address this to Brad Bechtel as for his comments,,,,Brad,,,I piad a lot of money for this guitar,,,,and to think it didnt cost me a penny back then,,now,,,when I look at the guitar I dont see what most all of you see,,,,strings and a fingerboard,,,I see
mush more than that,,,,I see MEMORIES of days long gone.
To ME this guitar is worth more than money can buy,,,,can you buy memories??? Brad I am not taking issue with your comment, I know you are a dedicated Fender collector and I respect you for that as well as your knowledge on Fender guitars. But I had to tell you all this story,,,because it means so much to me.
I e mailed Gerald Ross a few weeks ago and asked his persmission to post what you just read,,I was NOT going to post this,,,Ihave been saving this for my Fender memories book
Gerald answered my e mail and request and gave me his permission to tell my story.
To my friend Gene Jones,,,,DONT SELL YOUR CUSTOM,,,you have many memories with your guitar,,,Conway Twitty etc etc...the heck with the money,,,,the memories are gold,,,the money is paper..
To all of you I apologize for the lenghth of this post,,but I had to tell you this story.
I hope this dont discourage you from buying my book when it comes out,,,
.
I have to rush out,,my wife has been ill and underwent major surgery on Feb 20th,,,,,we were called back yesterday by the onclogist as they have found additional problems where
the cancer has spread beyond the breast.
This will be my last post as we both have similar problems,,,I will be undergoing radiation and she will be having "chemo therapy" which she is not looking forward to.
I have to run NOW,,,and be at the hospital by 6 PM...To all of you,,,,Andy,,Rick..Brad. Doug,,,,and to my friend Gene Jones and especially to Gerald Ross,,,I will hope you accepted this in the manner it was intended
I was not taking issue with any of you,,,my feeling is ,,,,,there is NO CEILING on the prices of Fender steel guitars,,,,,they WILL
go HIGHER in years to COME,,,as Andy said it best,,,,,There is NO MORE LEO,,,,,thats true
but to me,,,there WILL ALWAYS BE A LEO,,,,in my heart and memories,,,,
Gotta go,,,bless you all,,,,,,,sorry bOb..I had to take all this space,,,,see all of you I hope when all of this health issue is over.
Be well,,,,play those FENDERS.......
Jody
------------------
Copyright(c) 2002 by
Jody Carver "All Rights
Reserved"
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jody Carver on 05 March 2002 at 11:40 AM.]</p></FONT>
