Fred Tavares Part II

[Al Terhune]

Fred Tavares' son, Terry, approached me last year at a Hawaiian restaurant where I had sat in to play steel (with Hawaiian musicians, lucky me). He gave me his card, and I've never contacted him until now, which was to connect him to the link concerning his Dad. He wrote this back to me, which I wanted to share with all of you:

Thank you so much AL. It's very interesting to read. For the RECORD, Fred T. Tavares passed away in 1990. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in St Louis, MO in 1996. His plaque is placed in the entrance foyer of the ST Louis Convention hotel. A duplicate plaque resides in my mom's house in Anaheim, CA.

He had a major role in the design of the Fender Stratocaster, so much so that Fender company created a "Fred Tavares" commemorative "Strat". 153 were made. They are aluminum bodied with birds-eye maple neck with green malachite fret inlays and Fred Tavares' signature inlaid in black ebony in the headstock. A plaque is on the back inscribed "Fred Tavares commemorative Stratocaster. The reason Fender made 153 is that 150 were for high end collector-dealers and 3 were given to Tamar Tavares (Wife of Fred) and sons Fred jr. and Terry. Moms is serial #10 mine is #20 and Fred jr is #30. You can see one in the book "Fender Custom Shop"

Thanks again, love and aloha,

Terry

[Jason Odd]

Thanks Al, cool post.