I'm not usually a fan of artist series guitars but ...

[nfe]

:o  Wow!  You must show us pics ASAP.  :D

I saw one in Turnkey a few years ago and I must admit I thought the ageing looked pretty phoney, but the Fender relics seem to vary a lot, presumably depending on who actually did the work.

The Rory Gallagher guitars bodies aren't actually relic'd, they have transfers applied that feature the worn down finish, well, the cheaper ones do, The Iron Beast maybe bought one of the megabucks ones.

[AndyR]

^ I was wondering that, nfe - I've only seen the approx £2K version. They looked like they'd be a good guitar in themselves, but the paint didn't have the chipped/burnt look, and the exposed wood wasn't the grey-ish colour I remember the real one to be... so I had to kinda regard them as Fender CS strats that look like Rory's from a distance :lol: (and as I've yet to be convinced that I need a CS... :roll:)

38th - you played it?!! My contact with it is only through front-row hero-worship.

I did get my Rory Gallagher songbook from the late 70s is signed though - he was most interested to see what on earth they'd put in it :lol:

[blue]

i know a guy that did a little tech work on the original.  he said the most striking thing about it was the smell!! apparently it stank! :)

[Plexi Ken]

Has this one got the bit of mould growing under the scratch plate?

I always suspected that tone wasn't in the fingers. It's in the smelly mould  :D
I'm never cleaning my guitar again 

[Philly Q]

^ I was wondering that, nfe - I've only seen the approx £2K version. They looked like they'd be a good guitar in themselves, but the paint didn't have the chipped/burnt look, and the exposed wood wasn't the grey-ish colour I remember the real one to be...

I read an article about the original Tribute series limited run - of 40 guitars or whatever it was - and they were cutting the (remaining) paint with scalpels to get it the right shape.  I suppose it's relatively easy to create an old-looking guitar, but very difficult to duplicate the wear on one specific guitar.

I suppose everybody remembers the old story where Rory considered getting the Strat refinished, and they told him the body wood had absorbed so much sweat it looked like it had been floating in the sea for a few weeks.

[AndyR]

I remember him saying in an interview how he had to use a replacement neck for a while because they needed to reshape and dry the original out! :lol:

[hunter]

I will definitely post pics tomorrow once it gets here.

We're waiting ... :O)

[AndyR]

He's too busy playing Moonchild, Shinkicker, Walk on Hot Coals, Messin with the kid, Tattoo'd Lady, Last of the Independents, Million Miles Away, I Wonder Who, Brute Force and Ignorance, Wayward Child, etc, etc...

:lol:

[TheIronBeast]

Andy is right, I've been jamming (and learning) some Rory tunes this afternoon. I love this strat, the neck feels really nice with most of the finish taken off, the acoustic sound is just fantastic and when plugged in this guitar just screams. I really like the pickups with this guitar too, they definitely have that 60's vintage vibe to them. I'm gonna swap out the three way selector for the 5 way one that comes with it though.

Anyways, as promised ...

[hunter]

Looks great!

Is the low E tuner on purpose a different type?

Now you gotta play it hot and sweaty, so those shiny nickel parts can catch some rust :O)

[Philly Q]

Is the low E tuner on purpose a different type?

That's to copy the original - 5 Sperzels, 1 Gotoh, I believe.

It does look cool.  I see what nfe meant about the paint, but I like the dirty body and especially the neck!

[FernandoDuarte]

Lovely :D

[Ted 'N' Leo]

Words cannot describe how jealous i am right now!

[viking]

Fantastic !Bombastic and everything  PDT_003 Would LOVE to play that thing... 8) Congrats !

[38thBeatle]

Looks great to me. Yes Andy I was a mere lad at the time but the guitar was in a workshop and I was in there and was told not to touch. I just played a few chords. It did smell too I seem to recall.