Bob Dylan's 1965 Newport Folk Festival Strat

ladytexan · Jul 12, 2012

There seems to be some controversy about the original Fender Stratocaster that Bob Dylan used for his historic break from folk music to rock 'n roll 47 years ago this coming July 25th at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival with the song, "Like a Rolling Stone". (The video is a little out-of-sync, but still worth watching).

Gosh, just seems like yesterday......it really, really does. ::::nostalgicsmile::::

southernGuild · Jul 12, 2012

8) He should have been playing a Guild. He wouldn't have left that baby on a plane, and if he did...and guitars got confused......By now, Hans would know. :wink: :lol:

twocorgis · Jul 12, 2012

Very cool. Thanks Toni!

rampside · Jul 12, 2012

Very interesting, thank you Toni. Being booed must've been very difficult for him. He may not have expected that and afterwards, who knows, maybe he could've cared less about that guitar.

Sal · Jul 12, 2012

Very cool! Can anyone identify what type of microphones these were?

dapmdave · Jul 12, 2012

Interesting that this is another guitar controversy involving the "History Detectives".

Remember Hans' story about the Josh White Guild?

linky: http://www.guitarchives.nl/guitarsgalor ... l.php?id=3

Dave

6L6 · Jul 12, 2012

Thanks for posting!

Bill

The Guilds of Grot · Jul 12, 2012

Sal said:
Very cool! Can anyone identify what type of microphones these were?

Rumour has it that it's a Schoepes

You are not the only one to wonder this.

From here.

The Guilds of Grot · Jul 12, 2012

Oops! Double post!

Nothing to see here, please move along!

Thunderface · Jul 13, 2012

PBS' "History Detectives" is going to do a segemtn on the controversy over who has the Newport Strat next Tuesday.

Potential spoiler alert: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...t-excited-dylan-says-pbs-has-the-wrong-guitar

fronobulax · Jul 14, 2012

Thunderface said:
PBS' "History Detectives" is going to do a segemtn on the controversy over who has the Newport Strat next Tuesday.

Potential spoiler alert: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...t-excited-dylan-says-pbs-has-the-wrong-guitar

Not a spoiler. All the coverage I have seen included Dylan's claim that it is not The guitar. Some of the coverage even went on to say that Dylan owned several Strats, often kept songwriting papers in the cases and had some stolen, implying but not actually saying, that the Strat in question was one of those.

And, of course, if it is Dylan's guitar (whether or not it was played at Newport) there is the question of ownership. Are there police reports for the allegedly stolen guitars? Is there a statute of limitations on abandoned or stolen property?

I stopped watching the History Detectives because in the cases where I had some informed opinions about what they were looking at/for they seemed to always make decisions based upon what made for dramatic television and not what made the most historical sense or would tell all sides of the story. While they could often make a case they never quite reached the standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt" IMO.

dapmdave · Jul 14, 2012

fronobulax said:
I stopped watching the History Detectives because in the cases where I had some informed opinions about what they were looking at/for they seemed to always make decisions based upon what made for dramatic television and not what made the most historical sense or would tell all sides of the story. While they could often make a case they never quite reached the standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt" IMO.

Interesting that you say this. Even though I'm a fan of this type of TV, I don't care to watch "History Detectives" so much. There's an overall pretentiousness there that puts me off.

Dave

ladytexan · Jul 14, 2012

dapmdave said:
fronobulax said:

I stopped watching the History Detectives because in the cases where I had some informed opinions about what they were looking at/for they seemed to always make decisions based upon what made for dramatic television and not what made the most historical sense or would tell all sides of the story. While they could often make a case they never quite reached the standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt" IMO.

Click to expand...

Interesting that you say this. Even though I'm a fan of this type of TV, I don't care to watch "History Detectives" so much. There's an overall pretentiousness there that puts me off.

Dave

Why would one not believe Bob Dylan? It was his guitar, after all. Geez....... :shock:

I agree with you, frono and dapmdave, I don't like History Detectives, either. Sadly, such is the world of reality TV. Still hard to believe it's a PBS offering.

Sal · Jul 14, 2012

Why would one not believe Bob?

A Gibson SG that George Harrison hardly played recently sold for $567,000

Eric Clapton's "Blackie" has the record sale price of $959,500

Other than -- maybe -- a Hendrix guitar, what electric guitar would be worth more than Bob Dylan's "gone electric" 1964 Strat?

Those kinds of collector guitar prices cloud the issue and until other substantiating evidence turns up this will remain controversial.

ladytexan · Jul 14, 2012

Sal said:
Why would one not believe Bob?

A Gibson SG that George Harrison hardly played recently sold for $567,000

Eric Clapton's "Blackie" has the record sale price of $959,500

Other than -- maybe -- a Hendrix guitar, what electric guitar would be worth more than Bob Dylan's "gone electric" 1964 Strat?

Those kinds of collector guitar prices cloud the issue and until other substantiating evidence turns up this will remain controversial.

Sal, I, completely, understand the monetary reasons, but the aforementioned guitars were never identified by the artists' as 'not the one'. Wouldn't a collector be dubious about a six-figure (potentially seven-figure) investment guitar without better evidence (as you mentioned) and refuted as 'not the one' by the artist? And, yep, the controversay will continue.

Sal · Jul 14, 2012

Yeah I think we agree Tony, this Dawn Peterson is going to have a tough time selling this as "The" guitar right now. But as to why we would question Bob, and I do hate to question the mans integrity, but that high value is good reason to question him or anyone else in a similar situation.

I'll bet with "Star" owned guitars gaining in value, there are plenty of past performers who maybe sold off their stuff along the way, but would now present for sale an identical instrument as the one they played on that number one hit record back in the day!

jcwu · Jul 14, 2012

This is why I don't like selling off my gear. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be really famous and the guitars will be worth a lot more.

:mrgreen:

Thunderface · Jul 18, 2012

In case you missed the PBS "History Detectives" episode last night about the Newport Strat, you can see it here. There's also some stuff on a Beatles autograph and a Frank Zappa collage.

AcornHouse · Jul 18, 2012

ladytexan said:
Why would one not believe Bob Dylan? It was his guitar, after all. Geez....... :shock:

I agree with you, frono and dapmdave, I don't like History Detectives, either. Sadly, such is the world of reality TV. Still hard to believe it's a PBS offering.

I don't know if Dylan cares about particular instruments much, especially the electrics. He may just not want people to profit off of his fame. After all, he doesn't seem too concerned about getting it back.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

The matching of the wood grain, especially in the fingerboard, with a good close pic that hadn't been published before :!: I think is very telling that it is indeed the same guitar. Components can be changed and faked, wood grain can't. (Well, not that would stand up to close inspection.)

Thunderface · Jul 18, 2012

I was going to point out the same thing, Chris. That seemed like pretty convincing evidence to me. Of course now that they've run the special, Dylan's people will probably be calling demanding the guitar back, which will lead to those always fun court battles.

Bob Dylan's 1965 Newport Folk Festival Strat

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