The instruments were retro-fitted (in the UK) with LEDs, activated by a push pull switch on the first tone control, which were set into the fret markers on the upper side of the neck. Unlike the previous ones it featured an ash body - Fiesta Red finished - and the vintage six saddle bridge. On the headstock, Hank's signature had a genuine ruby dotting the "i". In 1998 it was the turn of the Hank Marvin 40th Anniversary Stratocaster, replicated in 40 units, equipped with Kinman pickups, gold hardware and a neck plate bearing the "40 Years 1958-1998" engraving. The pickups were the Seymour Duncan Vintage Staggered SSL1 (at the bridge and in the middle position) and Di Marzio FS-1 (at the neck) a push pull switch on the second tone control activated the neck/bridge combination. Both featured Vintage Fiesta Red alder body, highly figured maple neck, gold hardware, graphite nut, locking tuners and 2-pivot bridge. In 1995, the production was extended to another 64 guitars, all equipped with two pickguards, of which one was signed by the guitarist: the Autograph Edition. Commissioned by Fender UK and sold solely through the British distributor Arbiter, it was to be a limited edition of 100 copies. In 1992 the first Hank Marvin Signature Stratocasterappeared. In fact, it wasn’t the second Vintage ever made, but the second made in the new Corona plant.īut the agreement between the guitarist and the Custom Shop was only postponed.
#Hank marvin stratocaster serial number
The "V000002" serial number of the guitar, however, could be deceiving. George remembers that they wanted to know how many hundreds of units were needed, but in reality he only needed one! He therefore decided to turn to the same company that produced it for CBS.
It needed only special paint, a maple bird’s eye neck, and mostly the gold hardware, still not available from the factory of the new Fender. Actually it didn't take long it was mainly an assembly work of parts already in stock. The newly hired George Blanda began to work on the reissue of a 1959 Red Stratocaster in October 1985.
#Hank marvin stratocaster series
At that period Fender's brand new factory was still small and both the Signature Series and the Custom Shop didn’t yet exist. So Dan Smith asked to George Blanda to make a Fiesta Red Vintage reissue with gold hardware. The idea of building this special guitar to commemorate the first "British" Stratocaster was the brainchild of John Hill. On this occasion Dan and Bill showed Hank, who was about to move in Australia, a red Vintage reissue Stratocaster, whose neck plate was inscribed "To Hank Marvin with special thanks from your friends at Fender" and the date of the party. This party was attended by Dan Smith and Bill Schultz, Hank Marvin, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, and other English musicians. On February 12, 1986, John Hill, British Fender’s Brand and Artist Relations Director, organized a party in a Hilton Hotel in London to take a new step in the rebranding of post-CBS Fender and to celebrate a great moment in Fender history: the first Stratocaster to come to the UK, the Fiesta Red Strat of the Shadows guitarist, Hank Marvin. Currently the guitar, which according to many had been the first Stratocaster to arrive in England, belongs to the other guitarist of the Shadows, Bruce Welch, who had it repainted again in red by Barry Gibson (Burns Guitars), thus erasing any trace of the original color. Other sources say that he simply bought it in a musical instruments shop.Īfter about a year Hank bought his first Stratocaster, this time with rosewood fretboard, and gave back the one with the maple fretboard to Cliff, who some time after had it repainted in white. One of these legends says that Cliff visited Fender factory and Leo personally gave him this guitar. Numerous legends circulate about the faded Fiesta Red ("Flamingo Pink" according to Marvin) Stratocaster, with gold hardware and maple neck, which Cliff Richard, original name Harry Rodger Webb, brought to his friend from the United States, which he had picked while on a promotional tour in the U.S.
When in 1959 this law was repealed, Hank could finally realize his dream and get his Fender. In particular, Hank Marvin of the Shadows was obsessed by the sound of Buddy Holly and by that of James Burton, whom he believed that played a Stratocaster (actually it was a Telecaster). Until 1959 the Stratocaster, due to an import law of 1951, remained a purely American phenomenon, though many British guitarists dreamed of the new American guitars.
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