Fender’s Custom Shop has replicated the late Chicago guitarist Terry Kath‘s customized 1966 Telecaster, complete with all the stickers and dings that cover it, as well as the duct tape on the back.
The guitar had been hidden away since his 1978 death in the back of his dad’s closet, and the search for it was one of the story lines his daughter Michelle‘s 2016 documentary, The Terry Kath Experience.
She says, “Bringing the guitar to Fender for the first time was probably one of the most exciting days. [Master Builder Dennis Galuszka] nailed it. My hope for the replicas is that they find really good homes with people who are just as excited as we are about them being in the world. It means a lot to our family.”
The guitar is limited to just 50 units and sells for $20,000.
Eric Clapton had a new guitar made specifically for his new album, The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions.
His guitar tech Dan Dearnley says, “Around July of last year, I think Eric was thinking ahead to this acoustic kind of show and he asked for his 12-string guitars, but he didn’t have a Dreadnought 12-string, which is the big body size, but I did.
“I had one that I had made at college when I was 17. So, I went over with his guitars and also left mine with him for a week. Then the next time I saw him he said, ‘Can you make me one then, how long will it take?’ I said ‘Yes’…
“Within a couple of weeks though we got sent a 12-string from Martin…and Eric just loved it, so that was my benchmark, to match that guitar. I sourced the wood from a friend of mine…some 25-year-old Rosewood that he had been keeping, and some Sitka Spruce. The spruce had some staining around the edges from being so old, which I thought would come out with sanding, but it didn’t, so the guitar looks a bit old already!”
Clapton plays the guitar on his cover of Fleetwood Mac‘s “Black Magic Woman.”
REUTERS PHOTO
