DDDave Davidson

1. Article · Aug 16, 2026 · Dave Davidson

   “They’re so scarce. Fender only made 200 and the majority of them have been monkeyed with”: The Stratocaster was in constant flux during its first year of production – and these two 1954 models prove it (opens the original)

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   The first of these two 1954 Strats is dated March 1954 and it has serial number ‘0108’ on the spring cover. The rumour is that the Strats with trem-cover numbers were actually salesman samples. They’re often very heavy and the bodies were usually made using multiple pieces of ash, rather than the single pieces Fender did later. The weight difference can be as much as 3lb. I’ve had a couple from January 1954 in the past, but the earliest Stratocaster I currently have pre-dates the ‘0108’ by a cou

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2. Article · Aug 1, 2026 · Dave Davidson

   “Most people don’t get to see guitars like these”: Meet the 1968 Gibson Super 400 that was customized for Merle Travis – the ultimate artist’s guitar (even if the materials aren’t that great) (opens the original)

   Excerpt · English

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   This is a custom-made Super 400 that Gibson built for Merle Travis. I bought it at Christie’s in New York when his stuff went up for sale, along with several other guitars that belonged to him. It intrigued me because it has some features that were rarely seen in 1968. By the late 1960s humbuckers were standard pickups for the Super 400 and this body has humbucker cut-outs. But Merle must have specified P-90s, and Gibson placed a very thin plastic cheat ring under the neck P-90 cover to hide the

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