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Rolling Stone article

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... y-20120711

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Jesus. That guitar would be worth a lot in any shape, and it's museum quality.

very interesting story. the guitar is in beautiful condition.
does she also have Bloomfield's Les Paul tucked away?

Not a scratch on that thing!

Wow, won't it be great for him to get it back?

JJLipton wrote:Not a scratch on that thing!

Looks like there may be some checking though, looking at the way the light reflects off the upper horn.

Sounds dodgy to me. If it IS the Newport guitar, Dylan could make a legal claim to it. If it isn't, there's no proof it was ever his, and it's not worth any more than a normal '64 strat.

Did you look at the lyric? She's got lyrics in handwriting that matches Dylan's. She may be hoping to get something out of it, but she also stands to lose it completely. I can't imagine what she should have done in this situation. I would hope Dylan or the Smithsonian would offer a reward to make it easier to do the right thing. If someone left anything else on a plane in 1965 I don't think we could expect to make someone give it back unless it was the Hope diamond. It's an interesting situation.

If you are not familiar with that moment in rock history, go back and watch some videos. Dylan was the largest force in folk during a time when folk had some power, and during an unpopular war. One reason he left "Maggie's Farm" might be that sick of carrying water for the entire country and being hated and vilified for it. People pinned a movement onto him at a time he could have easily been shot for it. At the same time he was being followed by every manner of hipster who was telling him what to be like.

At that moment he picked up an electric guitar. Was the music better? Are they more fun? Did it make sense at a time when rock was exploding all over the world? People cursed his name for this. I don't know if my dad ever forgave him. He seemed to be selling out the entire movement, or in some way turning his back on them. What we now know is that he was a musician doing what musicians do. As a sonic or tactical decision, it was brilliant. He became a supernova. He did what no other musician was even in the position to do. What could anyone do now that would be so meteoric?

This is no mere 1965 Stratocaster--like that's not worth a lot already. This is a lightning rod. A million dollars is not nearly enough. How cool would it be to have it and not tell anyone? Maybe she wanted her 15 minutes. There's probably no way this could be verified as authentic without making a huge noise. Why is there not a signature model for this one? Think of the hype. Fender could buy it, make exact copies, then present it to Bob.

the show host admits the obvious - that the only final verification would be to compare this to the one that is in Dylan's own possession, then compare both of them with those (amazing) colour photos. That said, I can't imagine Bob Dylan engaging in any kind of interaction on this issue, particularly in a public forum like a TV show.

I read recently that Springsteen had the Custom Shop replicate his woody tele with the Esquire neck. 1 copy for his own use. he was super happy with it and they followed up with an offer to produce 50 for sale. he said something to the effect of, "One is enough." Given that Dylan makes Springsteen look like Beiber, publicity-wise, I suspect a CS Newport '64 Strat is out of the question. they would make a mint, though, i agree.

I think that is the Newport guitar. He probably had two and got them mixed up at some point. Look at the one he still has next to the Newport pic below: it's nick on the upper bout is right at the edge of the black/red in the sunburst, whereas the History Detectives guitar and the one in the Newport photos have a nick there which is more towards the edge of the body. It also has some knot-type marks around the input jack the other two pics don't show, and they have different 12th fret dot spacing as it was changed around that time. And the sunburst doesn't match, hard to tell because of fading but certainly looks like the red uniformly clears the pickguard on the upper bout on the one he still has, but is partially obscured by the pickguard on the other.

i hope dylan gets it back

So Dylan is saying he has the original guitar and this guitar the woman has is just another guitar Dylan owned?

The woman is claiming she has the original guitar and that Dylan has mixed up the guitar with another one he owns?

Is that the situation?

I bet Dylan doesn't ask for it back. Maybe when he dies his kids or estate will try and get it back.

I've read about him giving away stuff of tremendous value over the years, like an acoustic of John Lennon's that Yoko gave him and a painting of Elvis by Andy Warhol, the Warhol ended up selling for serious money.

We can settle this really easily.

Just take it to the Pawn Stars in Las Vegas, they will call in their "expert" and it will be settled.

Think about how many guitars that guy has owned. Does it really matter to him? Hard to say. I wonder if there's another option like loaning it to the R&R museum.

taylornutt wrote:So Dylan is saying he has the original guitar and this guitar the woman has is just another guitar Dylan owned?

The woman is claiming she has the original guitar and that Dylan has mixed up the guitar with another one he owns?

Is that the situation?

It's mainly what I'm saying, not having seen the episode. He came out and said he still has the guitar after her news broke, and I don't think Dylan is saying "that's another of my guitars" just that he has the Newport one. In the video the History Detectives woman (not the same woman who owns the guitar) said she wanted to compare both this guitar and the one he currently has to the pictures.

The pic I posted of the guitar next to him at newport has been around awhile, that's the guitar Dylan claims to be the Newport one... but I don't think it is because of the location of the 12th fret dots and pickscrape on the upper bout, plus the red portion of the sunburst as it interacts with the bass-side of the pickguard. This is just my opinion from looking at pictures on the internet, but even accounting for the aging/different angles of 12th fret dots in dead-on versus hand-held photos, I don't see how that pickscrape could've changed location on the black portion of the sunburst. It's in the exact right place on this newly discovered one.
If he had two sunburst strats that were almost identical or bought at the same time, it probably wouldn't have been worth it to him personally to distinguish them from each other over the years... They were just a couple brand-new Strats he'd picked up. Like how people view non-vintage Strats now, but even more extreme because they only made one type at a time back then. It makes total sense to me that he could've left either of them on a plane by mistake and years later looked at either other one as that first electric used publicly. And by that same logic/his doddery looks and actions of the past decade or so, I don't even have a hard time believing that he doesn't remember owning 2 in the first place, or what the hell happened before last week for that matter.

DGNR8 wrote:Think about how many guitars that guy has owned. Does it really matter to him? Hard to say. I wonder if there's another option like loaning it to the R&R museum.

Bob Dylan wrote:I really want the guitar that reminds of the time I was booed a lot back.

There's that, and he doesn't need the money. I doubt it would have any sentimental value at all.

Did he even have two near-identical Strats to begin with? There are all those studio pics of him playing various electrics he borrowed from other players - the Jaguar and the Jazz Bass and an Electric XII (?). Then on the '66 world tour he played a Telecaster loaned to him by Robbie Robertson.

It seems as though at that stage he either would just play whatever somebody else handed to him or else he'd mislaid his own guitar and had to borrow one from RR (which would tally with him having left the Strat on the plane). Complete speculation....or a working hypothesis, maybe.