Fender Stratocaster

Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition Lenny
Stratocaster

This is a limited edition Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan
"Lenny Tribute" Stratocaster.  There were only 185 made. These
were released by the Fender Custom Shop and Guitar Center in December of 2007
and quickly sold out at a price of $16,999(My reserve price is less than half of that) “I am the original owner” and my
name appears on the poster roll tube. Vintage Guitar's 2010 Price Guide "PRICING" is listed at the bottom here and is $13,000.00 to $15,000.00

This guitar and it’s case candy are brand new and never
used.  This one is exactly how is was when it left The Fender Custom Shop
and arrived at Guitar Center for my order. As soon as I bought it, I put it
away in my closet and now 2 and ½ years later, I’m offering it to you in this auction.
I even have the original shipping carton which is of course, is included

It includes all original documentation, certificate of
authenticity, DVD's, books, strap, and all case candy from the factory.
 This is the complete package and includes EVERY piece of the original
documentation and equipment !

They even replicated the heavy duty flight case with
Stevie Ray Vaughan Gold stencils!

Lenny Tribute Stratocaster Electric
Guitar Features:

SRV-sanded, contoured body

Billy Gibbons-customized neck

Reflective SRV stickers

1900s-style mandolin body inlay

Mickey Mantle autograph

"Stevie Ray Vaughan 80" etched by
SRV onto neck plate

Meticulously replicated wear and tear—

stratches, nicks, dings, and paint wear

Cigarette body burns recreated using SRV's
cigarette brand

Reverse-mounted tone pots.

SRV's non-original bridge and non-standard
strap buttons

Recreation of cracked headstock end and
worn-in

string winder impressions.

Flight case with Vaughan's name embroidered
in the case

fabric and the word “ Huricane” for that
tour he died in route from.

Lenny Tribute Stratocaster. From the
Fender.com website:

 In a historic collaboration among Fender,
Guitar Center® and the Stevie Ray Vaughan estate, the famous Stevie Ray Vaughan
“Lenny” Stratocaster® guitar has been commissioned by Guitar Center to be
reproduced in a limited edition by the Fender Custom Shop. As part of Fender’s
Tribute Series of guitars, “Lenny” will be produced in a limited quantity, with
185 guitars offered for sale in the United States, made available exclusively
through Guitar Center. Guitar Center stores throughout the United States will
introduce the guitar on Dec. 12, 2007, and will offer them to customers for
$17,000 (U.S.).

 The original “Lenny” guitar was one of
Vaughan’s favorite instruments; a birthday gift from his wife, Lenora (Lenny)
during the lean years before he achieved stardom. Vaughan nicknamed the guitar
for his wife and composed his namesake instrumental piece on it for her. Guitar
Center bought the original guitar for $623,500 at a 2004 Christie’s auction in
New York.

 “Guitar Center is both thrilled and
privileged to be able to offer Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ‘Lenny’ Fender Stratocaster
to the world,” said Keith Brawley, Guitar Center vice president of
merchandising for guitars and amplifiers. “Stevie Ray Vaughan’s fans are among
the most loyal and passionate guitar lovers in the world. The ‘Lenny’
Stratocaster, Stevie’s main instrument for his love songs, is a truly
fascinating guitar that has, as part of its DNA, a tender, personal love story
and an incredibly colorful and touching history.”

 This very special addition to the Custom
Shop Tribute Series features an intricate reproduction of “Lenny” down to the
smallest detail—from the customized neck (the original was a gift from ZZ Top’s
Billy F Gibbons) to the reflective “SRV” stickers on the body to the battered
headstock, the autograph that Stevie himself etched into the neck plate, and
even an autograph from baseball great Mickey Mantle. 

 "This guitar had very special meaning
to Stevie,” said Mike Eldred, Fender Custom Division sales and marketing
director. “He had it throughout his career; he took it everywhere, and during
each show, he stopped, sat down on the stage, and played that song, on that
guitar. It's like he was holding on to that very special time before he was a
star, and just didn’t want to let that part of his life go."

 The Story of Lenny:

 The original Lenny guitar is a universally
recognizable Fender Stratocaster, best known for its uniquely bright and powerful
tone and known as one of Stevie Ray Vaughan's favorite instruments throughout
his entire career. The guitar itself has an almost mystical heritage that can
be traced back to the very beginning of Vaughan's rise to stardom.??Lenny's
body is similarly storied; its most notable feature is a batwing-shaped inlay
believed to be from a 1910 mandolin pickguard and reproduced in exact detail
for the replica. The original sunburst finish was removed by heavy sanding,
giving Lenny a much more rounded, smoother and softer contoured body than any
Strat before or since. Subsequently refinished, the original sunburst finish
still peeks through the clear mahogany lacquer. It's easy to imagine Vaughan
pulling into a truck stop and adding the SRV stickers to the shrunken, warped
and cracked pickguard. The Custom Shop has recreated that ensemble with remarkable
authenticity. The pickguard hides yet more treasures—a humbucking pickup
cavity, unusually routed in the middle position, and a haphazardly wired
control pot assembly with tone pots mounted in reverse. Re-creating the
non-original bridge and strap-lock hardware is further evidence of the
fastidious attention to detail. Ultimately, however, it's all about Vaughan's
music, and he summed Lenny up best when he said, "It's always meant a lot
to me. And I love what it sounds like." ??Stevie Ray Vaughan was just
a struggling young guitarist in Austin, Texas, in 1980, when his wife, Lenora
'Lenny' Vaughan, gave him a used Stratocaster that had recently caught his eye
in a local pawnshop. It was a 1965 Fender Stratocaster guitar with the original
pickups that, from the look of it, had seen better days. Although it began life
as a three-color sunburst model, it had obviously been refinished (none too
expertly) at some point, and now it had a dark natural finish bearing an
elaborate inlay in the body behind the bridge. Nonetheless, there was something
about it that clearly and immediately resonated deeply with Vaughan. ??As
Vaughan himself said during an interview published in the Feb. 1990 issue
of Guitar Player magazine:

It's called
Lenny. I found it at a pawnshop and didn't have the money to buy it, and my
wife and several other friends of mine put a pool together and bought the
guitar. It's always meant a lot to me. And I love what it sounds like.
"Riviera Paradise" and "Lenny" (Texas Flood) are
both played on the same guitar, and for some reason that guitar works for songs
like that more than anything else. [Guitar Player, Feb. 1990]

Seven
friends with $50 each pooled their money to buy the Stratocaster and gave it to
Vaughan on his birthday during a celebration at a local Austin nightclub. He
was thrilled. He took the guitar home and, sometime that night, as Lenora slept,
wrote a new song on it. In the morning, Lenora Vaughan remembers, "He was
sitting on the edge of the bed with the guitar and said, 'Listen to
this.'" He played her the song he had written that night,
"Lenny." The song later became one of Vaughan's most well-known
instrumental pieces, and he continued to perform it exclusively on the Lenny
guitar. Throughout the remainder of his career, the Lenny guitar traveled with
Vaughan almost everywhere he went, and it was later autographed by baseball
great Mickey Mantle during a chance meeting in Houston. On April 10, 1985,
Vaughan had just performed the National Anthem at the season's opening game for
the Houston Astros where Mantle was also in attendance as a guest of honor.
Without a baseball or bat nearby, Stevie offered up his beloved guitar to be
touched with the magic of the American sporting legend.

The UPS Store will handle all packing, shipping and insurance. This guitar in it's case is about 50 Lbs and it will require an odd sized, large box which adds to the cost of shipping. This is a USA only auction