The neck appears virtually unplayed, with a full and unchecked gloss finish on the Maple. The headstock shows off some incredible rippled grain in an almost chevron-like pattern, and the original "spaghetti" decal looks like it was applied in 2025, not 1964! It's got an incredible carve as well- slightly fuller in the first position with a nice meaty 60s taper. It's one of our favorite neck carves of any vintage Strat we've handled.

The electronics are completely original, with undisturbed solder joints at every connection. The black bobbin pickups show yellow date stamps of '5 18 64' on the neck and middle bobbins, and '5 19 64' on the bridge bobbin, respectively, all measuring just a touch over 6k DCR. The original pots are smooth and clean, and the 3-way switch has the kind of spring resistance you only find in guitars that simply haven't been played.

We don't really need to gush about its sound thanks to the great demo featuring our good friend Kevin Barry. We'll say this- if there was ever any doubt about a Strat's sonic limitations, this guitar could easily debunk that. Smooth, round, chimey, clear, open, powerful, punchy... need we go on?! Calling this guitar inspiring barely does it justice. It's an unreal instrument in every way possible.

The guitar is accompanied by its original White/Blonde hardshell case, one of the rarer transitional cases Fender used in between the Brown and Black cases. You'll find the original black strap, an unused set of period Gibson strings, an even the original shop hang tag! There's a leather strip in the case as well, which we've assumed was an attempt by the original owner to fashion his own strap. All is included with the guitar for posterity. We even rolled up those original flatwounds that were on the guitar!

Holy Grail? Unicorn? They're just terms, and probably overused at this point. But when you encounter a guitar this special, it's hard not to think of it in that way. They just don't come along every day, folks. This one has most definitely left its imprint on us here at TME.