GUEST: This guitar and case were given to me by my father. He was a professional musician and he played Fender equipment. He was also a Fender dealer. He sold Fender equipment out of his home. So consequently I remember growing up in the '50s and early '60s, we had a lot of Fender equipment laying about the house. And I remember this particular package laying around the house. He just put them aside, rarely played it and it just seemed to collect dust, frankly. It's a 1957 model, I understand.
APPRAISER: Well, this is one of America's iconic guitars. The Fender Telecaster. Fender came out with the Telecaster in, I think, 1951. And this is a '57, which we discovered from the serial number. It has the ash body with what they called the blonde finish. Maple neck, maple fingerboard. And two pick-ups. And it is the cleanest Fender Telecaster of this period I have ever seen ever. When I saw you walk in with the case, then open the case, I thought this was a reissue Telecaster.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: Until I started looking at the handle and going, "That's an original handle." "Oh, there's an original label ." I did see a little bit of fret wear, just a little bit, and just a tiny little bit of wear on the lacquer on the fingerboard. But beyond that, it is... I guess you'd probably want to call it near-mint. Hardly anything's mint. And the case is best case I've ever seen. All the leather is intact. The strap is the original Fender strap, and it's supple. They're usually all cracked up. The earlier ones had black pick guards, and this one has the white guard, which you'll see starting in '54. The guitar... I'm going to turn it around. ...as you can see, is basically perfect. There's the serial number. It has the original hang tag, the original brochure for the Fender Telecaster from that year. It's an incredible outfit. Would you be surprised to know that the retail value was close to $25,000?
GUEST: Uh, yeah, I'd be surprised. Really.
