GUEST: Me and my daughter got tickets for the ROADSHOW, and it's the only thing I could think of to bring. Because it's the only antique thing that I got at home. Besides my wife. (both laugh)
APPRAISER: So how long have you had it?
GUEST: About 52 years.
APPRAISER: Really?
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: And are you still playing it?
GUEST: Oh, yeah, I play it every day. No, not this one-- I play on my other one. But I used to play this one, I haven't played this in about eight years—I’ve had it stored, see?
APPRAISER: Uh-huh, right.
GUEST: Yeah, it was, like... About eight years ago, I found out it was a little, it was, like, an antique.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: So I decided not to play it.
APPRAISER: It's from late 1962.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And it's a Stratocaster, which is pretty obvious.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: With the decal on the headstock.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: But what makes it unusual is the custom color.
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: It's sonic blue. Sonic blue is one of the more-rare Fender custom colors.
GUEST: Hm.
APPRAISER: They got their colors from automotive paint, DuPont.
GUEST: Oh, okay.
APPRAISER: And this color was first used on 1956 Cadillacs. And so Fender began to use it, but it wasn't very popular. So there aren't very many of them done in this color.
GUEST: Hm.
APPRAISER: The more popular custom colors were Olympic white, candy apple red, and a darker blue that was called Lake Placid blue.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And what has really sent these kind of into the stratosphere is the fact that John Lennon and George Harrison had a pair of them, and they used that on "Nowhere Man."
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: And there's session photos of those two guys playing matching, sonic blue Stratocasters for that recording session. Now, George Harrison later repainted his with all kinds of fancy swirls and things like that. But he continued playing that guitar until he died. The John Lennon one has been in storage for who knows how long.
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: So it's kind of made them the mythical color for an early '60s Strat.
GUEST: Oh, good.
APPRAISER: When did you get this Fender?
GUEST: I got it in, I think, in 1965 at a, at a (inaudible) pawnshop. I paid about $100, $135 for it.
APPRAISER: Have you ever had a real appraisal of the guitar before?
GUEST: No, not really, no. Just what I've been offered, but, uh...
APPRAISER: So what were you offered for it?
GUEST: I was offered $35,000 for it one time. And then I refused that, and they offered me $40,000, but I refused that, too.
APPRAISER: In today's market, in a specialty vintage guitar store or something like that, a guitar like this might bring $45,000 and maybe even higher. So it's definitely desirable.
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: And the custom-color Strats have come back. They took quite a hit in the recession, but their, their values are coming back again, so...
GUEST: Well, that's good, good to know.
