Not long after I started working at A&S Music I began to realize that almost every closet or corner had some sort of vintage guitar in it. Tucked away for safe keeping. Hidden from the dangers of the show room floor. Not just anybody could pick these babies up and thump on them. No, only two kinds of people could do that. People with money… and the new employee who unearthed these forgotten treasures.
When our doors opened in 1979, vintage Gibson and Fender guitars were just becoming valuable. Collectible. And I was celebrating my first birthday. Like most stores A&S kept a collection of vintage guitars “in the back”. A rare seven string Show Budd dobro, a pair of Gretsch hollow body guitars from the late sixties ( case kept for thirty years ) and more lap steels than Nils Klein would know what to do with. All those were nice but the rare birds, the ones I remember most, the “If you have to ask it’s too much” kind of guitars, those stayed in Terry’s office.
When our doors opened in 1979, vintage Gibson and Fender guitars were just becoming valuable. Collectible. And I was celebrating my first birthday. Like most stores A&S kept a collection of vintage guitars “in the back”. A rare seven string Show Budd dobro, a pair of Gretsch hollow body guitars from the late sixties ( case kept for thirty years ) and more lap steels than Nils Klein would know what to do with. All those were nice but the rare birds, the ones I remember most, the “If you have to ask it’s too much” kind of guitars, those stayed in Terry’s office.
Terry Simpson was part owner of A&S from 1979 to 2006 when he retired. In a way, he is like the guitars that were hidden in the back of our shop. His life is full of stories. That was easy for me to see, what with all the personal letters from Billy Gibbons laying around. But we’ll talk about Terry another time. Right now I want to talk about his office.
I first learned of the mystique of his office a few weeks after I started working for Terry. It was a Martin, D-18 I think, a trade in from one of south east Texas’ “good ol’ boys”. When the deal was done he took that guitar, case and all, to his office. He laid the thing on one of the chairs across from his desk. No price tag. No bother with telling any of the employees about it. He just put it in his office.
It wasn’t there long.
That’s the way it was in those days. You want a $1200 vintage guitar? We have some “in the back”. Are you looking for something more expensive? “Step into my office”.
And then one day I saw it. Terry brought a would be buyer into his office and pulled out a guitar I hadn’t see before. A Strat. It was red. It was old. They looked it over together and discussed its finer points. After about ten minutes they put it back in the case and said their goodbyes to each other. The customer never asked about price. He knew what he was holding so he didn’t have to ask.
In 1962 the Fender Stratocaster was a popular guitar. That same year Fiesta Red was a favorite color. I don’t know why. Maybe Ricky Nelson was playing one. Whatever the reason, Fender put out a LOT of Fiesta Red that year. It is rumored that, at one point Fender stopped production of several other colors and went double time on these bright red Strats. A fiesta feeding frenzy.
In those days Fender guitars were not collectible.
I first learned of the mystique of his office a few weeks after I started working for Terry. It was a Martin, D-18 I think, a trade in from one of south east Texas’ “good ol’ boys”. When the deal was done he took that guitar, case and all, to his office. He laid the thing on one of the chairs across from his desk. No price tag. No bother with telling any of the employees about it. He just put it in his office.
It wasn’t there long.
That’s the way it was in those days. You want a $1200 vintage guitar? We have some “in the back”. Are you looking for something more expensive? “Step into my office”.
And then one day I saw it. Terry brought a would be buyer into his office and pulled out a guitar I hadn’t see before. A Strat. It was red. It was old. They looked it over together and discussed its finer points. After about ten minutes they put it back in the case and said their goodbyes to each other. The customer never asked about price. He knew what he was holding so he didn’t have to ask.
In 1962 the Fender Stratocaster was a popular guitar. That same year Fiesta Red was a favorite color. I don’t know why. Maybe Ricky Nelson was playing one. Whatever the reason, Fender put out a LOT of Fiesta Red that year. It is rumored that, at one point Fender stopped production of several other colors and went double time on these bright red Strats. A fiesta feeding frenzy.
In those days Fender guitars were not collectible.
They were not yet considered to be the icons they are today. Fender didn’t have super high standards at that time either. All guitars were given serial numbers but the serial numbers weren’t necessarily in order. To date some of the older models requires a method called triangulating. Using the dates stamped on the guitars pots and neck along with the serial number will give a collector the year and approximate date the guitar was assembled. What I’m saying is that there weren’t a lot of rules at the fender factory.
At some point in 1962 there was a whole rack of Stratocaster bodies all painted and ready to go. The only problem was that the bodies all had a “Sunburst” finish and every kid in America wanted Fiesta Red. What was Fenders solution to this problem? Simple. Paint over the “Sunburst” with Fiesta Red. This fact was not bragged about or even documented by Fender. Nobody even knows exactly how many times this happened.
This may seam like bad practice on the factories part ( if it’s true, than yes it was ) but to a collector its like finding a misprint stamp with the wrong image or a word printed backwards. Rare and valuable. Stories of these types of mistakes are like folklore among collectors. If the stories are true these guitars would be priceless in the truest sense. Old guitars have a value. A Gibson Les Paul from 1960 is considered to be more valuable than say a Fender Telecaster from that same year. Rare colors are worth more, common colors worth less. A vintage gear head’s supply and demand of sorts.
Back to Terry’s office.
When he first bought the red Strat he noticed a few dings in the finish. In nine hundred and ninety nine times out of a thousand ( I’m guessing on the odds here ) those dings would devalue the guitar. Also, like I said before, there were a LOT of Fiesta Red Strats in 1962. This guitar was certainly one of high value, just not as high as one with a rare color. Or so he thought. As he was inspecting these dings with a collector one day they noticed some black and brown finish under the red.
The legend was true.
At some point in 1962 there was a whole rack of Stratocaster bodies all painted and ready to go. The only problem was that the bodies all had a “Sunburst” finish and every kid in America wanted Fiesta Red. What was Fenders solution to this problem? Simple. Paint over the “Sunburst” with Fiesta Red. This fact was not bragged about or even documented by Fender. Nobody even knows exactly how many times this happened.
This may seam like bad practice on the factories part ( if it’s true, than yes it was ) but to a collector its like finding a misprint stamp with the wrong image or a word printed backwards. Rare and valuable. Stories of these types of mistakes are like folklore among collectors. If the stories are true these guitars would be priceless in the truest sense. Old guitars have a value. A Gibson Les Paul from 1960 is considered to be more valuable than say a Fender Telecaster from that same year. Rare colors are worth more, common colors worth less. A vintage gear head’s supply and demand of sorts.
Back to Terry’s office.
When he first bought the red Strat he noticed a few dings in the finish. In nine hundred and ninety nine times out of a thousand ( I’m guessing on the odds here ) those dings would devalue the guitar. Also, like I said before, there were a LOT of Fiesta Red Strats in 1962. This guitar was certainly one of high value, just not as high as one with a rare color. Or so he thought. As he was inspecting these dings with a collector one day they noticed some black and brown finish under the red.
The legend was true.
That year Terry sold his rare 1962 Fiesta Red / Sunburst Fender
Stratocaster for more money than I earned in that same year as a full
time employee. Before craigslist, before the power of Facebook, before
every cell phone came equipped with a camera and an Instagram app, he
sold that guitar to a guy in Minnesota (I think it was) by word of
mouth. That’s it. Any time a person who understood the value of such a
guitar would happen by our store, Terry would take them into his office
and show them his treasure. Word spread across this whole country until,
it reached a man who didn’t ask “How much?” but rather “Will you take a
check?”
To this day we still have a few “treasures” at A&S Music. Some of them are for sale. You can come by and see them any time you want. Just remember, if you have to ask, it’s too much.
To this day we still have a few “treasures” at A&S Music. Some of them are for sale. You can come by and see them any time you want. Just remember, if you have to ask, it’s too much.
