Fender started in 1963 for a short period of 2 years to experiment with different wood bodies. Instead of using alder or ash for see thru finishes Fender used on some of the guitars red mahogany wood. All the nicks, wear marks show and reveal the red mahogany wood on this Stratocaster.
This 1963 Fender Stratocaster was used by Molly Hatchet founding member Steve Holland on the first five double platinum albums on tour. The body is old Black Nitro refinish; the neck has been re-fret. You see pictures in 1980 of the Strat pretty clean looking, then you get up to 1985 you see wear, then later 1980's you see more wear. It's a Road Dog, Been All over the world...pretty neat!
Here some more background on Steve and his guitar receivedby email :
Steve Holland's guitar story
Message:
1st off, "DO you still have this guitar in your Stable,..?" If I may,.. as I sit here at my shop following up with customers ect & nursing a shit seasonal upper respiratory cold. I was sent into a bit of a reminiscent state..Between the year of late 1986 - early 1988 (approx).— - Barely in my 20’s, I was a local wanna be guitar god (ha ha ha ) asmany of us were... A good friend of mine & dedicated band groupie/roadie & of course FAN.. had worked at a local biz called “REALTRON” in a town on the south shore of Massachusetts “Pembroke”. Which at the time most of our klan resided ..My friend had always heard rumors about the Co-Owner being from a Famous Rock band But never knew his name. Well eventually my friend got pretty Tight with this gent & Co-owner. But he NEVER told my friend what band he was a part of..eventually we would even be able to buy some GREAT weed form this gent on a regular basis..My friend ovbiously told this gent about Myself & my band & my addiction to guitar..& one of these weed buying occasions. He told my buddy to bring me along to his place in the next town over (Marshfield)..well when I got there I was BLOWN away to see GOLD records on the walls of this very tiny & unassuming Ranch styled home & that in FACT it was Stevie J Holland himself (why he was hanging out in Marshfield Mass & co-owner of that BIZ I never asked. But there were Rumors of course )…Anyways from that moment we all had a great connection & Steve came by to my makeshift basement rehearsal room of my MOM's house to hear us & afterwards asked MY cover band to come out with him do do some gigs with his local project he had put together..soon. My band soon was Stevie's "go to” for many gigs & even a few for the Local Hells Angels chapter president including their annual 4th of July Bash as well as The Angels local chapter presidents Wedding reception. I can distinctly remember Steve allowing to noodle/jam on this exact guitar. Stevie was also quite supportive of me. When OZZY was in Boston for one of many new guitar player auditions (approx 1987) Stevie said to me & my bud. That (I was the man for that job). Wow.!!! ...unfortunately other than a quick phone convo w/OZZY. was NEVER able to get to the audition..within the time that followed we slowly started to lose touch. & I could never locate Stevie. In the advent of social media I was able to kind of locate him but it was very close to his last days..But I surely will NEVER forget the craziness & many other UNREAL times I had withhim. What brought me to YOU or HERE was I was sitting wondering what ever happen to some of his guitars? A quick search I found THIS… maybe someday Ill get to record a few riffs on that small piece of STRAT History.that I have a bit of a connection to..fast forward many years I nowhere my own home studio & was able to complete a film about my family story myself & my Father's story I completed in 2018. As well as directing, I also completed the entire soundtrack at my afore mentioned home studio (JR-5 Studios).. which can be found by searching "21 Years - A Folded Flag"
~ Rich Fitts Jr
Part of Southern Rock History.
