Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition Lenny Stratocaster

I HAD THIS GUITAR LISTED ON EBAY ANDTHE FINAL BIDDER COULDNT PAY FOR IT. SO PLEASE DONT BID UNLESS YOU CAN PAY FOR IT!!

This is a limited edition Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan "Lenny Tribute" Stratocaster. There were only 185 made. These were released by the Fender Custom Shop in December of 2007 and quickly sold out at a price of $16,999(My reserve price is less than half of that) “I am the original owner.

Vintage Guitar's 2010 Price Guide "PRICING" is $13,000.00 to $15,000.00

This guitar and it’s case candy are brand new and never used. This one is exactly how is was when it left The Fender Custom Shop. As soon as I bought it, I put it away in my closet and now 2 and ½ years later, I’m offering it to you in this auction.

It includes ALL original documentation, certificate of authenticity, DVD's, literature, tickets and passes to his concerts, strap, and all case candy from the factory. This is the complete package and includes EVERY PIECE of the original documentation and equipment still in it's original wrap !

They even replicated the heavy duty flight case with Stevie Ray Vaughan Gold stencils!

Lenny Tribute Stratocaster Electric Guitar Features:

SRV-sanded, contoured body

Billy Gibbons-customized neck

Reflective SRV stickers

1900s-style mandolin body inlay

Mickey Mantle autograph

"Stevie Ray Vaughan 80" etched by SRV onto neck plate

Meticulously replicated wear and tear—

stratches, nicks, dings, and paint wear

Cigarette body burns recreated using SRV's cigarette brand

Reverse-mounted tone pots.

SRV's non-original bridge and non-standard strap buttons

Recreation of cracked headstock end and worn-in

string winder impressions.

Flight case with Vaughan's name embroidered in the case

fabric and the word “ Huricane” for that tour he died in route from.

Concert DVD's and Tickets

Poster

Lenny Tribute Stratocaster. From the Fender.com website:

In a historic collaboration among Fender, Guitar Center® and the Stevie Ray Vaughan estate, the famous Stevie Ray Vaughan “Lenny” Stratocaster® guitar has been commissioned by Guitar Center to be reproduced in a limited edition by the Fender Custom Shop. As part of Fender’s Tribute Series of guitars, “Lenny” will be produced in a limited quantity, with 185 guitars offered for sale in the United States, made available exclusively through Guitar Center. Guitar Center stores throughout the United States will introduce the guitar on Dec. 12, 2007, and will offer them to customers for $17,000 (U.S.).

The original “Lenny” guitar was one of Vaughan’s favorite instruments; a birthday gift from his wife, Lenora (Lenny) during the lean years before he achieved stardom. Vaughan nicknamed the guitar for his wife and composed his namesake instrumental piece on it for her. Guitar Center bought the original guitar for $623,500 at a 2004 Christie’s auction in New York.

“Guitar Center is both thrilled and privileged to be able to offer Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ‘Lenny’ Fender Stratocaster to the world,” said Keith Brawley, Guitar Center vice president of merchandising for guitars and amplifiers. “Stevie Ray Vaughan’s fans are among the most loyal and passionate guitar lovers in the world. The ‘Lenny’ Stratocaster, Stevie’s main instrument for his love songs, is a truly fascinating guitar that has, as part of its DNA, a tender, personal love story and an incredibly colorful and touching history.”

This very special addition to the Custom Shop Tribute Series features an intricate reproduction of “Lenny” down to the smallest detail—from the customized neck (the original was a gift from ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons) to the reflective “SRV” stickers on the body to the battered headstock, the autograph that Stevie himself etched into the neck plate, and even an autograph from baseball great Mickey Mantle.

"This guitar had very special meaning to Stevie,” said Mike Eldred, Fender Custom Division sales and marketing director. “He had it throughout his career; he took it everywhere, and during each show, he stopped, sat down on the stage, and played that song, on that guitar. It's like he was holding on to that very special time before he was a star, and just didn’t want to let that part of his life go."

The Story of Lenny:

The original Lenny guitar is a universally recognizable Fender Stratocaster, best known for its uniquely bright and powerful tone and known as one of Stevie Ray Vaughan's favorite instruments throughout his entire career. The guitar itself has an almost mystical heritage that can be traced back to the very beginning of Vaughan's rise to stardom.

Lenny's body is similarly storied; its most notable feature is a batwing-shaped inlay believed to be from a 1910 mandolin pickguard and reproduced in exact detail for the replica. The original sunburst finish was removed by heavy sanding, giving Lenny a much more rounded, smoother and softer contoured body than any Strat before or since. Subsequently refinished, the original sunburst finish still peeks through the clear mahogany lacquer. It's easy to imagine Vaughan pulling into a truck stop and adding the SRV stickers to the shrunken, warped and cracked pickguard. The Custom Shop has recreated that ensemble with remarkable authenticity. The pickguard hides yet more treasures—a humbucking pickup cavity, unusually routed in the middle position, and a haphazardly wired control pot assembly with tone pots mounted in reverse. Re-creating the non-original bridge and strap-lock hardware is further evidence of the fastidious attention to detail. Ultimately, however, it's all about Vaughan's music, and he summed Lenny up best when he said, "It's always meant a lot to me. And I love what it sounds like." 

Stevie Ray Vaughan was just a struggling young guitarist in Austin, Texas, in 1980, when his wife, Lenora 'Lenny' Vaughan, gave him a used Stratocaster that had recently caught his eye in a local pawnshop. It was a 1965 Fender Stratocaster guitar with the original pickups that, from the look of it, had seen better days. Although it began life as a three-color sunburst model, it had obviously been refinished (none too expertly) at some point, and now it had a dark natural finish bearing an elaborate inlay in the body behind the bridge. Nonetheless, there was something about it that clearly and immediately resonated deeply with Vaughan. 

As Vaughan himself said during an interview published in the Feb. 1990 issue of Guitar Player magazine:

It's called Lenny. I found it at a pawnshop and didn't have the money to buy it, and my wife and several other friends of mine put a pool together and bought the guitar. It's always meant a lot to me. And I love what it sounds like. "Riviera Paradise" and "Lenny" (Texas Flood) are both played on the same guitar, and for some reason that guitar works for songs like that more than anything else. [Guitar Player, Feb. 1990]

Seven friends with $50 each pooled their money to buy the Stratocaster and gave it to Vaughan on his birthday during a celebration at a local Austin nightclub. He was thrilled. He took the guitar home and, sometime that night, as Lenora slept, wrote a new song on it. In the morning, Lenora Vaughan remembers, "He was sitting on the edge of the bed with the guitar and said, 'Listen to this.'" He played her the song he had written that night, "Lenny." The song later became one of Vaughan's most well-known instrumental pieces, and he continued to perform it exclusively on the Lenny guitar. Throughout the remainder of his career, the Lenny guitar traveled with Vaughan almost everywhere he went, and it was later autographed by baseball great Mickey Mantle during a chance meeting in Houston. On April 10, 1985, Vaughan had just performed the National Anthem at the season's opening game for the Houston Astros where Mantle was also in attendance as a guest of honor. Without a baseball or bat nearby, Stevie offered up his beloved guitar to be touched with the magic of the American sporting legend.

Total Weight Is 45 Pounds.