Bob Dylan; Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, on stage at the Newport Folk Festival 1965



Bob Dylan's guitar Newport 1965

What happened to the electric guitar Bob  Dylan played at the Newport  Festival, was it lost and found?

After writing my last post about George Harrison and his Gretsch Duo Jet, I thought there would be more stories to tell about famous guitar players and their guitars.
This one is about Bob Dylan and his Fender Stratocaster, he played at the Newport festival in 1965. The guitar is supposed to be "lost and found".

The news came out in july 2012, so it's not "fresh from the press". Despite of the fact that perhaps a lot of people already know about it, for me, the story is amazing enough to post. Guitars, history, and modern forensics come together!

Bob Dylan performing at the Newport Festival in 1965

Bob Dylan playing electric guitar at Newport Festival 1965

In 1965 Bob Dylan performed for thousands of fans at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Everybody was expecting him to play acoustic guitar, the way they were used to hear him playing his "'protest songs", and then it happened. He plugged in an electric guitar, the Fender Stratocaster,started playing, and hell broke loose.

The fans did not accept it at all! After only three songs, Bob, with his electric guitar, left the stage. Bob came back and played on with his acoustic guitar. Bob Dylan's fans wanted to hear the acoustic folk sound, not the electric guitar Rock'n Roll sound.

This moment is music history. By combining rock and folk, the music of the 60´s would never sound the same again. Bob Dylan and his electric guitar changed history in 1965, and experts say this guitar is one of the worlds most famous guitars.



Bob Dylan and Bloomberg playing at the Newport 1965 Festival

What really happened to the guitar Bob Dylan played at the Newport 1965 Festival

In July 2012, the American television show, History Detectives, claimed to have re-discovered the famous electric guitar, a Fender Stratocaster, Bob Dylan played during his contraversial performance at the Newport Folk festival in 1965. Bob Dylan denies this claim, but experts are convinced it is the real deal.

The story goes that Dylan did not took very good care of the guitar.  Dawn Peterson, the doughter of pilot Victor Quinto stated that she is in possession of the guitar. Victor Quinto was the pilot who flew Dylan to different gigs in that period. The pilot would have contacted Bob Dylan´s management after finding the guitar, to have it picked up, but nobody showed up.

The guitar was stored until a friend of the pilot´s doughter made the connection between the guitar and Dylan´s performance at Newport in 1963. The woman then contacted History Detectives to have the guitar investigated.

History Detectives with the supposed to be Bob Dylan guitar

A guitar expert compared the grain in the wood in the guitar with pictures taken at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where Dylan performed with the Fender Stratocaster, and he is convinced the guitar, History Detectives was offered for examiniation, really is the famous Bob Dylan guitar. In the guitar case, handwritten song texts by the hand of Dylan were found, which makes the story even more real.

Bob Dylan's spokesman and lawyers on the other hand, state that it's for sure not the guitar Bob Dylan played at the festival mentioned; that guitar is, as they say, still in possession of Bob Dylan himself. Bob did loose guitars, some where stolen, but not the 1965 Newport guitar. Anyway, Dylan really wants the guitar back which was left behind in the plane. According to the finder's doughter, nobody from Dylan's management contacted her to claim the guitar, so the guitar remains in a safe place until it's clear who is legally the owner of the guitar.

I think Bob Dylan and his management will, if so, never admit it's the real guitar, until the guitar is back in the hands of Bob Dylan. Experts say the real 1965 Newport Fender can be worth up to 1 million dollar !

Video and updates can be found at the History Detectives website.

Update!

On friday 6 december 2013, the Fender Stratocaster has set a price record on an auction!

Christie's announced that Bob Dylan's -1965 Newport Festival - Fender Stratocaster was sold for a stunning 965.000 dollar.........

The previous record for a guitar sold by auction was Eric Clapton's Fender "Blackie",  by Christie's in 2004 for 959.500 dollar.

Bob Dylan's Newport Festival performance in 1965 is still considered to be the most important event in the American music history.