A SOLID-BODY ELECTRIC GUITAR, STRATOCASTER, KNOWN AS ‘THE EX-HOMER HAYNES STRATOCASTER’

According to George Gruhn, this guitar was a custom production instrument made for country and jazz guitarist Henry D. “Homer” Haynes. As well as working as a session musician, Haynes was best known for performing as part of a successful comedy and parody duo with Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns under the stage name Homer and Jethro. Homer and Jethro won a Grammy for Best Comedy Performance for their 1959 hit The Battle of Kookamonga and were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Their 36-year career ended with Haynes' death in 1971. As a performing act Homer and Jethro had a long association with Leo Fender and Fender Electric Instrument Company as promoters of Fender guitars and mandolins - Haynes was one of the special performers gifted a custom finished Stratocaster with gold-plated hardware bearing the serial number 0001. It is unknown whether this Stratocaster, in a custom blue color and bearing the serial number -20701, was a purchase by Haynes or a gift from Fender.
Following Haynes’ death, the instrument found its way into the possession of the California guitar dealer Frank Lucido, who included the rare guitar in a Stratocaster exhibition where it received a “best in show” blue ribbon award. In September 1979, Lucido sold the instrument to Phil Taylor, longtime guitar technician to David Gilmour, who then sold the guitar to his employer David Gilmour in 1983. Soon after acquiring the guitar, Gilmour selected the 'Ex-Homer Haynes Stratocaster' for a studio photo shoot with photographer Chalkie Davies for promotion of his 1984 solo album About Face. From this shoot, a shot of Gilmour with the guitar featured in the official program for the About Face Tour. Understanding the rarity and exceptional condition of this guitar, Gilmour has preserved the instrument’s originality.