In 1991, Q104.3 and WNEW 102.7 nudged 10-year-old Jarret Crawford by his first steps to guitar infatuation. Songs by Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Smashing Pumpkins led him to Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Web page, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Quickly, he needed to do extra than simply pay attention.

“So, I borrowed a guitar from my uncle – an inexpensive Strat copy with the Hollywood signal painted on it (laughs). However my first correct guitar was a ’94 Richie Sambora Strat with a Floyd Rose, which I purchased new at Rondo’s Music with my affirmation cash.”

It proved excellent for strumming with high-school pals.

“Dan, Joe, and Alexa!” he recollects fondly. “We shared plenty of licks and riffs.”

After enjoying in a “very short-lived” band, Crawford set the guitar apart whereas attending faculty, graduate faculty, then beginning a household. However by his mid 30s, he was itching to step again in, so he purchased an Epiphone Les Paul Commonplace and an import Strat. Seems, they had been gateways.

“The dam broke,” he stated of the years that adopted. “I’ve owned greater than 100 guitars since.”

He began shopping for classic items in 2018 and presently has an all-gold ’55 Les Paul Commonplace that holds “favourite” standing, a refinished ’55 TV Junior, ’63 ES-335, and a ’64 6120. Like most collectors, he regrets having offered or traded a number of items, particularly a ’61 dot-neck ES-335 and a ’53 Deluxe modded by the late Alexander Dumble.

Within the final 5 years, his assortment has change into extra Strat-centric.

“Since 2020, I scored a refinished ’57 Mary Kaye, an unimaginable maple-board ’59, a slab-board ’61, a ’63 refinished in Sweet Apple Crimson, a ’64 Olympic White refin, and three different ’64s in sunburst.”

In Could of 2025, Crawford was trying to substitute considered one of his sunburst ’64s regardless of it being fully authentic with no points – spaghetti brand, clay dots, greened pickguard, authentic case.

“What extra may a man ask for, proper?” he stated. “I preferred it, however I didn’t find it irresistible; what it had in collectibility it lacked in character, and I actually needed a player-grade Strat that felt extra like ‘me.’ I had simply missed on a pre-CBS Strat and was angry-scrolling at some point once I noticed an advert that had been up for only some minutes.”

Marketed as a refinished ’59, it caught his consideration largely as a result of it had an ash physique.

“That meant it was initially blond or was an earlier physique paired with a slab-board neck and inexperienced pickguard. The value was low sufficient that I knew I’d be protected whatever the particulars.”

As soon as in hand, Crawford disassembled the guitar, largely to substantiate the neck was from ’59. He seen a lightweight overspray and, except the low-E tuner and a pair saddle screws, the {hardware} was all authentic. The neck plate serial quantity was from ’59.

However there was one thing odd…

“The three-ply guard didn’t match the physique, and the management cavity had the sooner form with out the shoulder for the extra pickguard screws; that meant it will not have been paired with an 11-hole guard.”

Looking for a physique date, he discovered “12/54” within the vibrato cavity, however he believed the neck and physique had been paired for a really very long time, given the paint switch from the neck pocket to the neck. One concept was somebody despatched their ’54 for a substitute neck and/or a refin after Fender had began utilizing rosewood fretboards in mid ’59. Such tales aren’t unusual.

“That stated, I noticed no indications it was a manufacturing facility refin, although it’s the correct two-tone sunburst,” he causes.

Issues bought much more fascinating when he despatched photographs to a classic supplier.

“He not solely confirmed the physique as a ’54, but additionally that the pickups’ barely taller D-string polepieces meant they had been from ’54. Oddly, although, the polepieces had been ‘unstaggered’ – somebody pushed the third and fourth practically flush with the remainder. I’ve requested round and haven’t been in a position to decide if that’s one thing you’d do if you happen to had been a lefty enjoying a right-handed guitar, nevertheless it’s one thing I hadn’t seen earlier than. I did ask a collector buddy, who informed me it’s achieved to make the output extra even; he known as it ‘flat-pole tone.’

“My supplier buddy additionally talked about the impressions within the physique underneath the pickguard. I hadn’t thought a lot of it – I thought ‘J.H. ’69’ most likely indicated the physique had been refinished in ’69 by somebody with the initials J.H. He famous that gear utilized by Jimi Hendrix was generally given his initials or marked with ‘JHEXP.’ After which an incredible coincidence clicked – I’d bought the guitar from a man on Vashon Island, simply throughout Puget Sound from Seattle.”

Thus started a quest.

“I had two leads – the vendor, who hadn’t owned it lengthy and didn’t take it aside, and an envelope within the case that talked about ‘Jimmy Spakowsky’ and a ‘Doily get together.’”

He known as the vendor and sleuthed on-line, discovering the guitar had been owned by Michael Spakowsky, who (along with his brother, Jimmy) was in a rock/rockabilly/nation band known as The Doily Brothers, which drew crowds within the Vashon space all through the ’70s till Michael’s demise in 2014.

“Their greatest gig was opening for Alice Cooper on the Paramount in Seattle in 1972,” says Crawford.

Michael Spakowsky went on to change into a famend maritime portrait painter who, in a 2012 interview with The Beachcomber, stated he accomplished two items every week for 40 years and offered them domestically for $600 or much less.

“Sadly, that is the place the path went chilly, and my makes an attempt to contact Michael’s subsequent of kin haven’t been profitable,” says Crawford, who now fronts the indie-rock band Free Panic, which performs authentic music at gigs in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. His principal stage guitar is a Novo Serus J in Ice Blue Metallic Sparkle as a result of “…it seems superb underneath the lights.” When he and the band are recording, he digs into his classic devices and largely plugs them right into a ’67 Deluxe Reverb and ’65 Tremendous Reverb.

What standing does the Spakowsky Strat maintain?
“I play it usually, although I haven’t had an opportunity to gig with it but. I’d take it subsequent time as a result of it’s punchy and cuts by a combination. It’s straightforward to search out the in-between positions on the three-way, too, and every delivers the tones you’d count on. The neck form is pretty typical for a ’59 – a bit narrower within the first few positions in comparison with a ’63 or ’64 – although not as slim because the maple-board ’59 I beforehand owned. Additionally, it’s rounder and narrower than your typical ’62 to ’64 Strat. I not too long ago had Billy Penn do a refret, so it now performs completely.”

Do you have got a collectible/classic guitar with an fascinating private story that could be a very good match for “Classics?” In that case, ship an e-mail to [email protected] for particulars on the way it could possibly be featured.

This text initially appeared in VG’s November 2025 situation. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.