Wow, so much great info!!! Thanks, everybody.
Paul, so Bruce had the 34346 repainted for the '83 Silver tour - thanks for that, I had always wondered about that. I had a chance to play the guitar a bit in '03 (so, fully granted, 20 years after the refinish), and the red color on it was much darker than fiesta red. Does anybody know if it was originally closer to a fiesta red finish? It certainly had NO pink nor even orange in it in '03.
Thanks, Gary, for that info. I must admit that I was also surprised about the Gilmour reference, since I knew the guitar was repainted and wasn't black when Hank got it (though, Jim, I thought it was originally white with a tort pickguard, not natural finish). Also, I believe Hank got it in '72 or so, and Pink Floyd didn't really hit big until '73's Dark Side of the Moon. But anyway, lot of good info there, and fascinating to hear that Hank was just looking for a vintage Strat, not necessarily in fiesta red. I seem to remember him also having a sunburst original '50s Strat at some point, and I thought it was in the '70s, or early '80s, but maybe he got it later - anybody know? And certainly the early '80s were the time where people truly started appreciating vintage Strats a lot more, so it makes sense that Hank would have decided to go that route at that time.
Didier, that was an *amazing* story! Thank you so very much for sharing that! I love it.
Paul, I find it funny that Hank thought that both the '58 and the 34346 sounded 'bright/thin' and opted to go with a custom shop Strat. Of course, 34346 most certainly DOES NOT sound bright/thin on Apache, Man of Mystery, FBI, Shadoogie, Find Me a Golden Street, etc., etc.
Did Hank have a spare guitar for his '58 Strat on the '80s' tours ? Did he keep his black Strat for that purpose for a while before giving it to Ben later, probably in the '90s?
Thanks again!