NGD: Buck Owens

Hi gang,

Just a little teaser of the guitar that came in yesterday. More to follow when I'm done documenting this beauty.


- Jos

oooohhh....

I'm feeling very patriotic allofasudden

congrats!

OH my !! ...... the "real" Buck Owens ..... Beautiful

oooohhh....

I'm feeling very patriotic allofasudden

congrats!

Me too. A guitar in the colors of the Dutch flag is not very common. Why would you use such a small country as template anyway? Guitars going Dutch?!



- Jos

OH my !! ...... the "real" Buck Owens ..... Beautiful

Hey Fumble,

Had a question for you. You have a couple of USA Metal Flake instruments but I couldn't find any pictures of the back, especially the neck. What do they look like on yours?

- Jos

the Classic is double bound white .... the Deluxe is single wood binding

the Classic is double bound white .... the Deluxe is single wood binding

Thanks Eric! Beauties!!

- Jos

the classic also has silver body sides

As you see, the 'original' Buck Owens only has binding in a place where I have never seen it before: the headstock. And only the front at that. Otherwise, the color bands wrap around the body similar to your Deluxe. The colors on the neck wrap around the side of the headstock but not the front. Interesting stuff.

You made me realize there are a couple of more pictures to take. I haven't taken the neck off yet, but feel really apprehensive about it for some reason.

- Jos

Jos , is that gold hardware or just the reflection ??

Jos , is that gold hardware or just the reflection ??

Eric,

Hardware is all gold including pickguard. Just like the other from the Dale Hyatt Collection.


- Jos

Yes Jos, the real deal with the neck painted as it should be. Geat score! Where did you find it? --Darwin

the gold pickguard was throwing me off in the first couple pictures , made me think reflection ..... sweet picture , shows off the gold

Yes Jos, the real deal with the neck painted as it should be. Geat score! Where did you find it? --Darwin

Darwin,

Unbelievable but true, no searching was involved. It was offered to me by the previous owner; a reputable G&L collector, together with a Comanche VI I was actually looking for. So I git this one in the same deal:


Have to pinch me ever so often.

- Jos

Last edited by yowhatsshakin on Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Craig]

Wow Jos, What a Beaut and in Dutch colours no less! I second Darwin's inquiry… Also, is the fingerboard rosewood? It looks ebony to my eyes…

This calls for some Buck &….

phpBB [video]

Enjoy!

Cheers,
KF

Last edited by Craig on Mon May 06, 2019 10:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: fixed video post but video is no longer available

Hey KF,

What an excellent video of Buck playing one of the other 2 out there. Wow!

BTW, there is an interesting tidbit you might notice: Buck's pickguard has an engraving on it, whereas the other 2 do not have an engraved pickguard. Gabe has told me Dale showed him a second engraved guard which hadn't been gold coated yet.

- Jos

Cheers Jos, Ah, I did not know there were 3 in total…. I noticed the one Buck is playing has an inscription or something on the pick guard.

Is the fingerboard ebony on yours?

Cheers,
Kf

Ah, I did not know there were 3 in total….

This model was entirely Dale's idea and he knew a thing or two when it comes down to specialty instruments: they may not always come out well. So he had 3 made. One was given to Buck by Leo at a visit on the Crazy Horse Saloon, one was kept by Dale, and the third went to a collector and friend of Dale's in SoCal.

Is the fingerboard ebony on yours?

No, mine is a beautiful rosewood #4 neck. That is the #4 in the pre-BBE days, with a 25" radius and 1 3/4" nut, the neck you would find on the Rampage of that era. Nowadays, a #4 neck has a 12" radius. Given Buck's big hands in mind, beyond this one Dale had one built with a #2 neck (same is we now know it, 7 1/2" and 1 5/8" nut) and the other with a #3 neck which had a 12" and 1 3/4" nut. My guess is that Buck kept the #3 neck but I have no evidence of that.

- Jos

Wow, Jos!! Congratulations .. what a gorgeous piece of historic craftsmanship!!

Cheers Jos,… Cool - very interesting. Dale definitely was up on things… So Carl Perkins had a Broadcaster that Leo gave him, Buck had the one Leo gave him, Bill Carson had a couple of ASAT Classics one of which I owned for a period…. 2 Purple Broadcasters intended for Prince…. #5 neck made for Alvino Rey…. Roy Clark seen playing an '88 ASAT. Wonder what other G&L's instruments were made and given to famous muso/artists… ?? Too Cool re the other Asat Classic P/g inscribed that Gabe told you about, would love to know what the inscription says.

Cheers,
KF

Hey Jos,

Big congratulations on both scores!

Looking forward to dating, dissection of parts and of course a detailed tone report for both of these beauties.

So cool Jos, I recently got one of the Fender Buck Owens limited runs, will post a pic tonight. Yours is a special one!

THE BODY






The body, dated OCT 31 1990, is maple and has all gold hardware, single volume and tone control, 3-way pickup switch. Allegedly the pickups are supposed to be a little hotter, but the DC-impedance of the neck pup is 4.28kΩ and the bridge is 4.95kΩ. These values are the same ballpark as the other 2 1991 ASAT Classics I have. So I have no good reason to believe the pups are any hotter. Pole-pieces are gold colored too. The nitro-finished white has yellowed evenly all across the body, even under the pickguard. This came somewhat as a surprise to me.



- Jos

Last edited by jeffmarshall67 on Sun Jun 07, 2015 10:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

THE NECK

The neck, dated FEB 20 1991, has a similar color scheme as the body. Only the bottom of the heel is not painted.








Heres a nice one showing how the colors wrap over the edge into the binding of the headstock.


- Jos

Last edited by yowhatsshakin on Tue Jun 23, 2015 9:12 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Interesting how they did this right about the time fender did it's Buck Owens signatures. Must have started some Buck fever!

Jeff,

If you go the Buck Owens site and select "Museum" from the top, you'll see a G&L ASAT Classic mixed in with some other Tele's and one RWB acoustic. When you mouse over the Classic, you'll see a blurb mentioning the "Fender company". No reference is made to G&L in particular.

In this video the guy claims the "Limited Edition" Fender Buck Owens Tele to have had a (US) production run of 2,000 instruments. He calls them "hard to find". Then I did some research and it turns out the actual number os more around 250. OK, 250 is still a few more than 3.

- Jos

Last edited by yowhatsshakin on Sun Jun 07, 2015 10:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

250 made initially, all with binding and gold hardware. There was a second japanese run a few years later that wasn't double bound and some had cheaper pickguard and neckplates/hardware. I've followed these closely since they came out and I've never heard the number 2000. Who knows though.

Your Buck G&L is incredible! A collection like yours is a great home for it! That blue is perfect

Buck gave the Fender ones out to some pretty big stars (Dylan, Springsteen, Garth Brooks are ones I've seen). The one he gave to GB and Dylan had an inscription on the pickguard. Similar to what you were describing above? Too bad G&L didn't get Buck's endorsement instead of Fender.

I was a struggling college student when the Buck's came out, and a store in Lynnwood WA got 3 of them in. It is one of the 2 guitars I've always had in the back of my little brain, and this year I got both of them finally. Now I'm always gonna have a G&L Buck stuck in the back of my brain!

Thanks for sharing your finds, I hope I can be on the list of your coffee table book when published!

Wow - Cool pics and info. Funny how the Fender Buck copies the gold metal p/g that the original G&L Buck AC had + the inscription…. Buck may have specified this feature to FMIC but we know its origins were the Leo Commemorative….

Cheers,
KF

Jos-- Let me add my meager congratulations. It is only appropriate that you should be able to add this one of only three to your collection. And thanks for documenting so well; it will be the only opportunity to see how these were done!!

Jos-- Let me add my meager congratulations. It is only appropriate that you should be able to add this one of only three to your collection. And thanks for documenting so well; it will be the only opportunity to see how these were done!!

Thanks Steve. Properly documenting these (pre-BBE) rarities and yak-ing endlessly about Leo's creations was once upon a time the bread and butter of this site. So I just try to keep it up at times.

- Jos

I've been away and I'm back just to say "holy mother of God" that's amazing . Congrats man !!!

I've been away and I'm back just to say "holy mother of God" that's amazing . Congrats man !!!

Thanks a bunch. And good to see you back!

- Jos

In this post KateFan asked me whether the this guitar had a 6.8K resistor on the tone pot. Well, the answer is no as evidenced with the pic. But in the control cavity I found a nice surprise in the form of a little personal note written by the late great Gene Engelhart!


- Jos

How cool is that??
...
Way Cool, that's how.

Thanks for sharing that Jos.

+1
My thoughts exactly.

Uber Cool Yo.

Oh, now you are just making stuff up Jos! How cool do you need a guitar to be? There is just no end to your antics...

What a treat when you opened that up.