Yngwie Malmsteen's 1962 Fender Strat

Yes, I have two of his. This Yngwie owned/toured/recorded 1962 Fender Strat came with a hand-written cool story about how the guitar moved from Yngwie to common hands.  I’ll paraphrase the original owner’s hand written letter that was included with my purchase. This is not my story – this is the story summarized via documentation provided to me.

“I met Yngwie through my friend who runs an auto shop in Miami that works on Yngwie’s Ferraris.  I owned a 1983 Ferrari 308 GTSI at the time that Yngwie wanted.  I was a guitar enthusiast so I mentioned that perhaps we could work out a trade – maybe a couple of his guitars for my vehicle. He invited me to his studio where he had a few of his guitars ready for my review.  Out of all the choices, I ended up choosing his personal favorite and in fact, Yngwie said it would be a straight up trade for my Ferrari because of the guitar I chose – his #3 strat that he owned for decades, and toured and recorded with multiple times.  After finalizing the deal, I had him sign the certificate and pose for a few photos with my new guitar.”

I have two ex-Ynqwie tour guitars now and the other one is a 60 Strat with deeper scallops. This one is beat from heavy tour use, and the paint is nearly worn through on the forearm carve.  Say what you will about Yngwie, but like true legends, you know it’s him when you hear a solo.  He raised the bar for guitar players and I’d argue that those early Alcatrazz recordings are as impressive today as they were in 1983.  If you didn’t rewind the cassette when the solo for Suffer Me came on to relisten to it a dozen times, you’re lying.

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