I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Fender’s second wave of antigua-finish electric guitars. [The first wave of antigua, used on the semi-acoustic Coronado guitars, is the insane first wife best kept locked up in your castle’s farthest tower.] Related to my Mary Kaye mania is my love of white sunburst guitars, which began by staring a little too long at B&W photos of late ’50s Les Pauls wielded by the likes of John McLaughlin, Gary Moore and Peter Green in guitar magazines and books.
My homemade Strat is a white-blue-black traditional Fender-style sunburst, not the classic white-to-gray antigua look, but I do like the rare bird that sports white pickup covers and a maple fingerboard instead of the standard black covers and common rosewood neck of the time. The three-bolt neck join, however, is a total dog.
Antigua is enjoying a third renaissance, with reissued Telecasters and all-new Jazzmaster-style baritone guitars, among others. I sort of like this Tele antigua, but that neck-pickup pocket is …. unfortunate.
