Mary Ka'aihue was a guitarist of Hawaiian origin who changed her surname to Kaye because only a few could pronounce correctly "Ka'aihue" and because everyone thought she played Hawaiian music, while actually she was a skilled jazz musician.
She was nicknamed "the first lady of rock'n'roll" since she posed for the Fender catalog in 1956 with a blonde Stratocaster with gold-plated hardware, gone down in history with her name. The guitar in the photo, currently owned by a collector, serial number 09391, featured a body dated January 1956, while the neck had been factory replaced with one dated September 1956.
The peculiarity is that in that period Kaye didn’t play the Stratocaster, but an archtop guitar built for her by John D'Angelico. However she took up the Stratocaster a few minutes for the filming of the 1956 film "Cha-Cha-Cha Boom!" and for the historical advert of the same year strongly wanted by Don Randall; the guitar returned to the Fender factory after short use.
But now all the ’50s style blonde Stratocasters with golden hardware were nicknamed "Mary Kaye" – and perhaps this can be considered, unofficially, the first case of signature in Fender's history! In fact already in 1987 John Page, in the newborn Custom Shop, made for his friend Elliot Easton a Mary Kaye to which his colleague Michael Stevens also collaborated. It was a ‘57s style ash Stratocaster, blonde finished and with a bird's eye neck, serial number "0008", sent on July 17, 1987. John considered it his first Custom Shop guitar, though actually other five instruments had left Fender, but they were accounted by the master builder as «marketing's mix-and-match kind of stuff we had to do for shows, or the Japanese re-paint». This was followed by many other '50s style blonde Custom Shop strats with golden hardware, but none of these was an official “Mary Kaye” model: they were only one-off Stratocasters.
She was nicknamed "the first lady of rock'n'roll" since she posed for the Fender catalog in 1956 with a blonde Stratocaster with gold-plated hardware, gone down in history with her name. The guitar in the photo, currently owned by a collector, serial number 09391, featured a body dated January 1956, while the neck had been factory replaced with one dated September 1956.
The peculiarity is that in that period Kaye didn’t play the Stratocaster, but an archtop guitar built for her by John D'Angelico. However she took up the Stratocaster a few minutes for the filming of the 1956 film "Cha-Cha-Cha Boom!" and for the historical advert of the same year strongly wanted by Don Randall; the guitar returned to the Fender factory after short use.
But now all the ’50s style blonde Stratocasters with golden hardware were nicknamed "Mary Kaye" – and perhaps this can be considered, unofficially, the first case of signature in Fender's history! In fact already in 1987 John Page, in the newborn Custom Shop, made for his friend Elliot Easton a Mary Kaye to which his colleague Michael Stevens also collaborated. It was a ‘57s style ash Stratocaster, blonde finished and with a bird's eye neck, serial number "0008", sent on July 17, 1987. John considered it his first Custom Shop guitar, though actually other five instruments had left Fender, but they were accounted by the master builder as «marketing's mix-and-match kind of stuff we had to do for shows, or the Japanese re-paint». This was followed by many other '50s style blonde Custom Shop strats with golden hardware, but none of these was an official “Mary Kaye” model: they were only one-off Stratocasters.
The Mary Kaye Relic exhibited at the Winter NAMM Show in 1995
Towards the end of 1994 Vince Cunetto made a Mary Kaye Relic Stratocaster, which was put on display inside a showcase at NAMM in 1995 together with a Nocaster Relic, suggesting that they were really two old collectible guitars. None realized the trick and, finally, when the real nature of the two instruments was revealed, Fender received hundreds of orders. But it wasn’t still an official May Kaye model.
To see the first Stratocaster dedicated to the Hawaiian artist we have to wait until 2005, when Fender asked Greg Fessler to build sixty units of the Kaye Tribute Stratocaster, to which other units made by other master builders followed in the same year. The ash body was covered by a thin semi-transparent nitro finish with light checking: the radius of the fretboard was the historic 7.25 inches, the plastics were aged and the hardware was obviously golden. Finally the pickups were wound by Abigail Ybarra. It is interesting to note that the 2005 Frontline reported a N.O.S. finish, but among the specs was correctly indicated the Closet Classic. Although it was not the first tribute, the Mary Kaye was the first “stock” Stratocaster reproduced by Fender.
To see the first Stratocaster dedicated to the Hawaiian artist we have to wait until 2005, when Fender asked Greg Fessler to build sixty units of the Kaye Tribute Stratocaster, to which other units made by other master builders followed in the same year. The ash body was covered by a thin semi-transparent nitro finish with light checking: the radius of the fretboard was the historic 7.25 inches, the plastics were aged and the hardware was obviously golden. Finally the pickups were wound by Abigail Ybarra. It is interesting to note that the 2005 Frontline reported a N.O.S. finish, but among the specs was correctly indicated the Closet Classic. Although it was not the first tribute, the Mary Kaye was the first “stock” Stratocaster reproduced by Fender.
Mary Kaye Tribute Stratocaster, 2005 Fender Frontline
When Mary Kaye died, two years after the birth of her Tribute, at the age of 83, Fender made a ’57 reissue dedicated to her, the American Vintage 1957 Commemorative Stratocaster. Finish and “1957 to 2007” commemorative neck plate apart, it was in all respects an American Vintage: “V” shaped neck, radius 7,25", Original ’57/’62 pickups, and serial number on the neck plate starting with “V”.
Antonio Calvosa
American Vintage 1957 Commemorative Stratocaster (Courtesy of Artisan Guitars)
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Neck Plate of the American Vintage 1957 Commemorative Stratocaster (Courtesy of Artisan Guitars)
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