Stromberg Monterey "DELUXE" 2005 - TEST BED PROTOTYPE

YES, IM new here, but I been doing online trades for over 26 years. I have heatware (see link) that I been a member for over 26 years with them and have over 250 ALL POSITIVE reviews. Im not out to scam anyone:)

She WILL need a cleaning and polishing for its gone 21 years without anyone really knowing what they had, so its very smudgy, and the gold is tarnished, not bad, but it is on all the gold parts. There is also 2 small cracks in the plastic on the fret bar. I will add close up pics later today (hopefully)

This guitar passed though Reverb UNKNOWN there was a letter in the case, and was sold here as a "regular" Monterey, but it is soooo MUCH MORE! Read on and see what they let slip through their hands!

This guitar before I got my hands on it was UNKNOWN to a lot of people as to what it was till me. It turned out not only was it owned by Kent Blazy, but it was a test bed built one of a kind with prototype Kent Armstrong Hand Built coils ONLY for this One and ONLY guitar. There is not another that will ever sound like this one.

Proof it is what I say for here is a email from a very HIGH up that had its hand in its build:

Greetings Jason, Unfortunately, we have no detailed records existing of specific instruments or whom they were sold to. The Stromberg Guitar brand was sold to a company in the Czech Republic several years ago by WD Music Products. I recall the specific guitar in your emailed pictures from the modifications but the only thing I can tell you about it is that it was a prototype (test bed) instrument for a new possible production run. It was not made custom like that for any specific person. The goals were to see how a Bigsby would perform and look on the instrument, to test different pickups and adding the Waffleback tuning machines to become a “Monterey Deluxe” model. The adapter plate was going to be a part of that model so production didn’t have to change for specific hardware but if I recall correctly there was a trademark issue that prevented us from using it beyond the test. The person who handled all the customizations, testing and development unfortunately passed away a few years ago, so I have no person to refer you to ask for more details. He also had a few test bed guitars of each model type that he used to test different parts on. Your specific guitar was sold after 2010 (I do not have the specific date or buyer information), the first two digits of the serial number should be the year of production. I located an inventory sheet that shows a black Stromberg Monterey in house in 2010, and it says it had a Bigsby installed. I only recall that happening on one guitar which is the one you attached pictures of. Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

The tuners on it are either NOS or Prototypes, for in 2005 you could NOT get the waffelback tuners for the company that made them were no longer and WD Music bought the company in 2001 for the name and all the parts, tools, and dies which WD Music didnt reissue till 2014, but yet they are on this guitar. there is more to it than this, and will be happy to provide it all to you. Im selling due to health reasons, and I am being forced to sell. If you dont know, Kent Blazy is a world renown song writer and wrote many songs but well known for Garth Brooks #1 hit that but him on the map. Feel free to message me, feel free to take it for a spin, of which I encourage you to. Below is a link to it ever being seen and heard, and YES I was VERY excited to hear it for the first time :P