"The Harness Stratocaster"

1996 Fender "Harness Stratocastre" Custom Shop (John English, George Amicay and Dru WhiteFeather).

"The Harness" Stratocaster was specially built by John English for his long time girl friend Cathy S. Parker, a keen and very successful "Harness Racing" participant. John asked for the assistance of two of his best friends at the Fender Custom Shop, Master luthier George Amicay and Leather Artisan, Dru White Feather, and the guitar was completed in late 1996. Totally unique, the bass side features a 6 3/4 inch x 3 inch finely carved dark brown wooden inlay of a "Harness Racer". This handwork, quite labor-intensive, would have taken George Amicay many, many hours to complete and is signed "G. Amicay '96." The unique hand-tooled brown leather pickguard was designed and made by Dru White Feather and features a horses head and shoulders within a floral design.

This one-of-a-kind guitar weighs just 7.50 lbs. and has a comfortable nut width of just over 1 /916 inches, a thick neck profile (very similar to a '54 Strat) and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. One-piece ash body. One-piece highly flamed maple neck with 21 thin ('54 style) frets. Highly flamed maple fretboard with inlaid black dot position markers and black side dot markers. Headstock with "Fender" inlaid in 18k gold and at the ball end, an engraved gold "Harness Racer" - most probably hand-crafted by George Amicay. Individual "vintage-style" Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons. On the back of the headstock there is an oval decal, "Custom Built / J.T. English / Fender U.S.A.". Gold-plated four-bolt neck-plate which is engraved "Custom Built / For / Cathy Parker / 1997". Three gold covered Fender Lace Sensor pickups with outputs of 7.26k, 5.94k, and 7.13k. One volume and two controls plus three-way pickup selector switch. Stratocaster hat-shaped metal knobs with knurled sides. 'Vintage-style' Fender combined bridge/tailpiece with six saddles and through-body stringing. Gold-plated tremolo cover with six screws. The neck is marked on the underside "T 61 J / Aug 13 1995" and the potentiometers are stamped: "R 137 9523" and "R 137 9525" (CTS, June, 1995). All of the hardware is gold-plated and this amazing guitar is in mint (9.50) condition. Complete with the original Fender Custom Shop Certificate of Authenticity which is signed by John English and dated "11-18-99" describing the guitar as "Custom Built Harness Strat", serial # "1997", a hand-written letter from Cathy S. Parker, dated March 25, 2010, describing in detail how this guitar came about, a photograph of Cathy Parker and John English, with Cathy holding the guitar, and the original Fender Custom Shop tan leather guitar strap, Housed in the original G & G black hardshell case with black black leather ends and black plush lining (9.50).

George Amicay is well known for his work as one of the Fender Custom Shop's Master Builders. While with the Custom Shop (1993 - 2003), George was involved with some of the most creative and unique Custom Shop guitars Fender has produced to-date including "The First Breath Stratocaster", "The Western Set", "The Egyptian Tele", "The Custom Kingman Telecoustic", "The Waylon Jennings Tribute Telecaster", "The White Buffalo Miracle Telecaster", "The Carved Floral Stratocaster", "The Father and Son Cowboy Tele Set", "The Freddie Tavares Commemorative Aloha Stratocaster", "The Dragon with Mermaid Stratocaster", "The Horseshoe Tele", "The Rhinestone Strat", "The La Riata Thinline Telecaster".

Leather Artisan Dru White Feather was born into the Muscogee Creek Nation, with a love of animals and an appreciation for his ancestry. His leather and jewelry designs reveal the rich inheritance of generations of American Indian craftsman. His Guitar strap and accessories are individually created as custom pieces of art worn by artists including Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, Richie Sambora, Bob Dylan, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx, Marcus Miller, Tom Petty, Matt and Gunnar Nelson, Brian Setzer, Howard Leese, the late Waylon Jennings, and many more.
Dru has been doing leather work for over twenty-five years, which included a position at Fender’s Custom Shop.
Dru’s work has been on the road for over twenty years and has been proven to withstand abuse. "If Bruce Springsteen can trust Dru’s strap to hold a million dollar guitar from it so can you."
Some of his work can be seen in Richrad Smith's book, Fender Custom Shop Guitar Gallery. They include "The Waylon Jennings Tribute Telecaster" designed by Larry Brooks and Waylon Jennings - leather inlay by Dru WhiteFeather, "The White Buffalo "Miracle" Telecaster Thinline" designed by Dru WhiteFeather and built by Dru WhiteFeather, George Amicay and Jason Davis and "The Horseshoe Telecaster" designed by Fred Stuart and George Amicay - leather work by Dru WhiteFeather.