1959 Fender Stratocaster Mary Kaye

When is a Mary Kaye not a Mary Kaye? Well, I guess it depends on how you define a Mary Kaye. I always thought it was an ash bodied Strat with gold hardware with a maple neck. Well, this one is a little different. It's a blonde ash bodied '59 with gold hardware and a rosewood (slab board) neck. There are probably fewer of these than there are of the classic maple neck Mary Kaye. The guitar is in good to very good condition-lets call it an 8. Finish is all original. It appears to have its original frets. The guitar was strung with flat wounds when I got it which is probably why the fret wear is so minimal. The solder looks good and there are no cracks in the green guard. Body date is 9/59. Pot codes are 20th week of 1959. There is no neck date. The gold shows considerable wear but it is clearly there on the metal parts right down to every screw. All parts are original except (possibly) the string tree. Ash tray, unfortunately, is missing. Issues of note: The string tree has either been replaced or had its spacer removed presumably by a previous owner to increase the break angle across the nut. Three or four of the original bridge adjustment set screws are kind of chewed up-especially on the low E and A. I would replace them. The trem cover has some broken corners. There is one extra hole under the guard. My guess is that it was drilled for a single ply white guard but built with a green guard. 59 was the transition year for those guards. A small piece of the case lining (at the butt end) is missing-pretty typical of brown cases. The case is original and is fully functional. One latch spring is broken. Over all, pretty small issues on a "find another" rare guitar.