Yahoo Lifestyle The Electric Guitar Played During Bob Dylan’s 1965 Newport Folk Festival Set Could Be Yours
Serious collectors may kill to get their hands on this guitar that helped “kill folk music.”
A 1963 Fender Telecaster has popped up for sale at the music-gear marketplace Reverb, with a price tag of $275,000. That number comes courtesy of the instrument’s provenance: It was played by the guitarist Mike Bloomfield during Bob Dylan’s set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, when Dylan infamously opted for an electric guitar rather than acoustic, changing the sound of folk music as we knew it.
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Bloomfield, who ranks No. 22 on Rolling Stone’s list of the top 100 guitarists of all time, used the Fender to accompany Dylan during those short but impactful three songs. He similarly played the instrument when recording “Like a Rolling Stone” just a month prior, and then on Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited LP. Given its importance now, you may assume that Bloomfield held on to the Telecaster—but it doesn’t seem like the musician cared all that much for the guitar.
Toward the end of 1965, Bloomfield traded the guitar to John Neuse, who gave him a 1954 gold-top Les Paul in return. Neuse was a good friend of Gram Parsons, who would become a member the Byrds, and he played the Fender plenty alongside Parsons. Notably, Neuse played with his left hand, so he added a second cutaway to the guitar so that he could jam more easily. Unlike Bloomfield, Neuse held on to the instrument for the rest of his life.
Following Neuse’s death, the guitar was sold at auction, and it’s being handled now by RetroFret Vintage Guitars in Brooklyn. The Telecaster—which sports a blonde lacquer finish, ash body, and maple neck with rosewood fingerboard—is considered to be in very good condition. And while the Fender’s 60-year history makes it a catch for music-world collectors, it’s also still in playable condition—with pretty good sound at that.
If you’re a true Dylan stan, the Telecaster may be one of the easiest ways to feel more connected to the iconic rock ‘n’ roller. Of course, if you’re looking to splash out even more, you could throw down a bid for his former townhouse in Manhattan, which hit the market just last month for $7.25 million. But if you’re looking for a smaller way to honor the musician, the Fender may be just right.
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