Duane Allman’s 1957 Fender Telecaster (Pete Carr)

Duane used another Telecaster around 1967/68 that belonged to Pete Carr, the bass player in the Hour Glass. The guitar was initially purchased from Sylvan Wells, a friend of Pete and of Duane (Sylvan is now an attorney and a luthier).

First Slide Guitar?

Allman had the guitar set up for the slide and reportedly used it to practice the craft of slide guitar even while his bandmates hated what he was doing at that time.

He used this very guitar to play the first renditions of Statesboro Blues live on stage with Hour Glass in 1968, and therefore the guitar is of special importance both in Duane’s personal history and in the history of Blues Rock slide guitar itself.

Duane occasionally used the Tele for gigs, and during one of them somehow managed to snap the guitar’s neck. Carr then took it back to his father to fix it and it remained with Pete from then on. [Pete Carr in Macon – PlayThatGuitar.com].

Year of Manufacture

We’ve found only one photo of it taken circa 1969 at the Capricorn Studios as far as the guitar itself. Based on the photo, the metal cover of the neck pickup is removed (which was a common mod), and the neck seems to be from around the 1956 era – based on the butterfly string guide still positioned closer to the D-string tuner (post mid-1956 it’s moved back closer to the nut), and the logo design (changed at the start of the 1957/58 season reading “Fender” and “Telecaster” upwards instead of downwards).

Based on this, Pete’s Telecaster was most likely a 1955/56 season model or a 1956/57 season model (now confirmed to be 1957 by the post on Facebook shown below).

Note that the guitar now has a new pickguard and that the neck pickup is mounted to the pickguard differently than before, with the screws now being visible.

The Guitar Today

At some point, the guitar ended up with Pete’s friend, Jerry Wayne McGee, who occasionally posted photos of it on his personal Facebook account.

Pete Carr gave me this guitar. It belonged to Pete, Duane & Scott Boyer over the years. I gave it to my son, Brian, who is the biggest Pete Carr fan ever…. It ain’t for sale….. But Pete can play it anytime he wants to.

Jerry McGee, June 13. 2014, Facebook

Both Pete Carr and Jerry McGee have passed away, and as Jerry noted, as of 2014, the guitar belonged to his son, Brian. There is no news regarding whether it’s going on auction any time soon, but based on Jerry’s quote, it seems unlikely that it will anytime soon.