Gary Moore’s 1983 Fender Stratocaster ’62 Reissue

Gary bought this guitar in mid-1984 as a replacement for his old ’61 Stratocaster which was stolen and then recovered some time prior.

One of the (Stratocasters) is a real old one- like a ’61. I guess it’s pink. It’s my main one that was stolen before I went on tour and it was later returned. I think one of the British Customs people must have stolen it. It went on the Interpol computer, and then the FBI over here was after it, and suddenly it reappeared in Houston. […] In the meantime I bought this white one, which is a brand new version of a ’62, with a rosewood fingerboard. It’s also stock. I just got to like it, so I’ve been using it for most of the shows.

Original Source Needed

The Reissue Strat was used for most of the ’84 US tour. Most notably, it can be seen in the docu-style release Emerald Aisles, and on the live album, We Want Moore!.

The guitar today

Following the return of his 1961 Stratocaster, this reissue Strat slowly became less used by Gary. Eventually, it changed hands and ended up with John Norum, guitarist and one of the founders of the Swedish rock band Europe. John was kind enough to send an email and share some information about the guitar.

According to John, the guitar is a Fullerton 62 reissue from 1983 and has a humbucker route underneath the pickguard. This means that at some point it was equipped with a humbucker pickup, but Gary for one reason or another decided to put the original single-coil back in.

Other modifications include the removal of lacquer from the back of the neck, fittin the fretboard with 6100 jumbo frets, and adding a brass block to the bridge.

Again, thanks to John Norum for providing the info and photos of the guitar. If you’re more curious about this guitar, and other guitars in John’s arsenal, be sure to check out his website at – johnnorum.se.