One-Of-A-Kind tribute to Freddy Tavares of Fender guitar fame

When asked about what the serial number 12NFTR111 meant Charles sent this reply:

To be honest with you I don’t recall exactly. This was made 15 years ago you see. I had found an engraver in town who also made the plates for the guitars I gave to Ricky Skaggs, Johnny Cash, and Willie and Chet and Carl Wilson and others. So I had plates made for the ones I took to that show too. I think that the TR was for tremolo and that the 3 1’s was for 3 single coils, but can’t recall how I made up the numbers. I made that one because Freddie Tavares who had designed them had just died and on his death bed he called me and told me to go to the show and show my guitars there. And gave me the address and phone numbers for NAMM. Thus the name “Tribute”. His wife could not let me use his name because she said Fender wanted it for something they were going to do. Otherwise I had offered Tamar (Freddies wife) that if I got orders for them, I would pay her some money for royalties. Anyway, there are so many kinds of strats out there that it did not get any orders and I was unknown at that show. I can assure you that it is the only one like it and that no more were made. It was sold at the closing of the show and I can’t recall what I got from it to not have to ship it back to Washington. I think it was supposed to sell for 1199.00 at the time I showed it. Pickups are alnico. That back cover for the trem has a little plate in the middle of it that pops out so you can do string changing without removing the screws.