This guitar was found here in Italy from the original owner, who stripped the original "Dakota red" factory finish from the body, saving it in all the cavities only.
It was then bought by a collector here in Italy who had it restored to "Dakota Red" in NOS finish by a Luthier based in Milan in 2015, who preserved the original remnants of the finish in the cavities, and applied a newer finish to the rest of the body, thus leaving the finish restoration clearly visible to the expert eye.
The guitar has been then sold by the Italian collector through a eBay deal in late 2016/early 2017 to a well known dealer all the way out of Japan, who bought it believing it was a fully original Dakota red custom color, and he confirmed his appraisal when he got the guitar in hands for inspection.
When a customer of mine saw it listed on "Vintage and rare" and asked me to check it since he was interested in buying it, I immediately recognized the guitar, and had the owner of that shop informed by a Japanese friend of mine about the finish restoration job done to it.
I also offered him my help, if he needed it, to arrange the return of the guitar to the seller.
As a matter of facts, not only the Dealer never returned the instrument, but he parted it out, so as a matter of fact you'll find this serial number, "146532", its matching hangtag and the "case candy" that came with the 66 red strat attached to a sunburst '66 assembled strat (currently on sale in that same shop) while the Dakota red refin body has been sold attached to a 1965 small head neck and 65 assembly, as per a "100%" original item.
Sometimes people ask why I created this portfolio, this is the reason. Two wrong actions won't make one right. I call these "bad chains", and while the Japanese dealer was fooled in first place, he had the occasion to return the guitar and make things right, instead he created "two" guitars out of the same one and put them on the market as per 100% originals. Buyer beware.
