The Burst Brothers, Dave Belzer and Andrew Berlin, are celebrities in the world of vintage guitar collecting. Although famed for their love of 'bursts - 1958-60 sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standards to be precise - their presence at the International Vintage Show at Frankfurt Musikmesse 2010 is setting Stratocaster lovers' pulses racing.
Why? They've flown over to Germany two of the most valuable and famous electric guitars in the history of popular music: Stevie Ray Vaughan's Lenny and Eric Clapton's Blackie. Priceless? Nearly. Certainly the list of classic recordings on which these Fenders have featured is too long to list here.
MusicRadar was lucky enough to get inside the glass case in which the Strats are housed at the show and get up close and personal with two of the most important instruments in the history of electric blues, still strung with the original strings played by their former owners, battle-scarred and oozing vibe. What follows is vintage guitar porn of the most hardcore kind. Proceed with caution......