top of page

Roy Buchanan 1953 "Nancy"

Serial# 2324

Roy Buchanan 1953 "Nancy"

Most associated with:

Roy Buchanan
Born: 23. september 1939
Died: 14. august 1988

Current Ownership:

Mac Yasuda

Previous Ownership:

None

Hailing from the Ozarks, Roy Buchanan was/is probably the REAL master of the Telecaster. A guitar player that had his own style that over the years has gained more and more a fan following. But for his guitars. His 1953 Telecaster which he named "Nancy" is his most famous guitar. But it should be known, this guitar has some mystique over it.

Roy's tone was piercing bright. It almost cut trough glass if volume would allow it. Btw, he always played with Volume and treble on 10 and very little bass, but he loved that sound and he rarely played neck position. His style was rooted in Blues and Rock and did things with the guitar that was ahead of time. He made that Tele speak... He basically put ROCK into Blues with no gimmicks attached. Roy was the real deal. He was once invited to join The Rolling Stones, but he turned it down,

One of the best shows that exists of Roy. Worth a watch or five.


The thing with Nancy was the Bridge pickup. It was sort of dead but working. Don Mare supposedly had Nancy on his workbench once. He got to measure the pickup and got zero ohms out of it. So the pickup seems to have a break in the wiring, but it works better than one could think. Maybe works too good. Also he had a .1 uf capacitor in series to the neck at both pos. 1 & 2.. This cap would brighten up things even further.

Roy sadly committed suicide while in jail after a drunk dispute in August 14th 1988. After his burial, his wife Judy had his guitar but decided to sell them in the early 90's. The guitar was eventually sold to record collector and guitarist Mac Yasuda for $65.000 (not confirmed) in 1991 i believe and he has had that in his collection ever since.


You can watch this old documentary of Roy if you want to get into his music:


Strat-Talk Logo

©2025 by Axefiles

Fender®, Telecaster®, Stratocaster® and the associated headstock designs are registered trademarks of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.​

Fuzzfaced Logo Small

The #1 Fender 

Chronology guide

bottom of page