Side note to the thread;
I’ve been to three of the locations where Fly-By-Night was located; the metal building out by the school and both of the buildings on the town square. I’ve spoken to Dave (Crocker) many times and his only employee, Danny. I traded him a ‘73 Tele bass for a ‘91 Gibson T-Bird (I’d like to undo that one). My son traded his Gibson Explorer to Dave for a Les Paul Custom. My son’s Explorer ended up in Dave’s short-lived museum in Branson.
A short story; in the mid 1990s, I was in Dave’s store out by the High School in Neosho. It was cram packed with everything related to guitars & basses. Dave was in his office, which was a couple sheets of peg board in a corner of the building, that was covered with guitars and basses on the outside. I was outside looking at gear while Dave was talking to someone on the phone about coming to his annual guitar show in Arlington, TX. Dave was telling this person he would send plane tickets, have a limo pick them up, and the motel and all meals would be paid. I also heard the disappointment in Dave’s voice as the person he was talking to was turning down his offer due to prior commitments. When Dave got off the phone, I asked him who couldn’t come to the show. Dave had been talking to Les Paul.
Dave had a collection of stuff that was probably one of a kind. He had dozens of 1950s Fender tweed amps. I know he had (at least) one of every year of Stratocaster from 1954 to the time I was around him. He had a 1959 Les Paul gold top, and it was in his store I held a 51 or 52 PBass that I think was serial number 124. It had brass bridge saddles, but had the original phenolic saddles in a paper bag stuck under the strings.
You can see Dave’s picture inside the front cover of “The Fender Book” with George Fullerton holding Leo’s first guitar that Dave & George authenticated back in the 70s or 80s, I think.
The story around SW Missouri & NW Arkansas is that Dave sold his entire collection to a guy in Bentonville, AR for $2.1 million back around 2015.
Your Dad’s experience is a wonderful thing to read & discuss.
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