I started playing guitar again in 1989 and needed an amp. I pretty much knew what i wanted, a Fender Tweed Deluxe. I wasn’t hung up on a specific year but really wanted the 5E3 version. There was one place in Portland, Oregon that would have vintage gear. Picked up a 1957 Fender Tweed Deluxe and paid $650 for it. I didn’t have a camera so I never got a picture of it. I found this one on the web that looks pretty close to what mine looked like.
The one I bought was a little more beat up, the tolex wasn’t in bad shape really, it just had a lot of dirt and stains. I remember it had an areas next to the handle that was stained from glasses sitting on the the amp and next to the glass stain on the edge of the amp were burn marks. Some looked like cigarette burns but there was a bigger one about an inch from edge. I figured that one had to been from a cigar.
The amp was all original and nothing had been replaced. It sounded great and was plenty loud enough. At the time I was only old Blues music with my Strat. I thought I would never sell it but I sold it when I started playing a wider range of music. It was pretty one dimensional in sound and I couldn’t get the clean highs I needed for some of the newer music I was playing. For a pure Blues amp it was perfect and wish I had the money where I would not have had to sell it.