Bob Dylan's Newport guitar: Random choice or something more?

 PBS' "History Detectives" series starts its 10^th season tonight, July 17, with its well-publicized inquiry into whether the Fender Stratocaster that Bob Dylan famously played at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 is in the possession of a New Jersey woman who says it's been in her family's attic for nearly half a century.

We recently reported about the episode, which concludes that the guitar the woman brought to "History Detectives" investigators is the same one, and the statement from Dylan's attorney saying no, Dylan has possession of the guitar he played the day he famously 'went electric.'

Pop & Hiss also explored whether the ruckus that erupted that day had more to do with him defying folk music tradition by using an electric guitar and a rock band or whether it was simply a lousy sound system -- the latter being folk standard bearer Pete Seeger's explanation of why he was so ticked off back in '65.

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There's yet another fascinating mystery buried in this whole saga:  Was it more than coincidence that the instrument Dylan chose to play that day was a Fender, rather than a Gibson, a Gretsch, a Rickenbacker or any other instruments that were popular among electric guitarists at the time?

Of course, the Fender Stratocaster is perhaps the quintessential rock 'n' rollguitar -- a statement that's sure to raise the ire of Gibson Les Paul fans. But bear with us.

The reaction Dylan caused at Newport by plugging in would have been exactly the same if he'd showed up with a Gibson Les Paul or the company's famous Flying V guitar.  So why did he pick a Strat? Dylan himself isn't talking, so we can only speculate.

When I recently interviewed electric guitar specialist Andy Babiuk, whom 'History Detectives' consulted to authenticate the Fender Strat in question, he noted the confluence of another important date in the world of rock 'n' roll guitar playing: In January 1965, seven months before  the Newport Folk Fest, Leo Fender sold his company to CBS for the then-king's ransom price of $13 million.

Doesn't sound all that impressive today, but it's worth noting that a year earlier, CBS had bought the New York Yankees for $11.2 million (following up two years later with a second and final installment payment of an additional $2 million).

Might CBS have encouraged artists on its subsidiary Columbia Records label to use and promote the instruments coming out of what was then the largest music instrument and equipment manufacturing operation in the world?

There's reason to think so.

There's a well-circulated photo of Dylan in a recording studio playing -- or at least holding -- a Fender Jazz bass, a shot that was used in an ad campaign CBS put together after it acquired Fender. "Bob Dylan Plays Fender Musical Instruments," boasts the ad, which also had implied celebrity endorsements from Jimi Hendrix (which makes total sense) and 'Runaway' singer and songwriter Del Shannon (not so much).

In his definitive 1995 book about the history of Fender, 'Fender: The Sound Heard Round the World,' Richard Smith highlighted these ads and wrote, 'One almost surreal  endorsement for the Jazz Bass came from Bob Dylan. He was to jazz what Lionel Hampton was to protest music.'

I checked with Smith this week to find out whether there was an active campaign in the CBS era of Fender (the company was sold by CBS to a group of private investors in the 1980s) to cross-promote the products among musicians signed to CBS labels and he said, simply, "Yes."

"Fender guitars started showing up on LP covers, TV shows, etc. I don't think I have any real proof other than the obvious. Dylan appeared in the 'Album of the Stars' promo booklet," Smith said, referring to a product brochure in which famous musicians were pictured with Fender equipment.

Another Columbia artist from the time also remembers a similar campaign.

PHOTOS: Iconic rock guitars and their owners

"There was a very cool 'Fender Catalogue'  published in early 1968 after the  CBS  purchase of Fender -- Columbia artists posing with Fender equipment: the Byrds, Paul Revere, other strange acts," said Chris Hillman, a founding member of the Byrds, which sold more records for Columbia during the mid-1960s than Dylan. "I have a copy somewhere."

Yet, Hillman added, "I don't recall CBS pushing the Fender line on the Byrds for album covers or stage use. I did play a Fender P-bass and probably got one from Fender. They also gave us acoustic guitars with the weirdest  headstocks. (I sawed the end of mine off.)  We never used these guitars. I'm not sure why [Byrds lead singer Roger] McGuinn or myself didn't get a Strat or a Tele  from them."

As for the Stratocaster that Dylan played at Newport, Hillman said, "I would guess Dylan had his own Strat [probably pre-CBS], not one provided by the company."