Prelude

HOLA Y BUENOS DIAS SEÑORES Y SEÑORAS. Bonjour et bonne journée mesdames et messieurs. Hallo und guten tag, meine damen und herren, hello and good day ladies and gentlemen. Once again, we enter the twilight zone of CRAVE (Cool & Rare American Vintage Electric) Guitars and explore another subject of the author’s weird whim and fancy. Well, most of us are still alive as of July 2024, so that’s something for which we can all be grateful. Life really is too short and should be treasured, not devastated, especially by senseless conflict. This isn’t just old‑hat hippie rhetoric. This stuff matters… to everyone. While I know I say something along these lines every month, it is worth reiterating until those responsible take notice.

This month, the subject is relevant to the year we are in (2024) and how one particular American solid body electric guitar changed the way we play the instrument and make music across the globe over the last seven decades. Yes, my hearties, it is time to take an alternative peak at the Fender Stratocaster^®, or the ‘Strat^®’ as many like to call it, as it celebrates its Platinum 70^th Anniversary. That’s an awful lot of candles on the guitar‑shaped birthday cake, I think you’ll agree. Time to indulge oneself, I reckon.

There are SO many takes on the subject that, especially this year, I felt I would try to take an altogether different perspective from everyone else. It would be very easy to lapse into following what other authors have written and indulge all the back‑slapping hyperbole surrounding one of the few genuinely legendary icons of the 20^th Century guitar industry. So… we aren’t going to ‘grandstand’ or go through the trite, meticulous examination of the object in question. Instead, I thought I’d aim straight for light‑hearted entertainment value, rather than geeky, nerdy, dry, forensically‑focused examination of the Fender Stratocaster in minutiae. Even though I’ve always fancied being a learned professor, this is not an academic history lesson. For those wanting the geeky, nerdy lowdown, I apologise, you’ll have to look elsewhere – and, let’s face it, there is no shortage of resources, as you might expect. Just search the hinterwebby thingummy and you’ll find everything you could ever want and/or need to know. For those seeking the truth, though, good luck. That takes a bit more effort.

I can’t completely ignore some of the basic facts and figures that someone knowledgeable about vintage guitars will already know, so apologies for (re‑)stating the blooming obvious to those who know far more about Stratocasters than I ever will. For everyone else, it is an oblique look at the cultural phenomenon that is the Stratocaster within the perspective of the times.

We are back to normal authorship activity again this month; no AI was used in the research and writing of this article. Thankfully.

The cultural context of 1954

Before we get too far, I thought we’d start off with a brief recap at what the world was like in 1954, revealed through a few key trends and events that occurred during that year. This will give a bit of crucial cultural context for when we delve a bit deeper in due course. Just for clarity, I wasn’t born before or during 1954, I emerged into existence a few years later, so I didn’t live through these momentous occasions myself.

In 1954, the 34^th President of the U.S.A. was Dwight D. Eisenhower (a.k.a. ‘Ike’, 1953‑1961). The UK Prime Minister in 1954 was Sir Winston Churchill, who served his second term as PM (1951‑1955). Queen Elizabeth II was the British Monarch, newly crowned in June 1953. Other notable political leaders included Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union (1953‑1964) and Mao Zedong, who served as the Chairman of the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China (1949‑1976) with Chiang Kai‑shek alongside of him, governing the Republic of China, a.k.a. Taiwan (1950‑1975).

Moving from politics to sport. The 1954 NFL Championship Game (now known as the Super Bowl) took place between the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions. The Browns won 56‑10. Meanwhile, in baseball, the San Francisco Giants swept the Cleveland Indians 4‑0 in the 1954 World Series. The NBA Championship series resulted in the Minneapolis Lakers beating the Syracuse Nationals 4‑3. To complete the set, the Detroit Red Wings triumphed over the Montreal Canadiens, winning the NHL Stanley Cup series, also 4‑3. In motor racing, Racing driver, Bill Vukovich won the Indy 500, while José Froilán González and Maurice Trintignant won the 1954 Le Mans 24‑hour race, and Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1954 Formula 1 World Championship. In the UK, West Bromwich Albion beat Preston North End to win the 1954 FA Cup final 3‑2. In tennis, Jaroslav Drobný and Maureen Connolly won the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively at Wimbledon. Inn golf, Sam Snead won the US Masters and Peter Thomson won the British Open Championship.

Space exploration was in its infancy and NASA didn’t exist until 1958, so it was the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) that led the early US space programme.

Men’s fashion in 1954 included corduroy sports jackets, Dacron gabardine suits, wool houndstooth suits, slub weave shirts, faded denim colour sweat shirts, wrinkle shed cotton shirts and plastic raincoats. Women’s fashion in 1954 included blazer jackets, box jacket suits, tweed dresses, plaid pleated skirts, taffeta dresses, swing flared corduroy skirts, white flecked wool skirts, woven plaid dresses and woven stripe coats. Ladies’ accessories were popular, including hats, gloves, bags and scarves. More generally, women’s fashion in 1954 was characterised by prominent, pointed busts, with nipped in waists to accentuate the female hourglass silhouette. In the post‑war boom, timeless elegance, glamour and femininity were the order of the day. At the same time, general day‑to‑day fashion adopted a more casual style, with easy‑to‑wash‑and‑dry nylon materials, emphasising the practicality and functionality that began to influence fashion trends for the rest of the 1950s. Fashion icons included Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly. Fashion designers like Chanel, Christian Dior and Hubert de Givenchy were prominent figures.

Well‑known cinema releases in 1954 included, ‘Godzilla’ (Japanese), ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’, ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’, ‘On the Waterfront’, ‘Rear Window’, ‘White Christmas’, ‘Seven Samurai’, ‘Dial M for Murder’, ‘A Star Is Born’, ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’, ‘The Caine Mutiny’ and ‘Them!’.

Famous actors of the time (not already mentioned) included Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, James Stewart, William Holden, Humphrey Bogart, Ray Milland, Karl Malden, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, James Mason, Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster and Howard Keel.

Famous novels published in 1954 included, ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, ‘I Am Legend’ by Richard Matheson, ‘Horton Hears a Who!’ by Dr. Seuss and ‘Live and Let Die’ (James Bond) by Ian Fleming.

Popular American automobiles in 1954 included, the Chevrolet Bel Air and Beauville Station Wagon, Oldsmobile Ninety‑Eight Holiday Coupe, Ford Crestline Skyliner and Country Squire, Packard Panther Daytona Roadster, Mercury Monterey, Plymouth Belvedere, Chevrolet 3100 truck, Buick Roadmaster and Skylark, Cadillac Series 75 Fleetwood Imperial, Studebaker Starlight Coupe, Ford F‑100 Panel Truck, Hudson Hornet, Ford Thunderbird, Chevrolet Corvette C1 and Chevy Corvair Fastback. Nice!

Outside the US, 1954 saw family cars like the Hillman Minx, Morris Minor, Ford Anglia, Ford Popular, Rover P4, Austin A40, Riley RME, Wolseley 6/90, Citroën 2CV, Triumph TR2, MG TF, Vauxhall Wyvern and the Volkswagen Beetle. More upmarket, there was the Jaguar XK140, Porsche 356, Austin‑Healey 100, Alfa‑Romeo Giulietta, Ferrari 375 MM Coupé Scaglietti and Mercedes Benz 300 SL, all taking to the roads and making the headlines. Also nice!

Favourite girls’ (and, yes, I am being binary here) toys of the time included the Betsy McCall Doll, Super Market Check‑Out and Little Girls Perfume Kit. Boys’ top toys included, Dick Tracy Siren Squad Car, Buck Rogers Sonic Ray Light Gun, Matchbox cars (Corgi models didn’t appear until 1956), Airfix kits and Take Apart Cars Garage. LEGO, Meccano and train sets from the likes of Hornby and Tri‑ang were enduringly popular. The board game Scrabble had been introduced in 1952 and was a hit at the time, as was the perennial Monopoly. Some familiar names there.

In music, American rock & roll pioneer Bill Haley & His Comets recorded the milestone ‘Rock Around the Clock’ at Pythian Temple studios in New York City. It was originally released as a single in 1954 but didn’t chart until it was re‑released in 1955 when the track was used as the title music for the film, ‘Blackboard Jungle’ (1955).

Also in music, in 1954, a 19‑year old American singer, Elvis Presley left his job as a truck driver for Crown Electric and signed his first recording contract with producer Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Sun Records recorded and released Presley’s debut single, ‘That’s All Right’ the same year.

Other popular music artists in 1954 included The Chordettes, Doris Day, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Perry Como, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby.

Notable musicians that were born in 1954 include, Neal Schon, Nancy Wilson, Pat Travers, Al Di Meola, Steve Morse, Pat Metheny, Eric Johnson, Elvis Costello, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Viv Albertine and Uli Jon Roth. Other entertainers born in 1954 included, Jerry Seinfeld, John Travolta, Ray Liotta, Michael Moore, Ron Howard, Matt Groening and Oprah Winfrey.

… and the one list that no‑one wants to appear in… Deaths in 1954 included; Alan Turing, Frida Kahlo, Henri Matisse, George ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly, Sydney Greenstreet and Lionel Barrymore.

Other notable events of 1954 included:

• The US Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional
• The end of McCarthyism (the Second Red Scare), the systematic campaign of political repression of alleged Communists in the US, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy
• The UK finally ended food rationing, which had been introduced during WWII
• The first nuclear‑powered submarine, the USS Nautilus was launched
• American company RCA released the first colour television set
• The first successful kidney transplant was performed in Boston, Massachusetts
• American actress, Marilyn Monroe married baseball player Joe DiMaggio
• The main US immigration port of entry, Ellis Island in New York Harbour was closed
• Swanson introduced TV Dinners
• A hydrogen bomb test was conducted by the US on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean
• British athlete Roger Bannister became the first person to break the four‑minute mile
• The first practical solar cell was demonstrated by American company Bell Telephone Laboratories
• IBM established the 650, its first mass‑produced computer and FORTRAN became the most widely used computer programming language
• The Vietnam war (1954‑1975) started
• The Breathalyzer was invented for measuring breath alcohol content
• The first Church of Scientology was established in Los Angeles, California
• Texas Instruments announced the development of the first transistor radio
• The first issue of Sports Illustrated magazine was published in the US
• The first branch of the Burger King restaurant chain opened in Miami, Florida

1954 was quite a year, then. I think we can all agree it was a very different world to today’s chaotic zeitgeist. Right, by now, you should have a pretty good idea of what the wider world was like when the Fender Stratocaster was first born, as a baby brother to the resolutely workhorse Fender Telecaster, which had been released in 1950.

The Fender Stratocaster – An introduction to a guitar that really needs no introduction

I doubt if there are many people who are interested in modern music that haven’t at some point in their lives, set their eyes on a Fender Stratocaster. People may well be familiar with the design, even if they don’t know the name or the model’s long and lauded history. It is an instrument that has become synonymous with modern guitar music across many, many musical genres over many generations.

Let’s start with the basics that most people are likely to know. The Fender Stratocaster was launched on an unsuspecting world in 1954, supplementing two other Fender instruments that have become legendary icons, the Fender Telecaster and the Fender Precision Bass.

With due deference to the online encyclopaedia that is Wikipedia, I thought I would paraphrase its definition of what the Fender Stratocaster is, rather than labour my lame brain to come up with pretty much the same thing. Consider me lazy at this point.

“The archetypal Stratocaster is a solid‑body electric guitar with a contoured asymmetric double‑cutaway body with an extended upper horn; the body is usually made from alder or ash. The neck is usually made from maple and attached to the body with screws (often referred to as ‘bolts’) and has a distinctive headstock with six tuning pegs mounted inline along a single side; the fingerboard may be maple or another wood, e.g. rosewood, and has at least twenty‑one frets. The Stratocaster’s body is front‑routed for electronics, which are mounted in a plastic pickguard. Most Stratocasters have three single‑coil pickups, a pickup selector switch, one volume control and two tone controls. Bridges generally come in two designs: the more common pivoting ‘tremolo’ bridges, and the less common ‘hardtail’ fixed bridge. Both types of bridge have six individually adjustable saddles whose height and intonation can be set independently. The innovative tremolo system is balanced by springs mounted in a rear cavity. The output jack is mounted in a recess in the front of the guitar body. Many different colours have been available. The Stratocaster’s scale length is 25.5 inches (648 mm).”

So there you go. When broken down like that, it doesn’t sound very exciting does it? Now we know what a Stratocaster actually is, you can now stop reading and go and do something altogether more exciting. Well done for making it this far. For all the avid aficionados out there, there is a lot more to enjoy… I promise. Read on my merry musical masochists.

“I’ve been playing a Fender since 1963, and before that it was my dream guitar. I can’t endorse it more than that” – Rory Gallagher (1948‑1995)

A few bits and pieces about Fender the man and his company

Clarence Leonidas ‘Leo’ Fender was born on 10 August 1909 in Anaheim, California to Clarence Monte Fender and Harriet Elvira Wood, owners of an orange grove business. Leo married his first wife Esther Klosky in 1934. After her death in 1979, Leo re‑married in 1980 to his second wife, Phyllis. Phyllis passed away in 2020.

Leo founded Fender Manufacturing in 1946, renaming it Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Co. in 1947. The historic Fender factory site (1953‑1985) owned by Leo Fender where the first Stratocasters were manufactured is at 500 South Raymond Ave. and Valencia Dr., Fullerton, Orange County, California 92381. The site is now home to Jimmi’s Nascar Bar & Grill sports bar.

It has been widely promulgated that, while he played piano and saxophone when he was young, Leo Fender couldn’t play guitar and relied on those around him, co‑workers, dealers, customers and artists, to advise him on guitar‑related matters. Leo Fender was widely regarded as an inventor, electrical and mechanical engineer and business entrepreneur, rather than a musician.

You may think that the iconic Fender logo design has been static since c.1950. However, like many long‑standing corporate brand logos, it has been redesigned many times while retaining the distinctive typeface. I don’t think anyone knows who actually designed the original logo, although some suggest it was based on Leo Fender’s signature. The design evolution goes through roughly four time periods:

1. The original ‘spaghetti’ logo (1950s – not an official name)
2. The ‘transition’ logo (1960‑1967 – designed by Robert Perine)
3. ‘CBS’ logo (1968‑1980)
4. The ‘modern’ version still in use today

Nowadays, Fender uses many different (but familiar) logo styles. There is a typeface very similar to that used by Fender called, appropriately, ‘Strato’, designed by Bastien Sozoo. I resisted the temptation to publish the whole article in the font! So here is an example…

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) acquired Fender from its founder in January 1965 for $13m, which was more than the $11.2m that CBS paid for an 80% stake in the New York Yankees Major League Baseball team in November 1964.

Leo Fender didn’t give up participating in the music industry after selling his company to CBS. After a period of ten years during which he was prevented from competition, he was instrumental (sic!) in the creation of Music Man (now owned by Ernie Ball) from 1974 and G&L (standing for George [Fullerton] and Leo) from 1979.

Leo Fender died from complications of Parkinson’s disease in Fullerton, California on 21 March 1991, at the age of 81. He was buried at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana, Orange County, California next to his first wife, Esther.

In 2004, Fender moved its production facility from Fullerton to Corona, also in California. The current Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) HQ is based in Los Angeles, California, at 1575 N Gower St #170. The Fender company’s legal status is listed as a private company. Hawaii’s largest private company and motor vehicle dealer, Servco Pacific Co., became the new majority owner of FMIC in January 2020. Outside the USA, Fender’s main European location is in East Grinstead, West Sussex, England, UK.

The 21^st Century Fender is a modern multinational company with production facilities in various countries, including the United States (Corona, California), Japan (from the early 1980s), Mexico (from 1990), Korea, China and Indonesia. Stratocaster models range from the (relatively) inexpensive Fender‑owned Squier^® brand through the mainstream Mexican and American production lines up to the high end ‘Made in USA’ Custom Shop models. Even more upmarket are the spectacular and unique Masterbuilt and NAMM Show one‑offs.

Fender also owns a number of subsidiary brands including, Squier, Bigsby, Charvel, EVH Gear, Gretsch, Jackson, PreSonus and Sunn. Since 2002, Fender has had the rights to market, produce and distribute Gretsch products. Fender also owned the Ovation and Guild brands until both were sold off in 2014.

Myths, legends, facts and fallacies

I strongly suspect that there are probably more myths and fallacies than there are legends and facts herein. I DO NOT claim any of the following to be true. In fact, I am certain that there are more than few apocryphal tales to be told. Remember, this is just for entertainment and not a doctorate thesis. Much of what follows is probably common knowledge to diehard Stratocaster fans but they aren’t really the prime audience for this article.

While I prefer to deal in well‑researched and corroborated evidence, there is very little verifiable truth to many aspects of the Stratocaster’s history. There are many peddlers of ‘truth’ out there who seem to accept anything at face value and proceed to regurgitate falsities as reality. When it comes down to it, there is actually very little genuine documentation and a lot relies on the anecdotes and knowledge of people, many of whom are sadly no longer with us. Much of the rest is fabrication and artifice.

“The Les Paul was more challenging because of the weight of it, but the tone was there that the Fender will never have and vice versa. So you have to make a decision as to what you’re going to have as your main instrument. After seeing Hendrix, I thought, ‘I’ll stick with the ‘Strat” – Jeff Beck (1944‑1923)

The Fender Stratocaster at age 0

The original design of the Fender Stratocaster was a collaborative effort by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton and Freddie Tavares. Work started on prototypes as early as 1951.

It is highly unusual in the business of industrial design that a first attempt represents the pinnacle of achievement and even more unusual in that the initial design endures for 70 years almost completely unchanged. The Stratocaster is one of those perennial designs (as was the Telecaster), creating an archetype. Strangely, though, in guitar manufacturing many designs have stayed true to their origins. After all, we aren’t driving around in cars that look and work like they did in 1954 and we aren’t using telephones or TVs that haven’t changed at all in their aesthetics or functionality over the last seven decades. Fender and Gibson among others got things right at the first time of trying back in the 1950s. Weird or what?

The Stratocaster was given its name not by Leo Fender but by Fender’s sales and marketing manager, Don Randall, who also came up with the Esquire, Telecaster and Champ names. The Stratocaster name was a nod to aircraft technology (Randall was also a pilot), evoking a futuristic image to go with its forward‑looking design. Unlike the Telecaster, the Stratocaster retained its name from the outset. The single pickup Telecaster was originally called the Esquire until the two pickup model became the Broadcaster, followed by a short period without a name (the so‑called ‘Nocaster’ following a trademark objection from Gretsch) before it gained its proper nomenclature that we are familiar with today.

In 1948, Paul Bigsby (1899‑1968), famous for Bigsby vibrato systems, built a guitar for country & western star Merle Travis. The headstock bore more than a passing resemblance to what would become the original headstock shape of the Fender Stratocaster. Bigsby’s design pre‑dated Fender’s by several years. Was Fender influenced by Bigsby’s guitar or did Leo Fender blatantly copy it? The jury remains out on that one.

The Stratocaster was the first production electric guitar to have three pickups. It was also the first to have a spring‑loaded floating vibrato system. Not only that, it also had the belly and forearm contours that made the guitar so slinky, comfortable, light and futuristic looking. Leo Fender always intended his guitars to be highly functional. Like the Telecaster and other Fender instruments, the Stratocaster was based around a modular design, so that parts could be replaced or upgraded easily. One example of this is Fender’s bolt‑on neck, unlike up‑market competitor Gibson’s traditional glued‑in set‑neck design.

Leo Fender designed the Stratocaster’s innovative synchronized tremolo (NB. The word tremolo is a misnomer in this context. It is technically a vibrato) system. Compared to the popular Bigsby version, Fender opted for a simple design that offered players a greater range of pitch variation as well as more reliable tuning stability. It was revolutionary because of the way that the bridge saddles move together with the bridge unit as single unit.

The Stratocaster was (apparently) intended to replace the ‘plain Jane’ Telecaster and was designed as a response to the upmarket Gibson Les Paul. However, after customer feedback, Leo retained the Telecaster and the Stratocaster was positioned to complement to the Tele as an evolution of design. The Stratocaster wasn’t a resounding success initially, with only 720 sold in 1954/1955. Initially, the revolutionary Precision Bass launched in October 1951 proved more popular than the Stratocaster or Telecaster. The Stratocaster model in one form or another has been in continuous production since 1954 – quite an accomplishment.

Images from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are generally considered to be in the public domain and typically not subject to copyright restrictions, so I believe that I have the rights to publish the following 1954 patent, courtesy of the USPTO. The patent was filed on 30 August 1954 and granted on 10 April 1956 to C.L. Fender for the ‘tremolo device for stringed instruments’, i.e. the Stratocaster’s vibrato system.

The Stratocaster was officially released on Thursday, 1 April 1954 (accompanied by a pre‑production run of c.100 guitars with serial numbers 0100‑0199). The first production Stratocaster with serial number #0100 is now owned by George Gruhn, famous for Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, Tennessee. Originally, the first one was sold to an ordinary customer, not to anyone famous. Note: David Gilmour’s Stratocaster bearing serial number #0001 may have the lowest serial number but it wasn’t the first to be manufactured.

According to Leo Fender’s long‑time business partner, George Fullerton, the earliest production Stratocasters never reached market due to a major issue with the vibrato system, which hastily had to be junked and redesigned. If true, the re‑tooling of the vibrato might help to explain the delay between the launch in the spring of 1954 and the full production run reaching stores and customers later that year.

As far as anyone can tell, the first commercial sale of a Fender Stratocaster took place on Wednesday, 13 October 1954, from the first full production run. The starting price in 1954 was $249.50 (vibrato) or $229.50 (hardtail), compared to a Telecaster at $139.65 or a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop at $225, it was an expensive instrument. A case added another $39 to the price. To give that some context, the average American monthly income back in the day was less than $300. For comparison, $249.50 in 1954 is approximately the same value as $2,896.91 today.

Now for the good news (?). We know that 268 Fender Stratocasters were made in 1954 and 452 were made in 1955. The bad news is that that, I’m afraid, is about as much as we know for sure.

Early demo production Stratocasters made during the spring and summer of 1954 had serial numbers on the tremolo (vibrato!) cover. The finish on the first Stratocaster bodies was two‑colour sunburst (brown to yellow) with maple necks and fingerboard.

“I met Leo Fender, who is the guru of all amplifiers, and he gave me a Stratocaster. He became a second father to me” – Dick Dale (1937‑2019)

The Fender Stratocaster through the years

There have been innumerable Stratocaster models over the decades and many of these overlap specific years. However, in order to make some simple sense of the development of the Stratocaster, there have been some six generalised periods associated with the Fender Stratocaster’s past. Please remember that these are how I think about ‘Strat eras’ and the simplification is NOT definitive:

1. 1954‑1959 – The first pre‑CBS generation. Maple neck and fretted fingerboard, sunburst finish, eight‑screw single‑ply pickguard and the ‘spaghetti’ logo
2. 1959‑1965 – The second pre‑CBS generation. Maple neck with initially with ‘slab’ rosewood fingerboard, solid colours or sunburst finish, eleven‑screw 3‑ply pickguard, changed dot marker material, patent numbers on headstock decal and logo style changed
3. 1965‑1981 – The first CBS generation. Standard rosewood fingerboard on a maple neck with optional maple fingerboard, larger headstock, three‑screw neck plate from 1971, new logo, serialisation system from 1976 and five‑way pickup selector switch from 1977
4. 1980‑1984 – A transitional restructuring period for Fender under CBS control, also often known as the ‘Dan Smith era’. The STRAT, Elite and (Japanese) JV Stratocasters added to the basic model
5. 1986‑2016 – Post‑CBS Fender. The American Standard Stratocaster, maple or rosewood 22‑fret fingerboard on a maple neck, smaller headstock reinstated, four‑screw neck plate. Mexican production started. The Fender Custom Shop was formed in 1987
6. 2017‑today – The American Professional, Performer, Player and Vintera series among others. The replacement for the long‑standing American Standard

Early Stratocaster bodies were primarily made of ash for the first 2‑3 years until Fender migrated to alder mid‑1956, mainly for practical reasons. Ash was still used for the its grain pattern in translucent finishes.

There have been approximately 25,580 days (a.k.a. 613,920 hours or 36,835,200 minutes, if you prefer) in 70 years from 1954 to today. It is broadly estimated that somewhere in the region 180‑200 million Stratocasters have been manufactured in all markets over the last 70 years. That equates to a whopping 7,037‑7,819 per day on average, so it may be an over‑estimate. Accurate production figures either don’t exist or are informed guesswork. Some estimates go by serial numbers but these are wildly unreliable and don’t give an accurate indication of actual production capacity. Nobody actually knows the real figures with any sort of certainty. Even Fender FMIC doesn’t know. Does anyone out there have any realistic idea, give or take a few thousand? I doubt it and, anyway, it would be hard to prove with any degree of certainty.

One might wonder what comes next for the septuagenarian Fender Stratocaster. Given that the fundamental design hasn’t changed since its launch. It would be unwise for Fender to mess with the basic concept too much. Fender has meddled with minor specification variations many times over the years but nothing substantial that has stuck the test of time. Now, Fender relies heavily on the ‘vintage’ features and various degrees of ‘relic’ finishes to evoke the past and appeal to customers. However, nothing beats a genuine vintage ‘real thing’ (but you’d expect me to say that!).

Of them all, many pundits reckon that the 1962 Fender Stratocaster (three‑colour sunburst with rosewood fingerboard and vibrato) is the absolute zenith of the model. As a result, the so‑called ‘Pre‑CBS’ Stratocasters are the most sought after by collectors (and therefore attract the highest prices on the vintage market). Those same pundits (wrongly, in my opinion) disparage any guitars made by Fender after it was sold to CBS in 1965 with 1970s being criticised as a nadir (also wrong as a generalisation in my view).

The Stratocaster was the first Fender to have a sunburst finish, initially two colours (dark Salem brown to canary yellow) and, later three colours (dark brown, through red to yellow) in 1958. The Stratocaster’s sunburst finish helped to disguise the joins in timber of the bodies made of two or more pieces glued together. Solid colours hid any joins completely.

The Stratocaster was also the first Fender to be offered in custom colours in 1957 (for a 5% upcharge). Custom colours were sourced from DuPont’s line of automotive colours for General Motors. DuPont Duco nitrocellulose custom colours included, Black, Shell Pink, Daphne Blue, Sonic Blue, Fiesta Red, Dakota Red, Sherwood Green Metallic, Foam Green and Surf Green. There were also five DuPont Lucite acrylic custom colours including, Olympic White, Lake Placid Blue Metallic, Shoreline Gold Metallic, Burgundy Mist Metallic and Inca Silver Metallic. Originally, despite assumptions to the contrary, there was no (Sea) Foam Green or Candy Apple Red to begin with.

Probably Fender’s most famous advertising campaign ran 1964‑1967 all bearing the slogan, ‘You won’t part with yours either’. The marketing featured people carrying their Fenders while undertaking ‘risky’ or unusual activities including parachuting, skateboarding, water skiing, flying, climbing telegraph poles, lying on railroad tracks, catching a bus, boarding a boat, driving, at the barber/hairdresser, at the prom, swimming, riding a motorcycle, at the dentist, at a football game, in class, etc. NB. Do not do this at home, folks! That memorable ad campaign was the work of Robert Perine, the very same man that designed Fender’s ‘transition’ logo.

Fender also ran a successful series of ‘fantasy and fairy tale’ adverts which ran 1975‑1976, known for their cleverly conceived themes, elaborate, surreal, colourful and downright trippy imagery featuring familiar fairy tale characters using Fender gear. Sadly, copyright prevents me publishing examples.

In 1976, Fender stopped stamping serial numbers on the neck plate and started using decal serial numbers added to the front of the headstock. The change prompted a new serial number system starting with a letter for the decade, followed by a digit for the year, e.g. ‘S8’ for 1978, ‘E3’ for 1983, etc. The rest of the serial number was unique.

Fender stopped shipping the cosmetic chrome bridge cover (often discarded by players, as it is entirely non‑functional) with standard Stratocaster models from the late 1970s onwards, although several ‘historically accurate’ reissues have them.

The 1979 Fender Stratocaster Silver Anniversary was the first model produced by Fender to commemorate a specific period since the Stratocaster’s launch in 1954. The 25^th Anniversary’ model was produced in limited (if you can call 10,000 limited) numbers, complete with a commemorative certificate of authenticity and a ‘25’ stamped neck plate with dedicated serial number. Very early Anniversary models were made in Pearl White but finish problems saw it recalled and re‑released in Porsche Silver, perhaps more appropriate for commemorating its Silver Anniversary, although one might wonder why Fender didn’t use their own Inca Silver. It seems strange today, in the days of commemorative models appearing regularly, that no‑one had thought of issuing an anniversary model before this one.

Fender trademarked the name ‘Stratocaster’ in the US on 14 November 1972. While the abbreviation of Stratocaster, Strat, had been in common usage for years, Fender released a specific model formally called the STRAT in 1980 with a number of features that differed from the mainstream Stratocaster. Fender finally got around to trademarking the word ‘Strat’ in the US on 23 January 1996.

Fender didn’t introduce 5‑way pickup selector switches on production Stratocasters until 1977. It is strange to think that, for 23 years, the standard 3‑way selector switch was the only one available. After‑market 5‑way switches were popular to achieve the distinctive ‘in between’ tones for which the Stratocaster is so well known. Even then, the 5 positions don’t give the full range of pickup selection options, leading to many other variations and modifications over the years, including 3 on/off buttons, one for each pickup, used on the Stratocaster Elite in the 1980s that gave the most intuitive, although intensely disliked, method of getting all available permutations.

Fender’s answer to pickup selection was to introduce the S‑1 system in 2003 to provide additional options through a push button on the volume control. This provides the ‘all three’ and ‘neck and bridge’ permutations on the Stratocaster that were previously absent, along with other phase variations. As the S‑1 system does different things on different models, it has caused confusion, rather than an intuitive solution.

In 1985, twenty years after CBS acquired Fender from its founder, CBS sold Fender to an investor group led by William Schultz, CEO of FMIC for $12.5m and changed its name to the Fender Musical Instrument Company. This management buy‑out marked a new period, often referred to as the ‘FMIC era’, right up to today.

In 1987, to coincide with the launch of the American Standard Stratocaster, Fender replaced the old 6‑point vibrato with an all‑new 2‑Point Synchronized Tremolo system, which is still used today. However, this wasn’t the only vibrato system used on factory Stratocasters; during the ‘Dan Smith era’, Fender used the unique, short‑lived (1983‑1984) top‑loading Freeflyte^® vibrato system on some standard Stratocasters and the Elite. The Freeflyte vibrato, made by German company Schaller, had a pop‑in vibrato arm, had no cover plate on the rear of the body and no through‑body stringing.

Fender was the first major guitar company to set up a Custom Shop in 1987, led by CEO Bill Schultz along with master builders, John Page and Michael Stevens. The Custom Shop division was based in Fender’s main American factory in Corona, Riverside County, California. Premier luthiers were dedicated to creating the finest high‑end Fender guitars built to customers’ demanding specifications. The Fender Custom Shop was the first major brand to introduce ‘relic’ finishes on their guitars, initially appearing at the 1995 NAMM trade show in Anaheim, California, where they proudly showed off their first laudable attempts at fake aging techniques.

To paraphrase the original Star Trek TV series, “it’s wood Jim but not as you know it”. In 2015, the Fender Custom Shop made a Stratocaster constructed from cardboard for its body and neck. The project to create it was apparently called ‘Cardboard Chaos’. Apparently, it sounded good and played well, just as you’d expect for a pricey Fender Custom Shop guitar.

For many people, the iconic brand name and the genuine Fender logo are the only things to have on the headstock of their guitars. The headstock has changed shape several times and the logo has been refreshed many times but a Fender Stratocaster is still a Fender Stratocaster. For others, the location of manufacture matters. Some insist that their instruments come from California, while others prefer Mexican or Japanese models. There are plenty who are happy with the budget Squier brand on the headstock and don’t care whether their guitar is made in the US or Indonesia. Some will insist on pro‑level specification working guitars while others want the bling and status of a Custom Shop one‑off to show off, while plenty just want a solid, well‑made workhorse model that sounds great and plays well. Some like ‘em shiny, others like ‘em trashed to hell, some like ‘em new, some like ‘em reliced (NB. not a verb!), some insist on authentic vintage. Some even seek out the copies, so they get the look and feel, without the Fender price tag and smug, snobbish attitude. The ‘lawsuit era’ imitations from the 1970s and 1980s are also now becoming sought after by collectors, e.g. ‘Stratocasters’ from Ibanez, Aria, Hondo, Cortez and Maya. Some like to build ‘bitscasters’ or buy DIY assembly kits, while others commission skilled independent luthiers to give them exactly what they want. There are plenty of Strat‑a‑likes (the so‑called ‘S‑type’ guitars) on the market from the likes of Kramer, Yamaha, Sadowsky, Harley‑Benton and even the ‘Silver Sky’ made by Paul Reed Smith (PRS). All this diversity goes to show that there is plenty of room for everyone and that is part of the contemporary appeal.

Fender experimented with building and marketing its own Strat copies including the ‘Starcaster by Fender’ produced in East Asia between c.2001 and 2014, as a low‑price student model. It was sold through budget outlets in the US and often as a ‘Starcaster Strat Pack’, which included a Squier solid state practice amplifier. NB. This model has absolutely nothing to do with the genuine 1970s Starcaster semi‑hollow body (or its reissues).

Fender also made other models based to a greater or lesser extent on the fabled Stratocaster, including the Fender Lead and Fender Bullet ranges. There is more on these particular Strat‑like instruments later in the article.

The sky‑high vintage market prices of pre‑CBS Stratocasters means that many historically significant examples are confined to museums or elite collections, ruling out ownership by genuine enthusiasts (like me). The downside is that the number of scarily accurate fake instruments, especially from China, are entering the market. Where’s there is money to be made, there will be unscrupulous criminals trying to screw honest people to make a buck.

Sadly for Fender, the Covid‑related boom ended and the post‑Covid market has stalled amid global volatile economic operating environments. The result is market saturation and stock piles. The Covid‑related collapse of live entertainment didn’t help either. The commercial viability issues have led to closures, cut backs and staff reductions. The global downturn has hit many manufacturers in many industries, including Fender. Fender’s response is to double down on providing ‘build‑your‑own’ and ‘mash‑up’ guitars in an attempt to attract new customers and to compete by using agile and efficient production methods. We wait to see how successful Fender is at weathering the storm.

There will undoubtedly be many more significant anniversaries for Fender and the Stratocaster. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll still be around to celebrate the Stratocaster’s centenary in 2054.

Some notable artists associated with the Stratocaster

Buddy Holly (1936‑1959) was one of the first pop stars to use a Fender Stratocaster. He acquired a 1954 sunburst Stratocaster in 1955. He is pictured with one on the front cover of his first album, ‘The ‘Chirping’ Crickets’ in 1957. He also played a Stratocaster when he appeared on TV on The Ed Sullivan Show on 1 December 1957. Both exposures helped to promote both the company brand and the model.

After seeing Buddy Holly with a Stratocaster, Hank Marvin (1941‑) of The Shadows was the first guitarist to receive a Stratocaster in the UK, imported directly from Fender (there was no UK distributor at the time) in 1959. Availability of American guitars in the UK was highly restricted by a post‑World War II import trade ban on US goods entering Britain. Hank’s Stratocaster was in a Fiesta Red finish with gold‑plated hardware and birds‑eye figuring on the neck. In fact, Hank’s guitar was one of the last maple fingerboard Stratocasters before Fender changed to Rosewood.

“It came in a tweed Fender case with the red plush lining and this magnificent‑looking thing was just lying inside. It was like something from space, really, it was so futuristic in its design” – Hank Marvin (1941‑)

When Bob Dylan (1941‑) appeared at the Newport Folk Festival on 25 July 1965, he was booed by the diehard traditional folk audience for the ultimate sin of using an electric, rather than acoustic, guitar… and playing with a backing band. The guitar that Dylan used at Newport was his 1964 three‑colour Sunburst Stratocaster.

The guitar that Jimi Hendrix (1942‑1970) famously burnt and smashed on stage at the Monterey Pop Festival on 18 June 1967 was allegedly a cheap substitute guitar and not his Stratocaster. The switch was made without anybody realising it at the time. Jimi Hendrix also played a white 1968 Stratocaster at Woodstock when he appeared on the morning of August 18, 1969 and, famously, used it for the sonic mayhem of his rendition of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’, a defining moment for the festival, Hendrix, rock music and the Stratocaster.

Eric Clapton’s (1945‑) famous ‘Blackie’ Stratocaster was a hybrid of three guitars he bought in 1970, a 1956 body and 1957 neck with pickups from a third. Clapton auctioned ‘Blackie’ for almost £1m in 2004 in aid of his Crossroads Foundation. The Fender Custom Shop has made a faithful replica of the famous axe.

Rory Gallagher bought his 1961 sunburst Stratocaster second hand for £100 on credit from Crowley’s Music Store in Cork, Ireland in 1963. The Strat, along with a borrowed Telecaster, was stolen in 1966 after an appearance in Dublin. Following a TV programme called Garda Patrol on RTÉ, the guitars were returned to Rory a few days later, a bit worse for wear after being recovered from a ditch. The combination of play wear, exposure, numerous modifications and Rory’s well‑documented caustic sweat probably being the main culprits for the major degradation in his guitar’s finish over years of use. Apparently, early 1960s Fender finishes were more prone to wear than ones from the late 1950s.

Some other Stratocaster stories

Fiesta Red was actually based on the 1956 Ford Thunderbird car colour. As a Fender custom colour, Fiesta Red is, well, red (duh!), not pink. Over the years, Fiesta Red has become synonymous with the Fender Stratocaster. It has, however, been the subject of much debate, possibly more than any other Fender colour. Over time, Fiesta Red has been known to have had a number of shades varying from bright red to dark pink. It is, though, definitely more orange than the darker Dakota Red. There has been some confusion caused by the variations in shade of Fiesta Red, made worse over the years as the colour faded, lacquers yellowed and older guitars were refinished. Hank Marvin’s Fiesta Red Stratocaster was erroneously described by him as ‘flamingo pink’, which was not an official Fender colour. Other similar colours such as Salmon Pink and Coral Pink also added to the confusion.

Only an Englishman would actually go as far as to marry a Fender Stratocaster. Seriously! A British man called Chris ‘Fenderman’ Black did just that, in 1995. His ‘bride’ was a c.1960 model, apparently called ‘Brenda the Fenda’. He followed through with wedlock after his actual wife joked that he spent so much time with his Stratocaster that he should marry it. Black allegedly said, “We’ve had such a long engagement that I decided it was time we did the decent thing”. He also might have said, “it doesn’t answer back!” Fair point. A friend performed the ceremony after a local vicar refused to do it. Mr Black reportedly said that he wants to be buried with his wife (the Fender Strat). Mrs Black (the human female) was apparently unimpressed by her husband’s antics. I know not what happened to the three of them, post nuptials.

Many guitarists use a piece of hardwood to prevent the Stratocaster’s spring‑loaded vibrato block from moving and effectively disable the vibrato altogether. The often‑used ‘mod’ was done in an attempt to stabilise tuning, improve tone and increase sustain. Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher and Mark Knopfler were all known to ‘block’ their Stratocasters’ vibratos. Hardtail Stratocasters with through‑body stringing were available right from the outset in 1954.So, why customers didn’t just buy a hardtail Strat in the first place, who knows?

While on the subject of Stratocaster vibrato issues… One problem is that the springs can cause an irritating ringing sound. The solution? A piece of foam rubber coaxed under the springs. Another problem encountered by some is a loose or swinging ‘trem’ arm. The solution? Don’t lose the little spring in the arm socket or get one and restore the stiffness.

It has been said over many years by many people (whether true or not – how do they actually know?), that the Stratocaster is the most copied guitar design ever. Fender got seriously fed up with its iconic design being copied, resulting in lost sales that it felt something had to be done to stop Intellectual Property Theft, as they saw it. In 2003, Fender instigated legal proceedings to trademark its designs in the US, including the Telecaster, Stratocaster and Precision Bass body shapes. The trademark action was targeted at ESP Guitars, Sadowsky Guitars, Lakland Musical Instruments, Peavey Electronics, Warmoth Guitar Products and Schecter Guitar Research amongst others.

After five long, expensive years, Fender’s Trademark Application was rejected on 31 March 2009. Unfortunately for Fender, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office ruled that, “The applicant has not established acquired distinctiveness such that these two‑dimensional outlines of guitar bodies, standing alone, serve to indicate source… The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that these configurations are so common in the industry that they cannot identify source… In fact, in the case of the [Stratocaster] body outline, this configuration is so common that it is depicted as a generic electric guitar in a dictionary.”

Similar legal trademark applications had previously been rejected, both in the UK and the rest of Europe, so it always looked like Fender was onto a loser in the US, if only through international precedent. NB. Gibson also lost a similar action against PRS for its single cut Les Paul body shape in 2005.

The names, ‘Stratocaster’ and ‘Strat’ are, however, the sole property of FMIC, as is the exact iconic headstock design is a registered trademark in the US, Canada and Europe.

A few famous guitarists have been honoured with artist signature Stratocaster models, including Jimi Hendrix, Dick Dale, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton David Gilmour, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Billy Corgan, Dave Murray, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jim Root, amongst many others.

“I mainly use Stratocasters. I like a lot of different kinds of guitars, but for what I do, it seems that a Stratocaster is the most versatile. I can pretty much get any sound out of it, and I use stock pickups” – Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954‑1990)

The American Rolling Stone magazine awarded the Stratocaster ‘American Icon’ status in 2003. The magazine’s senior editor, David Fricke, said that the Stratocaster is rock & roll’s “ultimate guitar … a knockout package of the sex and futurism in the music itself.”

In 2003, the author was able, for a few short minutes, to get his hands on a black Strat owned by Stevie Ray Vaughan. The guitar was in the vault of the Hard Rock Café in London (a former bank). NB. I also ‘played’ a left‑handed Gibson Flying V owned by Jimi Hendrix. Modesty, however, prevents me from posting photos.

If you like your guitars diminutive, there are plenty of miniature models of the Stratocaster (note: other guitar makes and models are available!). Also, if you feel so inclined, you can get your hands on an official LEGO^® Ideas Fender Stratocaster Guitar Set 21329 (priced at around £120‑140GBP), which includes a 1970s Stratocaster with red or black interchangeable bodies, a model ‘65 Fender Princeton Reverb valve combo amp with footswitch, guitar stand, strap and lead. The kit comprises 1,074 pieces and the completed model is 14” (36cm) tall. What’s not to like? It might even make my Christmas list if Santa thinks I’ve been a good boy (hint, hint Mr Claus).

In contrast, if you like your guitars massive, the world’s largest playable Stratocaster apparently stands an impressive 13 feet (3.96m) high. Fender even allowed their name to be used on the sizeable headstock. It was listed on eBay in the US in 2012 for $79,999. A matching playable Telecaster was also constructed.

The familiar image of the Stratocaster can be found all over the world and in many different ways, over the years. There have been numerous sculptures made as an homage to the Stratocaster in a variety of materials including metal, glass, plastic, wood, clay, etc. Massive Stratocaster sculptures feature outside many Hard Rock Café Hotels as well as outside the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. The instrument is immortalised at Jimi Hendrix’s grave and a statue in his home city of Seattle, Washington State, USA. In addition, the Stratocaster is integral to Rory Gallagher’s statue in his home town of Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland. In fine art, graphic design and film, the Stratocaster is a familiar theme. There have been many impressive Stratocaster cake designs to whet your palate. The Strat has also been used on ornaments, clothing and to inspire jewellery such as pins, earrings, key rings, necklaces, rings, etc. For gamers, the Stratocaster was used as a controller for the Sony PlayStation Guitar Hero video game.

Some Fender Stratocaster lists

Some list‑o‑phobes prefer narrative prose while others revel in the realm of lists and lists of lists, etc. So, for the avid list‑o‑philes out there, here are three lists of Stratocaster stuff.

Ten famous artists forever associated with their famous Fender Stratocasters (in alphabetical order):

• Eric Clapton –  ‘Blackie’ (1956/1957) and ‘Brownie’ (1956)
• Rory Gallagher (1961)
• David Gilmour – ‘Black Strat’ serial number #0001 (1969)
• George Harrison – ‘Rocky’ (1962)
• Mark Knopfler serial number #68354 (1961)
• Yngwie Malmsteen – ‘Duck’ (1971)
• Robbie Robertson – ‘The Last Waltz’ (1954)
• Nile Rodgers – ‘The Hitmaker’ (1960s)
• Eddie Van Halen – ‘Frankenstrat’ (1970s?)
• Stevie Ray Vaughan – ‘Number One’ (1962/1963) and ‘Lenny’ (1963/1964)

Forty famous Stratocaster players (in alphabetical order):

• Randy Bachman (Bachman‑Turner Overdrive)
• Jeff Beck
• Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, Rainbow)
• Joe Bonamassa
• Robert Cray
• Dick Dale
• Tom Delonge (Green Day)
• The Edge (U2)
• John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
• Rory Gallagher
• Lowell George (Little Feat)
• Janick Gers (Iron Maiden)
• Buddy Guy
• George Harrison (The Beatles)
• Jimi Hendrix
• Steve Hillage
• Buddy Holly
• Ernie Isley (The Isley Brothers)
• Eric Johnson
• Carol Kaye
• Ed King (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
• Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits)
• Mike McReady (Pearl Jam)
• Yngwie Malmsteen
• Hank Marvin (The Shadows)
• John Mayer
• Dave Murray (Iron Maiden)
• Ed O’Brien (Radiohead)
• Bonnie Raitt
• Chris Rea
• Jim Root (Slipknot)
• Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi)
• Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden)
• Ty Tabor (King’s X)
• Richard Thompson (Fairport Convention)
• Peter Townshend (The Who)
• Robin Trower
• Eddie Van Halen
• Cory Wong (Vulfpeck)
• Ronnie Wood (The Rolling Stones)

Finally, nine very, VERY expensive Fender Stratocasters owned or once‑owned by famous guitarists (in value order – low‑high):

• George Gruhn’s Fender Stratocaster #0100. Price: c.$250,000
• Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Fender Stratocaster, ‘Lenny’. Price: $623,500 in 2004
• Eric Clapton’s ‘Blackie’ Fender Stratocaster. Price: $959,500 in 2004
• Bob Dylan’s 1964 ‘Newport’ Fender Stratocaster. Price: $965,000 in 2013
• Jimi Hendrix’s 1968 ‘Izabella’ Fender Stratocaster. Price: $1,650,000 in 2000
• David Gilmour’s 1954 Fender Stratocaster #0001. Price: $1.815 million in 2019
• Jimi Hendrix’s 1964 Fender Stratocaster. Price: $2.1 million in 2015
• The ‘Reach Out To Asia’ Fender Stratocaster. Price: $2.7 million in 2005
• David Gilmour’s 1969 ‘Black Strat’. Price: $3.975 million in 2019

Very shortly, there will be a tenth entry to add to the list. Rory Gallagher’s famous 1961 Stratocaster will be auctioned at Bonhams in London on 17 October 2024, after Dónal Gallagher, Rory’s brother and manager, made the difficult decision to sell the cherished guitar thirty years after the guitarist’s death. Rory’s iconic Strat is being auctioned along with other instruments and gear from ‘The Rory Gallagher Collection’ and is estimated to reach between £700,000 and £1 million (and may well reach more).

CRAVE Guitars’ Fender Stratocasters

I won’t reiterate all the details of CRAVE Guitars’ Fender Stratocasters here. If you want more information, follow the links to the feature pages on each specific instrument. None of CRAVE Guitars’ Stratocasters are ‘standard’ models per se – there is something non‑standard about all of them. These four instruments show some of the diversity of the CBS‑era Stratocasters and show off some of the idiosyncrasies that make the diversity fascinating to me.

1977 Fender Stratocaster – My first ‘real’ Fender guitar. I traded in my lovely 1978 Fender Mustang for this baby and it has been with me ever since. I bought it second hand over 45 years ago and still counting. It certainly evokes the 1970s with its natural polyester finish. I prefer rosewood fingerboards and hardtail bridges, so this suited me perfectly at the time. Overly fixated detractors will moan about the large headstock, the ‘bullet’ truss rod adjuster, the 3‑bolt neck plate and the underpowered pickups. Personally, I don’t give a hoot what they think and I have never experienced any problems with neck stability or tuning. It remains one of my favourite guitars.

CRAVE Guitars – 1977 Fender Stratocaster

1979 Fender Stratocaster Silver Anniversary – Fender’s first commemorative (25^th) anniversary guitar, finished in lustrous Porsche silver. This comes complete with its certificate of authenticity and anniversary (4‑bolt) neck plate. Like most Anniversary models, it is too heavy for a Strat but I like it nevertheless. Ignore the rather crass ‘ANNIVERSARY’ logo on the upper horn. Remember, this is the where the whole anniversary model trend began. It is amazing to think that this guitar is already 45 years old and, here we are now at the 70^th anniversary. This means that this very clean example is closer in years to the 1954 Strat than it is to the 2024 anniversary model by a clear 20 years. Crazy!

CRAVE Guitars – 1979 Fender Stratocaster Anniversary

1983 Fender Stratocaster ‘Dan Smith’ – Fender was restructuring at the time under the guidance of finance director Dan Smith, charged by CBS with rejuvenating Fender’s fortunes. Keeping manufacturing costs under control while producing better quality instruments was key to success. Now, I am going to be heretical. I have never liked the original Stratocaster’s 1 volume, 2 tone control layout. This model dispenses with the second tone control leaving one master tone. The consequential empty hole in the scratchplate was used for the jack socket, meaning all the electrics were in one place – good idea. The ‘iconic’ jack socket plate of the past was discarded (at least for a while). Similarly, the Freeflyte^® vibrato system dispensed with the cavity on the rear of the body, simplifying the construction process further. The resulting ‘two knobber’ Strat, as it was humorously nicknamed, is certainly an oddity in the Fender canon. Everybody seems to hate them but I love the simplicity and uniqueness. Lovely colour too.

CRAVE Guitars – 1983 Fender Stratocaster “Dan Smith”

1983 Fender Stratocaster Elite – Another CBS‑era Stratocaster and another oddity. If you are looking for a traditional approach, look elsewhere. Delving under the familiar façade is a guitar that bears hardly any relationship to the first ones off the production line in 1954. The electrics feature ‘noiseless’ pickups (with a dummy coil), active electronics, unique 3‑button pickup selection, unique knobs and that is just for starters. The bridge assembly is a Freeflyte hardtail and the jack socket is now on the edge of the body. It was a short‑lived experiment but with many influential features that would reappear over time. The weight associated with the 25^th Anniversary models was also being addressed.

CRAVE Guitars – 1983 Fender Stratocaster Elite

Over the years, I have owned modern FMIC‑era Stratocasters and they have all moved on to better homes. After becoming captivated by vintage guitars, the more modern guitars just felt mass‑produced, generic, lacking character and personality. That can’t be said of the ones listed here.

CRAVE Guitars’ sort‑of‑but‑not Fender Stratocasters

Not all Stratocasters are Stratocasters. Confused? You will be…

1982 Fender Bullet H2 – After Fender withdrew the lovely offset ‘student’ models including the Musicmaster, Duo‑Sonic, Mustang and Bronco, they were replaced with the Bullet range. When I first started collecting, I hated what they’d done but I’ve come to find them intriguing. This Bullet H2 is actually a very good instrument. OK, so the Telecaster neck on a Stratocaster body does look odd but dig behind the aesthetics and the quad single coil pickups combined into two hum‑cancelling pairs, along with the unique pickup selection proves to be quite interesting. Fender were, again, experimenting with the Stratocaster fundamentals to see what would work and what wouldn’t before using features on the Strat. The now quite rare ‘Made in USA’ Bullet H2 was an inevitable but fascinating dead end but one I’m glad they tried out. Remember that this was long before the Mexican built guitars fulfilled the role of the now‑defunct Bullet.

CRAVE Guitars – 1982 Fender Bullet H2

1981 Fender Lead I – Alongside the budget Bullet, Fender wanted to fill the gap between the budget line and the long‑established, much more expensive pro‑level models. The mid‑range ‘Made in USA’ Fender Lead came in three different types (I, II and II depending on pickup configuration). The neck is all‑Strat, while the body is definitely derived from the Stratocaster but the proportions aren’t quite ‘right’ and it can look ungainly from the wrong angle. The Van Halen‑like single humbucking bridge pickup and dual selector switches provide a different range of sound compared to a conventional Stratocaster. It is a very nicely put together instrument and plays very well. However, the Fender Lead is one model that certainly justifies the description of one of the ‘lost Fenders’ of the CBS‑era. Over in Japan at the same time, Fender was experimenting with the format in other ways, without affecting Fender’s valuable American‑made Stratocaster reputation. Ultimately, though, the Lead was another, albeit fascinating, dead end. Sorry, no floorboard photo of this one. For the curious, the neck is a stanard Stratocaster neck and fingerboard but with the ‘Lead’ decal on the headstock.

Feature 1981 – Fender Lead I

These six guitars go to show what can be done to differentiate models using a stable platform on which to try out new and different things (although that is tautology because, by definition, new is different).

The Official 2024 Fender 70^th Anniversary Stratocaster^®

To celebrate the last seven decades, Fender has an enviable array of 70^th anniversary Stratocasters. The following images courtesy of the fine people at FMIC, show two contrasting 70^th anniversary Stratocaster models, revealing the immaculate manufacturing and echoing the specification difference between 1954 and 2024 models. Expect these to be classified as ‘vintage’ around the time of the Stratocaster’s centennial in 2054. The UK retail prices for these two beauties as at July 2024 are:

Top – Limited Edition 70^th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster^® Heavy Relic^®. Price: £4,899GBP
Bottom – 70^th Anniversary American Professional^® II Fender Stratocaster^®. Price: £2,169GBP

At the time of writing, the cheapest 70^th anniversary commemorative Stratocaster made by Fender appears to be the Mexican made, Fender 70^th Anniversary Player Stratocaster PF, 2‑Colour Sunburst, priced at a mere £699GBP. Bargain.

For further information on 70^th anniversary Stratocaster models, take a look at Fender’s website and any retailers stocking Fender products.

If you want a piece of commemorative Fender history that is sort of affordable, go for one of the 2024 70^th anniversary models. The Stratocaster won’t have another 70^th anniversary after all. Let’s face it, you probably couldn’t afford a genuine original 1954 Strat which, for info, is probably somewhere in the region of $60,000‑$200,000 in 2024. That’s an awful lot of pocket money in anyone’s book. Expect another anniversary model at 75 (in 2029).

CRAVE Guitars’ hobbyhorse moment – 1970s Fenders

Excuse me for a moment, while I have a personal, opinionated rant, outburst, tirade, bombast, invective, broadside, diatribe, polemic and a few other nouns to similar effect. Hold on to your hats, folks, here we go…

I wholeheartedly reject the cynics’ simplistic argument that states that all pre‑CBS Strats are great and everything else since, particularly from the 1970s, was rubbish. That sweeping generalisation is widely promulgated as ‘fact’ and it isn’t helpful when looking at individual instruments. I would go as far as to say that such assertions are ignorant and biased and I steadfastly refuse to jump on that bandwagon (NB. Another American idiom that comes from mid‑19^th Century, when political candidates would use an actual open wagon during campaigns and parades to appeal to voters. People would literally jump onto the vehicle to show support). The ‘golden era’ of the 1950s had their own major gaffs. Just look at the very early Fender Esquires without a neck truss rod or the early Gibson Les Pauls with the wrong neck angle!

However, I recognise that I am in the minority and what I say will potentially undermine my credibility in some people’s views. Just wait until collector prices spiral beyond all reasonable sensibility then that perspective will change. The elitists will talk up the 1970s’ Strats (the next‑in‑line to increase in value now that the 1960s are largely unobtainable – even post‑1965 CBS‑era ones!). The greedy prospectors will want to attract top dollar and get the credit for being ahead of the game. All I am saying is that there are good and bad examples throughout the last seven decades and that one shouldn’t assume that something is the truth just because enough self‑opinionated people with an axe to grind say it is true. Just sayin’.

The guitar that I have owned longer than any other is my 1977 Fender Stratocaster hardtail. I think it looks lovely, plays very well and sounds great. I don’t have any issues with the polyester finish, the stability of the 3‑bolt neck joint, the ‘bullet’ truss rod adjuster, the pickups, the 3‑way pickup selector switch or the ‘F’ on the neck plate. If it was a ‘bad’ guitar, I wouldn’t have kept it for 46 years. I am still happy with it and grateful for the opportunity to own and play it whenever I feel like it. Suck on that, sycophants!

Some people bang on endlessly about the dire quality of CBS‑era Strats. Well, that didn’t deter possibly the world’s G.O.A.T. guitarist, one James Marshall Hendrix from using them. If he could do what he did armed with a CBS‑era Strat, perhaps the naysayers should moderate and reconsider their often over‑stated prejudices and criticisms. Get over it people. If ya don’t like ‘em, don’t buy ‘em and shut up with the whinging and whining already. I am sure that too many people simply accept and reiterate this apocryphal and questionable ‘fact’ without doing their own due diligence. Meanwhile, I seem isolated in my regard for 1970s’ Fenders but I stand by it. It’s called integrity.

Guitarists tend to hate change. CBS introduced a raft of new features. For instance, the ‘large headstock’ appeared in December 1965. Allegedly, Leo Fender designed the larger headstock to accommodate a larger, more visible logo before he sold the company that bears his name, so don’t blame CBS for that one. Even the stylised ‘F’ that appeared on the neck plate caused apoplexy. Why? Many associate Fender’s innovative Micro Tilt neck adjustment (sometimes referred to as Tilt Neck adjustment) and its 3‑bolt neck plate with CBS‑era Stratocasters but the feature wasn’t actually introduced until mid‑1971. There were some issues with over‑sized neck pockets, which is what actually caused the ‘neck instability’ problem. After a decade, Fender reverted to 4‑bolt neck joints (and smaller headstocks) by mid‑1981. Traditionalists also reacted negatively to other ‘new’ features including the ‘bullet’ truss rod adjuster at the headstock end of the neck, cast bridges, cast bridge saddles, and more stable and durable polyester finishes. It didn’t matter whether changes were better or worse, some stuck to quasi‑religious dogma and collective prejudice. I challenge such ill‑perceived hallowed ground. All this malarkey just goes to show that you can’t please anyone any of the time. Nuff said. Deep sigh. Count to 70…

The Fender Stratocaster: Judgement Day

After all this, you might be curious as to what I think about the venerable Fender Stratocaster. I guess it is time for me to give my personal opinion. To do this, I have to recognise its past, present and future and to acknowledge its highly respected place in music. I respect the genius of Leo Fender, although he had nothing to do with the ‘real’ Stratocaster since 1965. I also have to set aside all the diverse views of others and concentrate on my own assessment for a few paragraphs. Here, I am going to be controversial and provocative, so brace yourselves.

Let’s begin with the attraction of the exalted icon that is the Fender Stratocaster. If I didn’t have one, I would want one. No question there. There is also a reason why my longest‑owned guitar is a Stratocaster. It carries with it a strong sense of a comfortable long‑term relationship. However, a strong obsession to own one doesn’t carry an enormous amount of weight when considering what the Stratocaster actually is and does. Stratocaster ownership at its most basic for many people could be construed as a tick‑in‑the‑box exercise and, perhaps, the ‘genuine article’ represents an aspirational status symbol.

Going back to basics though, the Stratocaster is fundamentally (now) just a mass‑produced musical instrument, constructed out of the same materials using the same manufacturing processes as numerous others. There is little to differentiate one factory product from the next. Think back to Wikipedia’s description at the start of this article. Bland and straightforward. The Stratocaster may have been space age and futuristic back in the 1950s and now it is possibly the most ubiquitous of electric guitars on the planet alongside the Telecaster, Les Paul, SG and ES‑335, so we tend to take its presence in our lives for granted nowadays. It even looks a bit traditionalist, like a septuagenarian wearing a pair of pressed corduroy trousers and comfy slippers. Some of its appeal is the aesthetic as much as its functionality. As a professional musician’s tool, the Stratocaster’s excellence set a high standard early on and it continues to fulfil its pro‑level role today. Again, I’m not arguing against all that. If the Stratocaster didn’t exist, there is still plenty of choice amongst the alternatives. In the absence of the Strat, professional working musicians like Hendrix, Beck, Gilmour, Clapton, Rodgers and Gallagher would simply have been driven to use something else.

If I reluctantly have to admit that I am a low‑level guitar collector – both in number and in value – the Stratocaster compares favourably with many other electric solid body guitars. However, it is not the be‑all‑and‑end‑all of electric guitars. It just cannot be. There are things that other instruments do better than the Strat and against which the Stratocaster simply cannot compete. It plays well, sounds great, it is (generally) light and a very flexible instrument, well‑suited to many musical genres, especially when adapted to a specific guitarist’s need. Beyond that, though, I don’t regale the Stratocaster with the exaggerated plaudits that many Fender die‑hards do. It is one of innumerable instruments available on the market today and it has to earn its keep against stiff opposition. It isn’t unassailable and it doesn’t constitute an absolute monopoly. Admittedly, the world would be far worse off if there were no Stratocasters but great music would still be made. The Stratocaster just happens to have been around a very long time and has been hugely influential in the development of modern music. BUT, it is the guitarist that makes the magic, not just the instrument. It is the synergy between the two – the guitarist and their guitar – that makes some great music unique. Give any cheap Strat knock‑off to a guitar legend and they’ll make it sound great. Give a great Strat to a novice and it won’t.

If Gibson made a mid‑range electric, with a body built out of multiple cuts of wood, with a bolt‑on maple neck, it would be criticised from launch until it was withdrawn. Gibson has actually tried to do just that several times but you won’t find one in the shops today. So, the Strat’s construction really isn’t anything special today, and neither are the electronics. The basic specification just doesn’t stand out in today’s crowded marketplace. The Strat has traded on its heritage and its legacy for decades. Its future is also constrained by the very same thing. Others have taken the concept further, for instance the super‑Strats of the 1980s.

Vintage prices for all‑original pre‑CBS Strats are unashamedly unobtainable for the average player and, in most cases that status is only warranted by scarcity, hyperbole and the economics of supply and demand. The ‘law of lucre’, as I call it, strikes again. Regular readers will know that I have an anathema for wealthy elitists solely seeking profit from precious artefacts locked away in their personal vaults, thereby barring access to the hoi polloi (NB. from ancient Greek meaning ‘the many’ or ‘the common people’). Many of us will never get their hands on the rarest early models and we cannot judge for ourselves whether they are really special musical instruments or not. The result is that the 1954‑1965 Strats are put on such a high pedestal that most of us can only look up at and aspire to ownership, and regretfully a wish that will probably never be achieved. That, though, has nothing to do with today’s genuine pragmatic merit. There is simply too much vintage mojo lore out there to make any real‑world sense of it all.

Extrapolating that previous point further. If you’ve got this far, you’ll have seen the outrageous prices that famous vintage Stratocasters, owned by famous guitarists and carrying the vital photographic and paperwork records, go for on the vintage guitar market. While I can understand the appeal of owning an important part of music heritage, do the actual guitars themselves really deserve 7‑figure prices that elitists can afford to spend on them for dubious reasons? When the uber‑expensive guitars were originally made, they were just another Stratocaster off the Fender production line. The only difference between the ‘celebrity’ guitars and ordinary Stratocasters is purely down to their provenance. The sad thing is that they are now way too valuable to be played regularly on stage where people can see and hear them being used for their intended purpose. The same holds true for guitars behind museum glass cases and horded away in elitist collectors’ personal treasuries. It is a lofty, rarefied atmosphere well out of my, and I’m sure most people’s, reach. You can probably tell that I’m not a fan of this hoarding practice. However, it is what it is and there is no point bleating about such an anti‑pluralist system. Doh! I just did.

The Stratocaster’s presence today can be viewed a little like MacDonald’s or Starbucks. They are instantly recognisable products and, most of the time, you know exactly what you are going to get. That consistency, reliability and longevity is very important for the conservative brigades out there. There is nothing wrong in that but sometimes a connoisseur meal or an instant coffee will do just as well. Quality, ultimately, is subjective – it actually doesn’t mean that something is good or bad, it means that something is ideally fit‑for‑purpose. People tend to use the words ‘quality’ and ‘characteristic’ interchangeably, confused by what they actually mean. After all, you wouldn’t wear a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes to wade knee deep in a sewer drain and you wouldn’t wear a pair of threadbare dirty trainers to a swanky nightclub. Or would you? Quality is not a measurable absolute, it is relative and subjective.

The worthiness or desirability imbued by a company like Fender and a product like the Stratocaster is ultimately determined by the customer – not by the likes of me… or Fender for that matter. It is the customer that makes an economic decision about whether a product meets the end consumer’s perceived need (or want).

CRAVE Guitars’ whole raison d’être is Cool & Rare American Vintage Electric Guitars, so a new Stratocaster – even a ‘heavy relic’, ‘vintage inspired’, signature model or Custom Shop one‑off – does absolutely nothing for me. Sorry FMIC. For many others, an old, used and imperfect guitar, especially one with a disputed reputation like a CBS‑era Strat, isn’t for them. The beauty of the market is that there is plenty of choice and all options have validity.

Purely from a practical point of view, I personally find the Strat’s 25½” (647mm) scale length just a bit too much of a stretch for my short, stubby fingers. The shorter Gibson scale length of 24¾” (629mm) is sometimes more comfortable and I have a fondness for Fender’s 24” (609mm) short scale guitars, for instance the Jaguar and Mustang et al. I prefer hardtails too, so the vibrato is not a ‘must have’ for me. As mentioned earlier in the article, I simply do not like the Strat’s standard 1 volume, 2 control layout. In addition I sometimes like more oomph from pickups. It’s not just that the Stratocaster generally sports single coil pickups, I am thinking here of the sheer grunt of a good P90 for instance or even the punchy refinement of Fender’s own Seth Lover‑designed CuNiFe (copper, nickel and iron alloy) ‘wide range’ humbucking pickup (1971‑1979), as used on the Thinline, Deluxe and Custom Telecasters as well as the original Starcaster (not the re‑issues!). Incidentally, that last point also goes to prove that the CBS‑era Fender came up with some amazing stuff.

Fundamentally, the Stratocaster, when viewed objectively for what it really is today, is just another guitar, made out of wood, metal and plastic, the same as millions of others. What makes the Stratocaster special is its history and that it is, after everything that has been said, a very good guitar. I am a Stratocaster fan but I am not a Stratocaster fanatic. You may consider my conclusions glib and pedestrian or even blasphemous. Let us be clear, I am not screaming from the rooftop, “Emperor’s new clothes” (NB. A literary folk tale by Danish author Hans Christian Anderson, 1837), but I think I am being genuinely pragmatic and realistic. When push comes to shove (NB. Another American idiom that seems to come from the novel, ‘Black Thunder’ by Arna Wendell, 1936), I like playing a lot of different guitars, the Stratocaster included. They all have their foibles and respective pros & cons. There is no single ‘perfect’ guitar in my view. There simply can’t be. One good thing is for certain, the legendary Fender Stratocaster isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. There, I have put my candid and forthright opinion on the public record for good or bad. Long live the Fender Stratocaster. Respect!

Final thoughts about the Fender Stratocaster

Seventy years down and who knows how many more to go in the Stratocaster’s illustrious and storied past, present and future. Let us hope that the current economic troubles pass and future generations of guitarists can continue to revel in the guitar’s magic. Whether you are a Strat fan or not, it cannot possibly be overstated just how influential the Stratocaster has been on the music industry from manufacturing, retail, song writing, recording, live performance, collecting and so on.

Whether it’s just me or not, I don’t recall such a fuss being made about the Telecaster at 70. Actually, I shall go against prevailing opinion and say that I actually prefer the Telecaster to the Stratocaster. Why? It seems more versatile despite having at least one fewer pickup, one fewer tone controls and (generally) no vibrato. There is also something so ruggedly utilitarian about the Tele, while the Strat is more svelte and comely. Also, the Tele has had a wider range of variant including the Esquire, the Custom, Deluxe and Thinline. The latter three all introduced during the CBS era and the latter two, I particularly like with their ‘wide range’ humbuckers. Then again, I also like the Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Mustang (and its siblings) and Starcaster, so go figure. Never mind all the other brands out there.

Fender currently has over 100 Stratocaster models on the market across all its lines and price points, barring all the custom options. The downside of being spoilt for choice is deciding which is right for the individual consumer. A massive wall of Stratocasters in a showroom can be intimidating. When I bought my first Stratocaster, I had a choice of fingerboard material (maple or rosewood), colour (fairly limited standard off‑the‑shelf finishes) and bridge type (vibrato or hardtail). That was it. I went for rosewood (always my inclination), natural (it was the 1970s!) and hardtail (more solid and reliable). The pickups at the time, while widely criticised, although I find they have a lovely ‘hollow’ tone to them, which I find unique and tasteful. Heck, what do I know, eh?

At the time of writing, Fender released a very low cost Squier Stratocaster in an attempt to compete with Far Eastern Stratocaster copies that are flooding American and European markets. Not for the first time: it is like the 1970s happening all over again. This time around, though, the knock‑off importers are far more aggressive, ruthless and harder to control through established legal and regulatory frameworks, therefore posing a significant risk to the western guitar‑making economy. The Chinese in particular are not going to be deterred by the likes of Fender taking legal action without Federal support. The deluge of well‑made, cheap copies of US classics like the Stratocaster could mean the end of American guitar supremacy. Once sincerely hopes not.

Time for a quick word about hybrid Stratocasters. The original Fender Stratacoustic was made by Fender 2000‑2005, comprising an acoustic guitar‑type construction with a vaguely Stratocaster body outline. The innovative successor to the Statacoustic, currently known as the Fender Acoustasonic^® Stratocaster, was launched at NAMM in 2019 with its ground breaking construction and on‑board modelling electronics. People remain divided as to whether it is a ‘real’ Strat or not. While the Acoustasonic Stratocaster (along with its Acoustasonic Telecaster and Jazzmaster stablemates) has certainly received positive press since its launch, it/they won’t be to everyone’s taste. The Acoustasonics certainly bear little resemblance to the classic vintage guitars that inspired them, either visually or sonically. You pays yer money and makes your choice.

It is difficult to predict where the strategic future lies for the Stratocaster. Fender may have a true icon in their hands but its formidable legacy also limits what they can do with it that hasn’t already been done, either by Fender or someone else. As mentioned above, it is basically the same guitar now as it was in 1954. Better? Worse? Well, the answer to that question depends on the individual consumer and what they crave (sic!). The safe route would be to stick to the formula and make more of the same but will that be enough to sustain a successful business model? One thing is for sure, Fender isn’t going to pension off the venerable Stratocaster off any time soon.

I can’t help wondering that, if the guesstimate of 180‑200 million Stratocasters mentioned earlier in the article is in the right ballpark, where are they all now? Some will have been destroyed (thanks Pete Townshend et al). Personally, I can vouch for four of them but that leaves an enormous number still out there somewhere.

Do I have a dream Stratocaster that I would give almost anything to own? Actually… nope. I know that may sound strange but it’s true. Owning a pre‑CBS Strat would be nice but I don’t feel compelled to sell my soul for one – because that is what it would take – they are SO expensive now and, frankly, not worth it. I have no interest in acquiring an artist‑owned Strat with provenance. It is just an ordinary guitar owned by someone famous. Any more Stratocasters beyond the ones I have already got (and grateful to have) would be around the margins and diminishing returns. I certainly wouldn’t turn down a 1950s or 1960s Strat if I was offered one though. Dear Santa (again)…

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Fender Stratocaster! I am willing to speculate that, back in Fullerton, CA in 1954, when Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton and Freddie Tavares were formulating a new guitar model to supplement the austere workhorse that was the Telecaster, they had no idea that their new creation would still be highly celebrated 70 years later, almost completely unchanged. While we may take the Strat very much for granted these days, it is clear is that the Stratocaster has a strong future for years and decades to come, as long as Fender strategically looks after their prize cash cow.

CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Album of the Month’

Given the subject matter of this month’s article, it makes sense to feature a diehard Stratocaster player. Of all the guitarists to brandish a Fender Stratocaster from start to finish, this month’s selection may seem to be a bit off the beaten track. Not only is Irish blues rock guitarist Rory Gallagher a massively underrated musician and song writer but also the album I’ve chosen isn’t necessarily the one that most Gallagher commentators would choose. Rory’s reputation as a live performer was phenomenal and many believe that the energy and dynamism never transferred from the stage to the studio. Well that may be true but any recording by the ‘G‑Man’ is better than none. For many guitarists, Rory was hugely influential with a unique flair that subtly blended Celtic folk styles with the fiery blues and conventional hard rock.

Rory Gallagher – Against The Grain (1975) – The late, great Irish guitarist and Stratocaster wielder, Rory Gallagher released his 5^th studio album and 7^th overall, ‘Against The Grain’ in October 1975. The album was his first for the fledgling Chrysalis record label. It may not be his best or most well‑known blues rock album but it struck a chord (sic!) with me when it came out. That perspective shouldn’t downplay the quality of Rory’s abilities that shine through on this release. ‘Against The Grain’ demonstrates that he was so very much more than just another wannabe bluesman with long hair, denim jeans, a check shirt and a worn out guitar. Note the album cover photographs, which feature his iconic 1961 Fender Stratocaster.

The author was lucky enough to see Rory Gallagher with his trusty 1961 Fender Stratocaster (amongst others) a couple of times in the 1970s. He was certainly a livewire powerhouse dominating the stage with his regular band comprising, Rod de’Ath (drums), Gerry McAvoy (bass) and Lou Martin (Keyboards). Sadly, Rory died of MRSA complications following a liver transplant in 1995 at the age of just 45, leaving a lot of people’s lives enhanced by his presence and his music, me included. A fitting tribute to a great Stratocaster player.

There were many other contenders for this month’s plaudits, including ‘Made in Japan’ (1972) by Deep Purple, ‘Performing This Week… Live At Ronnie Scott’s’ (2008) by Jeff Beck, ‘Are You Experienced’ (1967) by Jimi Hendrix, ‘L’ (1976) by Steve Hillage and ‘Live’ (1976) by Robin Trower. It is interesting that there is not much there beyond the 1970s. We desperately need more guitar heroes from modern times to keep things relevant and up‑to‑date.

Tailpiece

Wow! I bet you are all well and truly Strat‑ed out now. Unlike some multi‑part series that I’ve published in the past, this is a one‑off. That means it can stand alone and (hopefully) enjoyed in one sitting. I hope that, in amongst all the somewhat necessary prosaic knowledge about a worthy industry icon, there was something interesting that was new. Believe it or not, I had to do an awful lot of digging to come up with some of the off‑the‑beaten‑track info and I hope it was worth it. Note to self: I must limit writing about guitars and get back to playing them.

Next month will, I think, go back to a reasonably well‑established theme. After that, I am totally clueless about what I’m going to ramble on endlessly about. It seems that we’ll all have to wait and see, won’t we (rhetorical)?

For now, though, it is time to enjoy the balmy late summer season 2024 (up here in the Northern Hemisphere) and hope that unhinged megalomaniacs don’t blast us all out of existence out of malice. There is a very good reason why the Cold War concept of Mutually Assured Destruction was abbreviated to MAD. Just what is their deranged dealio? For the life of me, I cannot comprehend why deranged despots feel compelled to behave the way they do. In the meantime, I will reiterate my naïve but important demand for global peace and the right of every citizen to live in freedom without fear. Apologies again, but this is my only mouthpiece.

Finally, from the lovable lore of Looney Tunes, “That’s all folks!”

Truth, peace, love, and guitar music be with you always. Until next time…

CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Quote of the Month’: “The main difference between solitude and isolation is the positivity of hope and the avoidance of fear”

© 2024 CRAVE Guitars – Love Vintage Guitars.