Fender Stratocaster

The Strat is the only guitar that can claim to be one of the most iconic creations of the 20th century

When it was launched in 1954, the Fender Stratocaster looked so far ahead of its time it could have fallen from a flying saucer. That futuristic design was thanks in part to Western swing guitarist Bill Carson. Frustrated by what he regarded as shortcomings on the earlier Telecaster, Bill pestered Leo Fender to improve the guitar with body contouring, more pickups and a vibrato unit. Instead, Leo and his team went back to the drawing board.

Like the Tele, Leo’s new guitar had an ash body (alder was introduced in 1956) and a bolt-on maple neck. There the similarity ends. The double-cutaway body, lifted from the ’51 Precision Bass, was contoured for comfort (“It fits better to your body like a well tailored shirt,” said Carson) then loaded with three single-coil pickups and an innovative vibrato, albeit misnamed as a ‘synchronized tremolo’.

An Icon Is born

The Strat is perhaps the only guitar that can lay a strong claim to being one of the most iconic creations of the 20th century. And its instantly recognisable tone unites guitarists as diverse as Buddy Holly, soul legend Curtis Mayfield, Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora and Slipknot’s Jim Root. But as a vessel of expression, it’s especially held dear by blues players. Eric Clapton’s love for the model – especially his ’56 Sunburst ‘Brownie’ and ’56/’57 combination ‘Blackie’ – would eventually result in Fender’s first ever artist signature model in 1988. Stevie Ray Vaughan called his battered ’63 model ‘Number One’ and Jimi Hendrix blazed trails with his flipped and back-to-frontstrung 60s Strats.

EvolvIng thE rEcIpE

The first run of Strats was produced from March 1954, though in larger quantities from October onwards. The original models featured three single-coil pickups and a three-position selector switch. The three pickups and selector were accompanied with controls for overall volume and two separate tone pots. The Strat has been relentlessly tweaked since then: a rosewood fingerboard in 1958; a big headstock in ’66; a five-way switch in ’77 (after players began jamming the three-way switch to ‘in between positions’); locking vibratos and humbuckers, thanks to Eddie Van Halen’s influence; and more recently, a 9.5-inch or even 12-inch fingerboard radius for easier string bending. Evolution aside, whether it’s an entry-level Squier or a top-of-the-line Custom Shop model, the DNA of all Strats can be traced back to Leo Fender’s drawing board in Fullerton, California.