1980s Fender Stratocasters
By the end of the 1970s, the Fender Stratocaster was a shadow of its former self in terms of design and build quality. Though the 1979 sales figures were encouraging, it soon became clear that if the Strat was to survive another decade, then serious change was needed. Indeed, if the 1980s are to be remembered for anything as far as the Stratocaster goes, it’s for the multitude of permutations that arose in an increasingly competitive environment.
The original Stratocaster design had already spawned countless derivatives that were being sold by other companies, and these were increasingly becoming wellestablished alternatives. Coupled with a perceptible decline in Fender’s quality throughout the 1970s, players began to look elsewhere for new Stratocaster-style guitars or scanned the ever-more popular vintage market for a tried-and-trusted instrument from Fender’s ‘golden era’ of the 50s and 60s.
This demand for earlier pre-CBS guitars hadn’t gone completely unnoticed at Fender, and the 25th Anniversary model Stratocaster released in 1979 had already demonstrated a couple of important concepts that would be key to the Strat’s future success. First, it signalled Fender’s willingness to deviate from the regular
Stratocaster model that was being marketed concurrently. Second, the design aspired to appeal to fans of Fender’s earlier period of production by returning to a pre-CBS-style truss-rod adjustment (sans ‘bullet’) and four-bolt neck.
In 1980, a similar truss-rod/four-bolt neck layout was retained for Fender’s new The Strat model (also sold alongside the regular Stratocaster), which additionally showcased a return to the smaller pre-CBS style headstock. Along with progressive features, such as brass hardware and expanded pickup selection options (parallel and series combinations), Fender simultaneously looked towards the future, while also paying homage to their evergrowing ‘golden era’ legacy. Also, around this time, the first artist-inspired model appeared in the form of a Jimi Hendrixstyle Stratocaster, complete with reverse headstock, maple ’board, and Olympic White finish. However, this guitar did not go into full-scale production.
Clearly, change was afoot. But this trickle of new Stratocaster designs was merely the beginning of much greater change ahead, both at home in the US and overseas. With Fender continuously battling the flood of comparatively high-quality (and less expensive) Japanese imports, a joint venture named Fender Japan was officially announced in Spring 1982 in an effort to beat the copyists at their own game by officially licensing and manufacturing Fender guitars in Japan. Sticking to the theme of returning to its ‘vintage’ glory days, the new line-up comprised three guitar models: the ’52 Telecaster, along with the ’57 and ’62 Stratocasters. While the concept of these vintage-style reissues was introduced via Fender’s price list in ’81, the first Japanese Fender and Squier-branded guitars emerged in ’82, eventually followed by the US-made versions in ’83.
This was all thanks to Fender’s new management team who had been drafted in from Yamaha in order to turn things around. Among them was a marketing expert named Dan Smith whose influence on the regular Stratocaster’s returning to form in ’81 and subsequent input into the Vintage series was crucial. Ultimately, revisiting those seminal Stratocaster designs paved the way for Fender’s renewed success and the development of their flagship model in 1986, the American Standard Stratocaster. [RB]