An icon in the musical industry and one of the big 3 enduring guitars models, the Fender Strat was designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton and Freddie Tavares in 1954 and has been manufactured since The Stratocaster is noted for its bright, clean and 'twangy' sounds. The neck pickup has a mellower, fuller and louder sound compared to the brighter and sharper tone of the bridge pickup. The Fender Strat's design was radically sleek and its contoured body shape marked a significant difference to the more solid design of the Telecaster. With Double cutaways it allowed players easier access to higher positions on the neck, combined with a single knob to control the volume on all 3 pickups it allowed for easier sound manipulation with the right hand whilst playing. Early finishes on the guitar on generally sunburst however in during the 70's there was a switch towards more natural finishes on the guitar.
The Strat features 3 single coil pickups, the output was originally selected by a 3-way switch, however guitarists were quick to discover that if you jammed the switch between the first and second position the bridge and middle pickups could be selected, and similarly, the middle and neck pickups could be selected between the 2nd and 3rd position. As this trick became widespread responded with their own 5 way pickup selector that has now been a standard feature since 1977.
Buddy Holly was one of the first users of the Strat and used it in almost all of his songs with The Crickets. During Peggy Sue Crickets rhythm guitarist Niki Sullivan wasn't required so he would stand by Buddy and switch the selector switch from the neck pickup to the bridge pickup for the guitar solo.
Since 1998, many high-end US-made Fender Stratocasters such as the American Deluxe, American, Hot Rodded American, American Special and American Standard series came with an HSH pickup rout instead of a "swimming pool" (or "bath tub") cavity to increase the total amount of wood that actually can resonate, producing a more complex tone.
When Fender was taken over by CBS in 1965 players noted a loss in quality of the guitars and they fell out of fashion for a period, however blues-influenced artists of the late 60's adopted the Stratocaster as their main instrument which helped to revive the guitars popularity. In recent times, some Stratocasters manufactured from 1954 to 1958 have sold for more than US$175,000.
Since 2007 Fender has offered a wide line of Stratocasters alongside vintage re-issues, as well as maintaining a custom shop that allows you to build custom guitars to order, but if you're looking for something sooner why no take a look at our collection of Strats here.
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