10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Fender Stratocaster
The first Stratocaster (Strat for short) was released in 1954 and was developed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton and Freddie Tavares in close collaboration with some guitarists (Bill Carson, among others). It was the first electric guitar with three pickups and a contour body, which, with its rounded cutouts, adapts better to the body of the player. Supposedly, Bill Carson was dissatisfied with the block-like form of the telecaster, which always jabbed into his ribs.
A 1954 Strat
1. Strat starting price
The Strat wasn’t initially a bestseller, a total of 720 items were sold in the first two years, $249.50 for the model with tremolo system and $229.50 for the model without. The accompanying case added another $39. It wasn’t an affordable purchase in mid-1950s USA seeing how average monthly incomes were less than $300.
2. The first strat with a serial number
David Gilmour is the lucky owner of the Strat with the serial number 0001, but this is not the first Strat ever made in the Fender shop. The first Stratocaster is titled “0100” and was produced in April 1954, according to vintage expert George Gruhn. Sure, there were a few prototypes before, but this model is the first with a serial number. In the video you can see the instrument.
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3. The most expensive Strats
For strats from the 1950s, collectors are offering unbelievable sums. But when well-known guitarists’ guitars are auctioned off the prices can be crazy. Here are the top 3: Eric Clapton’s “Blackie” treble: 959,500 dollars, Jimi Hendrix White Strat from Woodstock: 2 million dollars, “Reach Out To Asia” council with signatures of many guitar heroes: 2.7 million dollars!
4. The secret of Clapton’s “Blackie” Strat
Eric Clapton’s famous “Blackie” Strat is actually made from a collection of parts from different guitars. Eric Clapton bought a few used strats, took the body of a 56s, the neck of a 57s and the pickups of a third instrument. The Fender Custom Shop has made an exact replica of this instrument, check it out in the video:
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Check out the Eric Clapton Blackie in the Thomann shop: click here!
5. The Best-Known Stratocaster Models
Nile Rodgers (Chic) has called his Strat quite simply “The Hitmaker”, because with this instrument he has recorded a lot of superhits (including Good Times – Chic, Let’s Dance – David Bowie). In addition to Eric Clapton’s “Blackie” and “Brownie”, the strings of Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan, as well as the red Stratocaster, with which Mark Knopfler recorded “Sultans Of Swing”, enjoy a high cult status among Strat fans. The Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Strat is also available from Fender.
Here you can watch Nile Rodgers with his Hitmaker:
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6. The most popular Stratocasters
In 1965, Leo Fender sold his company to the CBS Group, which shifted its business to mass production. Therefore, the models from 1954 to 1965 are the most popular among collectors (and serious guitarists). People also call them “pre-CBS strats”.
7. The most popular Strat sounds were not planned
Leo Fender has equipped his first strats with a three-way switch, with which you could select each pickup individually. However, some guitarists realized quite quickly that precisely the sound in the intermediate position, adjusted with fingertip precision, is quite unique and produced a bell-like sound. And that was the tone that became characteristic of the Strat and contributed to their fame. Since 1977 Fender has been installing 5-way switches in their Strats.
8. The small springs for stabilizing the tremolo
With many Strats you can find a small spring in the socket for the tremolo lever. The so-called tremolo springs are placed in the socket in front of the lever and serve to stabilize the tremolo arm. This is why the socket for new guitars is also sealed with a round sticker. Many guitarists overlook this small but useful accessory.
9. A trick to improve the large tremolo springs (Shhh!)
The large springs on the back of the tremolo system are prone to vibration when playing, and produce annoying ringing noises, especially when the strings are strummed and then rapidly stopped. A good trick is to cut a thin piece of foam and push it under the springs with a screwdriver, this will mute that ringing noise. Then kick back and relax.
10. It doesn’t always have to be wood – the Cardboard Strat
The Fender employees in the custom shop undertook an ambitious project and built a Stratocaster out of corrugated cardboard. Yes, you read that correctly. And in fact, this “Papercaster” is totally playable and sounds surprisingly good. Not convinced? Check out this video…
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There you have it folks! Hopefully you learned something new about this classic guitar model and hopefully you’ll check out the Stratocaster selection at Thomann. Click here to browse.
Have a nice Straturday!
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Justin Levitt says:
I love the shape of the body of the Strat
JohnnyB says:
How can you have an original replica?
Joe says:
Good point Johnny. I replaced “original” with “exact”. Have a good one, //Joe
Tom says:
I remember seeing a prototype sort of pea green strat being sold in the early 70s in a large music store in San Francisco. It was locked in a case and had a certificate of authenticity signed by Leo Fender as the first strat prototype. They were taking offers. It was pre 1954 but don’t remember the exact year.
Davey Currie says:
Just got my second Robert Cray hardtail stratocaster, last one was Inca silver, this one is a beautiful 3-tone sunburst (looks almost 2-tone). The neck is an early 1960’s slightly chunky C-shape, compared to later mid-late 1960’s C-shape. Medium jumbo frets on a 9 1/2″ radius neck, for comfortable bending. The best sounding stratocaster pickups I’ve ever heard, and they both have them: a 2019 model I got last year, and the one I just got is a 2008 model, but they are similar, except the older one has a slightly chunkier neck. Most strat players deck their wang bar, and rarely use it, or take it off completely. Most blues players don’t float their bridge, because they do so much bending. In other words, Fender should make more hard tails than tremolo bar models, judging from how they get used. I have a couple with wang bars, both decked, and I rarely use the wang bar on either. As for tone, even decked you hear the springs, which add a reverbish tone to it, but I prefer the less metallic, more woody tone of hard tail stratocasters. If I ever really want a tremolo bar on one of them, I’ll mount a Bigsby, which are more user friendly. I prefer Jazz Master type tremolo bars, which are more like a Bigsby in feel. Masters of the wang bar like SRV and Hendrix, they need them, most of us don’t.