Crayon Sky Music

If you are a guitar player then most likely you have heard about the amazing Stratocaster guitar. Leo Fender, the founder of Fender guitar decided that he wanted to trade in his ability to fix radios for the ability to fix guitars. It was 1953 that Fender started to design the Stratocaster. It was a more modern version of the Telecaster that had already shown its popularity.

The Stratocaster had a lot of firsts that other electric guitars simply didn’t have. Fender set out to make the best guitar ever made and to put all other guitar companies out of business by making their guitars obsolete. He did this by making the body more balanced with the deep cutaway and he managed to make the high frets more accessible. With the reduced weight and comfortable fit, players immediately took to this guitar as one of the best they have ever used.

Other innovations to the Stratocaster included an advanced vibrato that was built in. It put the sustaining sound effects literally at the player’s fingertips. There was a new headstock design that allowed the strings to pull straight over the guitar’s nut which stopped the detuning friction that had been happening on previously made guitars. Finally, each bridge section was made adjustable for varying height and length.

It was Leo Fender’s business partner that came up with the name and the first Stratocaster was ready to go on May 15, 1954. It had already been tested by local musicians who knew that this guitar offered more than they could ever dream. However, when it was released sales were only decent rather than mind-blowing as they thought. The problem was that the instrument was so modern that it was looked at as a guitar for teenagers. It wasn’t until the 1960′s when the Stratocaster really took off.

Dick Dale was one of the first to try out the high decibel capabilities in the early 1960′s, followed up by John Lennon and George Harrison buying matching Stratocasters in 1964. The Stratocaster can even be heard on “Nowhere Man” and other singles recorded after 1965 by The Beatles. Jimi Hendrix was the final nail in the coffin for many other electric guitars when he transformed electric guitar playing when he too bought a Stratocaster. His mission was to prove that the original design was functional and amazing in sound. Over the next 20 years the sales and word of mouth exploded and the Stratocaster was then the electric guitar to buy.

Named the “undisputed guitar of the 1980′s” by Guitar Magazine in 1987, it was recognized for its versatile tone and wide range of playing ability. It had also become the most successful and copied electric guitars. The list of famous guitar players also showed what a popular guitar this had become. With the likes of Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Ray Vaughan and so many more playing it, it truly was the guitar of the future. It still remains that way even today with the newer guitars coming out. With over 50 years of history, this guitar will forever be considered the best guitar ever made.

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