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Ever present in the music world, the Fender Stratocaster® guitar is also an icon of popular culture, its attractive lines and innovative features as forward-looking today as they were when Leo Fender introduced the guitar to the world in 1954.
In Fender Stratocaster® 70 Years, musician and guitar historian Dave Hunter traces Stratocaster® guitars across seven decades and into the present, beginning with Leo Fender’s triumph of mid-century design originating in his modest shop in Fullerton, California. From there, Hunter explores:
- Groundbreaking features of the new design in the context of the contemporary guitar market and Fender’s existing Telecaster® guitar.
- The Stratocaster’s solidbody three-pickup configuration, “tremolo” bridge, bolt-on neck, and contoured body, as well as the roles that country pickers played in the guitar’s early development.
- Design improvements undertaken throughout the Stratocaster’s first decade, such as the introduction of a rosewood fingerboard and Custom Color options to complement the initial Sunburst finish.
- CBS’s 1965 acquisition of Fender and its effects on company culture and the Stratocaster, as well as the 1985 acquisition of Fender spearheaded by a group of employees.
- The creation of the Fender Custom Shop and that elite group’s relationship to the Stratocaster over the years.
- Fender’s forward-thinking combination of vintage specs and materials with modern features in Stratocaster guitars that offer classic styling and current conveniences.
Along the way, Hunter contextualizes the evolving Stratocaster within the contemporary guitar industry and shows the relationships that admired players throughout the decades have enjoyed with this guitar, including Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Dick Dale, Jimi Hendrix, Yngwie Malmsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, and H.E.R.—to name a few!
Illustrated throughout with rare images from the Fender archives, Fender Stratocaster 70 Years® treats readers to rare behind-the-scenes views of the shop floor and Custom Shop throughout the years, studio imagery of the guitars, rare period advertising and brochures, and performance images of Fender players.
Often imitated but never duplicated, the Fender Stratocaster® remains a triumph of design more than seven decades on. This is the official and definitive illustrated story of this guitar—and a must-have for every guitar enthusiast.
