Stratocaster

The Fender Stratocaster which is also known as the “STRAT” is a model of a type of electric guitar designed by George Fullerton, Leo Fender, and also Freddie Tavares in 1954. The guitar is now continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation until now. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top for balance while standing. The Stratocaster has been used by many leading guitarists and can be listened to on many old recordings. Along with the Gibson Les Paul, the Gibson SG and the Fender Telecaster, it is one of the most known and oldest models of electric guitar in the world. The design of the “Strat” has changed the field of music to rank among the classic industrial designs of all time; examples of the stratocaster have been exhibited at major museums around the world.

In its original form, the “Strat” was made in a bi-color finish on a solid but deeply contoured ash body, a one-piece maple neck with twenty one frets, black dot inlays, and Kluson machine heads.Until 1956, when Fender started making the guitars from solid alder. There was also a set of available custom colors that weren’t standardized until 1960. These custom colors were mostly automobile colors made by Dupont and could be had for an extra five percent of the cost. The single-ply, 8-screw hole white pickguard was a unique concept that allowed all of the guitar’s electronic componentsa”except the recessed jack platea”to be mounted on one easy-to-remove surface. Later Stratocaster designs (by both Fender and other imitating companies) may have improved upon the original in usability and sound, but vintage Fender models are still often worth large amounts of money, and many prefer the timbre of older models.

The Stratocaster has been widely copied; as a result, the term “Strat,” although a trademark of Fender Musical Instrument Corporation, is often used generically when referring to any guitar that has the same general features as the original, regardless of manufacturer.