Imagine
standing on the muddy festival grounds of Woodstock, feeling the screaming,
overdriven tone of Jimi Hendrix pulsing through your body… Picture yourself
sitting in a smoky Texas bar taking in the melodic, expressive blues of Stevie
Ray Vaughn… Imagine stepping into Studio 1 of the iconic Abbey Road Studios and
hearing the masterful tones of the Beatles’ last sessions as an ensemble…
All of the aforementioned iconic scenes have one thing in common – the Fender Stratocaster. The Fender Stratocaster, an electric guitar designed by Fender in 1954 is a highly innovative, versatile, and aesthetically pleasing instrument. Its design has barely changed since its inception, and it iconic looks and tone continue to define contemporary music of all genres. In the following words, the varied uses of the Stratocaster, its relationship to particular musical genres, its history, and the design evolution of the model will be explored in detail.
All of the aforementioned iconic scenes have one thing in common – the Fender Stratocaster. The Fender Stratocaster, an electric guitar designed by Fender in 1954 is a highly innovative, versatile, and aesthetically pleasing instrument. Its design has barely changed since its inception, and it iconic looks and tone continue to define contemporary music of all genres. In the following words, the varied uses of the Stratocaster, its relationship to particular musical genres, its history, and the design evolution of the model will be explored in detail.
A “New” Electric Guitar
In
terms of practical and typical uses of the Fender Stratocaster, the guitar is
designed to be played and subsequently send signal to an amplification device. That
being said, attempting to sum up its use, function, and purpose in such a way
would be nothing short of unjust. Since its birth in 1931, the electric guitar
has completely redefined music and the world’s cultural landscape as a whole.
Without the electric guitar, the modern cultural landscape would be
unrecognizable. It is impossible to imagine the 20th century without
the dawn of rock and roll, the British Invasion, funk, punk, etc. Numerous
electric guitar models were released between 1931 and 1954 including some by
the Fender; however, the introduction of the
Stratocaster was a turning point in terms of electric guitar design and
innovation. Released in 1954, the guitar introduced innovative design features
such as a contoured solid body made of ash, a 21-fret one piece maple neck,
three single coil pickups, Kluson brand tuning machines, and a two color
sunburst paint job. The original Fender Stratocaster’s innovative design yielded
a practical, quality instrument that sounded as great as it looked.
Versatility
The Fender Stratocaster is famous for its versatility and has forged strong relations with a wide variety of musical styles and genres since its invention. Equipped with an innovative electronic configuration that will be discussed later in depth, the Stratocaster has incredible tonal variety. The guitar, unlike many other models, is unique in the sense that it can be used to play a vast variety of genres such as rock, punk, heavy metal, folk, country, soul, blues, among countless others. Since its creation, the Stratocaster has also served as the primary guitar in the hands of musical legends including Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour, Rory Gallagher, Mark Knopfler, and John Mayer. As demonstrated by the range of players above, the Stratocaster, in the scope of 20th and 21st century music, is an essential tool. Subtracting the Stratocaster from some of these players would strip them of their identity both tonally and visually. The Stratocaster’s iconic aesthetic and varied tone is engrained into the public’s mind whether they are necessarily aware of its model name and history or not.
Origin
The Fender Stratocaster came into existence in 1954, 23 years after the first electrically amplified guitar. The first electric guitar, designed in 1931 by George Beauchamp and Paul Barth of the National Guitar Corporation, is often nicknamed the “Frying Pan” after its one-piece cast aluminum body. Its design saw commercial production by 1932 under the Ro-Pat-In Corporation (Electro-Patent-Instrument Corporation) located in Los Angeles. The first electric guitar was a major accomplishment in terms of the history of guitar and, at a larger scale, modern music. In the following decades, a variety of electric guitar models were released; however, many lacked versatility and solid construction.
All of this changed in 1954 when Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares of the Fender designed the first Stratocaster. The decision to design a new guitar followed the relative success of an earlier 1950 model called the Telecaster. Leo Fender and his design team focused their efforts on creating a state of the art electric guitar model to follow the Telecaster as early as 1951.
Design Innovation
The original Stratocaster featured an array of design innovations never before seen on an electric guitar. For example, the guitar featured a “floating tremolo.” This device essentially allows the bridge (the part of the guitar that anchors the strings to the body of the guitar) to float freely. As the result of this design, players have the ability to modulate the pitch of the instrument via the bridge mounted tremolo arm (often referred to as a whammy bar). In addition, the Stratocaster introduced a contoured body style that allowed for comfortable playing. Prior to this innovation, guitars, including Fender’s Telecaster design, dug into the player’s body and forearm which caused a great deal of discomfort. When the Stratocaster’s design process was underway, guitarist Rex Gallion asked Leo Fender himself, “Why not get away from a body that is always digging into your ribs?” Fender did exactly this and designed a body with contours for the player’s body and forearm that resulted in extreme comfort in addition to heightened aesthetic qualities. Fender officially referred to this body style as the “Comfort Contour Body.”
Furthermore, the Stratocaster’s signature double cutaway body style allows for easy access to higher positions on the neck of the guitar. The Fender Stratocaster was also extremely innovative in its electronic configuration. The Stratocaster’s electronics are attached to a plastic pickguard that allows the electronic unit of the guitar to be simply dropped into the guitar and affixed via eight screws. Once the electronics are in place, they only need to have one connection point with the guitar’s recessed input jack. The model was also the first electric guitar to feature three single coil pickups. The output of the pickups is selected by a three-way toggle switch on the body of the guitar. In addition, the output of the pickups is also controlled by three knobs on the guitar. The ability to select and dial in a variety of tones allows for incredible tonal variety and versatility.
Evolution
Since the first Fender Stratocaster model was made in 1954, its design has evolved to optimize its playability, quality, and tone. Throughout the years, numerous design details of the Stratocaster have fluctuated. In the span of over 60 years, these small changes add up - therefore, I will simply detail a few key examples of the design evolution of the Stratocaster. The original model of the Stratocaster, as previously mentioned, was equipped with three single coil pickups that players could switch between to vary the amplified tone of the instrument. Users could toggle between the three pickups via a small three-way selector switch on the body of the guitar. As time went by, players found that if they jammed the switch between the predetermined positions, they could activate two pickups at once, creating further tonal possibilities. Fender responded to this user discovered feature in 1977, when they released a Stratocaster with a five-way selector switch that made the dual pickup combinations more stable.
Furthermore, over the years, the neck shape of the Stratocaster has fluctuated. Neck shape is an important factor that impacts the playability and feel of a guitar. Since its invention, the Stratocaster has seen a wide variety of neck shapes such as D,C, and V. In addition, throughout the Stratocaster’s life span, models from different years have seen different uses of wood. For example, the original 1954 Stratocaster body was made from ash; however in 1956 and forward, alder was typically used to make the guitar’s body. The variety of wood used for the guitar’s neck and fretboard has also varied from year to year.
Throughout the decades that followed, Fender manufactured an enormous amount of Stratocasters that featured a variety of subtle design changes. It is important to note that in 1965 Fender was purchased by CBS. During this time period (most notably the 1970s), the quality of Fender instruments declined. It was not until 1985 when a group of employees and investors reacquired the Fender company from CBS that Fender’s manufacturing quality was restored along with its reputation and market share. During this time period, Fender reissued numerous models from the original Fender era. Despite these design evolutions and quality fluctuations, the design of the Stratocaster, as a whole, has remained largely unchanged since its creation in 1954.
Legacy
Ultimately, the Fender Stratocaster is an object that enables artistic expression in a wide variety of genres that possesses a fascinating design history and evolution. The Stratocaster is a prime example of “good” design - despite being around for over 60 years, the guitar’s design remains strikingly similar to the first production model. When designing the guitar, Leo Fender had one simple mission in mind – “to build a better guitar.” He and his teams’ long hours paid off immensely as they designed an instrument that has truly withstood and continues to withstand the test of time.
Images
via Sweetwater. Pictured is the Fender 60th Anniversary American
Vintage 1954 Stratocaster
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