Stratocaster guitar celebrates 50th birthday

The Shreveport Times ^ | March 16, 2004 | no byline

[Skooz]

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The year 1954 was full of pop culture benchmarks. Elvis Presley recorded his first single, the Miss America pageant was televised for the first time, Ernest Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.

[Skooz]

Happy 50th.

As Keef said, "Thanks, Leo."

Clapton called it "The perfect guitar" and said that it cannot be improved upon.

Mine looks exactly like this, except green:

[billorites]

Nils's is an ugly cuss, but boy can he play the guitar!

[Pete]

I have a 1982 Strat. Rosewood neck. Sweet.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Like the '55 Chevy first built in 1954, they nailed it just right out of the gate

[onlyeverything]

Yeah!
Good article.

Here's a link to a pic of my strat.
http://www.onlyeverything.com/profiles/jim.htm
It's a brown sunburst.

Jim

[RobRoy]

Well, the second most important thing that happened in 1954 was my wifes birth. And mine is third most important.

Apparently 1954 was a VERY good year.8^>

[Skooz]

I once owned a Japanese Strat with a rosewood neck. It sounded great. Something about the rosewood gives it a sweet tone that cannot be duplicated.

I'm still partial to the maple myself, though.

[dirtboy]

Jimi Hendrix made it scream.

Stevie Ray Vaughan made it cry.

Eric Clapton made it rock.

Pete Townshend made it bounce.

[miloklancy]

Sorry to Les Paul(the guitar, not the man) enthusiasts, but I have always preferred the strat type guitar to the Les Paul in terms of solid body guitars. My main guitar is an Ibanez that is very much modeled after the strat. And Telecasters are also good too.

[Skooz]

Our musical tastes are scarily similar.

[bk1000]

They sound great, but I have never gotten used to the long scale length. I prefer the shorter, Gibson style scale length with a stop tailpiece. It just seems to 'fit' better. I currently use a PRS McCarty, which is in between the two. I always wished I could love a Strat, and I do, if it's in someone else's hands! I had one for years & just couldn't enjoy it, regrettably.

[RobRoy]

All my basses have rosewood or ebony necks. I want to get a p-bass with a maple neck just for the different sound. One of these days...

[MoralSense]

Have had several, would like another. You can do anything on it. One of my favorite moments was interviewing Leo Fender 30 years ago.

[drjimmy]

Here's Pete Townshend giving his Strat a workout:

[Old Professer]

Fender himself said he could make a quality guitar out of a concrete block.

[RobRoy]

David Gilmore made (makes) it sing.

[Skooz]

Dang, our tastes in movies is scarily similar, too.

[onlyeverything]

Lol.... I think the strat players usually stick to the same type of influential guitar players for the most part.

[Skooz]

David Gilmore made (makes) it sing.

About 6 years ago, some online guitar magazine ran a poll where readers could post their favorite guitar players along with comments about them.

One guy nominated Gilmour with the comment: "Gilmour can say more with three notes than Malmsteen can say with three hundred." That is quite true.

[miloklancy]

Ah, but Malmsteen is more enjoyable to listen to. The problem with conventional blues rock guitar, which is Gilmour's forte, is it is tediously repetitive and hence predictable. Jazz and classical are far more interesting.