Life was pretty basic back in 1954. Your television, if you were lucky enough to have one, would be made of wood or Bakelite and have a nine-inch screen with black and white images. And only one channel, BBC, to delight you with Andy Pandy and Muffin The Mule.
Your phone may have had a novel dial, but more likely you picked up the receiver and a local exchange operator asked you who you wanted to call. It was only mobile as far as the cable could be stretched.
The cars were Morris Minors, Austin A30s, Standard 8s and the occasional exotic Jaguar XK120, while Bing Crosby’s White Christmas was showing at the cinema.
And this month marks 70 years since the first batch of a revolutionary new guitar rolled off the production line of a factory in Fullerton, California, and into rock ‘n’ roll folklore.
Few at the time would have thought that the Fender Stratocaster would be the last word in electric guitar design. Previously, guitars had been squat, cumbersome instruments, but the Stratocaster, or Strat, made jaws drop with its graceful curves that extended to two voluptuous horns that pinched the long neck.
American rock artist Jimi Hendrix was famous for playing his Fender Strat with his left hand.
Studio still life of a 1959 Fender Stratocaster guitar, played by Hank Marvin in The Shadows and owned by Bruce Welch.
Released when rock ‘n’ roll was a new American genre that had yet to take the world by storm, the Stratocaster stands out for its durability and looks the same today as it did seven decades ago. A true design classic.
In fact, if you were asked to think about an electric guitar, you would most likely picture a Stratocaster. Even the guitar emoji is a red Fender Stratocaster.
One of the first new guitars was sold in Lubbock, Texas, to a young man named Buddy Holly. When he and The Crickets performed That’ll Be The Day and Peggy Sue on the Ed Sullivan TV show in 1957, sales were, well, stratospheric.
Sadly, the guitars were not available to budding rock stars in the UK due to post-war import restrictions. When they were raised, the first Stratocaster to arrive in Britain was purchased in 1959 by Cliff Richard for Hank Marvin. Finished in Firenza Red, it cost 110 guineas (£115 or about £3,700 today).
As fellow Shadows guitarist Bruce Welch later said: “I think Cliff was the only person in Britain who had 110 guineas in 1959.”
As fellow Shadows guitarist Bruce Welch later said: “I think Cliff was the only person in Britain who had 110 guineas in 1959.”
The first Stratocaster in Ireland, one from 1961, was purchased by guitar virtuoso Rory Gallagher. Battered and bruised, it nevertheless sold at Bonhams this month for £889,000 but is sadly destined for a museum. I’m sure Rory, who died in 1995 and was hailed as an influence by the likes of Queen’s Brian May and Eric Clapton, would prefer to be in the hands of the next Rory.
Clapton auctioned his favorite Stratocaster, ‘Blackie’, heard on Layla and Wonderful Tonight, for charity in 2004. It raised £736,000.
Most of the best guitarists in the world love Stratocasters.
Clapton auctioned off his favorite Stratocaster, ‘Blackie’, heard on Layla and Wonderful Tonight, for charity in 2004.
Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour plays a black Stratocaster, Hank Marvin (pictured) plays a red one and the great Jeff Beck plays a white one
On February 17, 1967, I went to the Ricky Tick club in Windsor to see a new American guitar “sensation.” At only 14, I was too young to go to the bar next door, so I went in early and positioned myself at the front against the 3-foot stage. Finally, the left-handed star appeared holding his right-handed Strato backwards and forwards.
But I could play that Jimi Hendrix! And what a showman, playing with his teeth and then placing his guitar in front of me, dousing it with lighter fluid and setting it on fire. What a night to remember.
And I see on the Ricky Tick poster that I paid 7/6 (37p) to get in. To put that in context, my Saturday morning job in 1967 earned me £2.
Pete Townshend of The Who was known in his early days for destroying guitars, until he bought a Stratocaster. He said, “I’d like to thank Mr. Fender for making a guitar I can’t break.”
While recording Rubber Soul, George Harrison and John Lennon bought matching Sonic Blue Stratocasters. George painted his with psychedelic swirls.
Color has always been important when players decide on their favorite Stratocaster.
Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour plays a black Stratocaster, Hank Marvin plays a red one, and the great Jeff Beck plays a white one. Always. Amy Winehouse played a light blue Stratocaster, American blues singer Bonnie Raitt prefers the sunburst finish. Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore used his black 1961 Stratocaster to write Smoke On The Water, a classic riff that is a favorite piece of millions of amateur guitarists.
Amy Winehouse (pictured) played a light blue Stratocaster, and American blues singer Bonnie Raitt prefers sunburst finishes.
One of the first of these new guitars was sold in Lubbock, Texas, to a young man named Buddy Holly.
Dire Straits lead guitarist Mark Knopfler sold much of his guitar collection earlier this year.
Other big Stratocaster fans include the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, whose playing made such an impact on David Bowie’s album Let’s Dance, while Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones has two sunburst Strats, one from 1954 and one from 1955.
An archetypal Strat solo was Dire Straits’ Sultans Of Swing. Lead guitarist Mark Knopfler sold much of his guitar collection earlier this year, but couldn’t part with the 1961 beauty he played on that song.
Nile Rodgers is said to have created $2 billion worth of music, writing songs based on his 1959 model, nicknamed Hitmaker.
A little history goes a long way. A shop on London’s Denmark Street, for example, is offering a 1960 Fender Stratocaster guitar owned by Ralph Ellis of Swinging Blue Jeans for £29,999. According to Scouser Ralph, John Lennon helped choose the instrument at a Liverpool store where the Beatles bought many of their guitars. Much of its paint has been rubbed off, but that makes it more collectible. Many new Fender guitars in the £5,000 range are now made like this, it’s called the “relic” look.
Not bad for a guitar designed and built, not by an accomplished musician, but by a self-taught radio repairman turned amplifier maker.
Stratocaster hero Leo Fender, who died in 1991 at the age of 81, was fascinated by his discovery that solid-body guitars could be played louder than hollow-body guitars without causing feedback.
Stratocaster hero Leo Fender, who died in 1991 at the age of 81, was fascinated by his discovery that solid-body guitars could be played louder than hollow-body guitars without causing feedback: that high-pitched hiss that It is often heard when people turn on the guitar. microphones. It was, as one biographer has said, “the birth of noise.” The first guitar he designed was the Esquire, as played by Jeff Beck in his early days in the Yardbirds, which was later refined into the Telecaster, as used by Bruce Springsteen and Status Quo.
Then, in 1954, his masterstroke: three pickups (the devices under the strings that convert vibrations into electrical signals), a double cutaway on each side of the neck so players could reach the highest frets at the base of the neck , and a -in tremolo arm or whammy bar (the stick that sticks out from the base) for bending notes.
The classic shape was advertised as “comfort contoured”, the back curved to accommodate the player’s chest and stomach and the upper back corner was beveled so that it did not protrude beyond the player’s arm.
Fender sales boss Don Randall was in tune with America’s passion for space exploration at the time and came up with the Stratocaster name. And the futuristic design remains timeless. Yes, there have been technical improvements, but the form remains unchanged or updated, unlike the cars, televisions and telephones of the time.
If you know a young aspiring guitarist, gift them a Fender Stratocaster and you’ll be rewarded with big smiles and eternal gratitude.
And if you have a million or two to spare, you can get Hank Marvin to sell you his Firenza Red.
