The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as a Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender and Freddie Tavares in the early 1950s, and manufactured continuously to the present. The Stratocaster has been used by many leading guitarists, and thus can be heard on many historic recordings. Along with the Gibson Les Paul, the Fender Telecaster and the Gibson SG, it is one of the most enduring and common models of electric guitar in the world.The Stratocaster has been widely copied; as a result "Stratocaster" or "Strat" is often used when referring to any guitar that has the same general features as the original, regardless of manufacturer. Such a guitar not produced by Fender or Squier is thus called a strat copy. However, in many jurisdictions the word "Stratocaster" is reserved solely for use by Fender and its subsidiary company, Squier.
Origins
The Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company (now known as Fender Musical Instruments Corporation) developed the first commercial solid-body 'Spanish' (as opposed to 'Hawaiian,' or lap steel) electric guitar in the Telecaster, a simple design whose earliest models were offered under various names like Broadcaster or its single pickup conterpart the Esquire, beginning in 1950. While the Telecaster and its variants were successful, many guitar players of the day used a Bigsby unit, a spring-loaded vibrato device with which players could bend notes up and down with their pick hand. Instead of adding a Bigsby, Fender decided to produce a new, more expensively-made ash or alder line of guitars with his own design of Tremolo (see tremolo arm for more on the evolution of such mechanisms). His decision was also influenced by guitarists Rex Gallion and Bill Carson, who requested a contoured body to temper the harsh edges of the slab-built Telecaster; the new ash body design was based on that of the 1951 Precision Bass.
The name, 'Stratocaster,' was intended to evoke images of new jet-aircraft technology (such as the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress), and to express Fender's modernistic design philosophy. In designing the Stratocaster's body, a significant area of the back of the guitar, and the area where the strumming arm rests, were beveled to accommodate the player's chest and arm. The upper bouts featured two cutaways, for easier access to the higher frets. The new 'Custom Contour Body' and 'Synchronized Tremolo' bridge made the Stratocaster a revolutionary design.
The guitar also featured more complex electronics than the Telecaster: three single coil pickups, each with staggered magnetic poles; a three-way selector switch (five-way since 1977); one volume knob, and two tone controls. A three single-coil pickup design was an innovation already in use by Gibson in their ES-5 model since 1949. However, Fender's pickups were much more compact.
Patents were applied for all these new designs, and production line Stratocasters reached the market in early 1954 for US$249.50 (approximately US$1,850 in 2007 currency). The basic production model had a two-tone nitrocellulose 'sunburst' finish, one-piece maple neck, ash body, chrome hardware, and Bakelite-like thermoplastic parts. Other manufacturers began imitating these innovations immediately.
An early-model Stratocaster was a key component of Buddy Holly's signature look, along with his black-rimmed glasses, and he was among the first players to popularize the Stratocaster in rock music. Both his gravestone and his walk-of-fame statue in Lubbock, Texas feature a Stratocaster.
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