Fender Stratocaster Breakthrough History of the 50s

The full story of Strat's early breakout years.

The Fender Stratocaster is the quintessential electric guitar — a worldwide prototype; It has such a popular form that even non-players think of it when the term electric guitar is mentioned. Perhaps because the Stratocaster was so well designed from the start, it has remained virtually unchanged for 60 years now, allowing its styling to become an ingrained form in the minds of succeeding generations. next.

Popular and essential, the Stratocaster has transcended its intended purpose as a playing instrument to become such an icon. It has risen above everyday function to become a cultural icon for creativity, individuality, artistry and more than a little bit of outrageous rebellion.

But doing that is not easy. The Stratocaster where it is today is a journey that is not overnight. In fact, it took quite a while, because if it's true that the guitar was so well designed from the start that it's been essentially unchanged for six decades, it's also true that it was designed. so good that it was at least a decade ahead of its time. Indeed, for the first 10 years or so, Stratocaster patiently waited for the world to catch up to it.

Let's go back to that early period and look back at the early years of the world's greatest electric guitar that will one day be born.

In 1953 , Fender made promising strides into the backward American musical instrument industry. A small postwar West Coast upstart just seven years old and led by a taciturn self-taught electronics repairman, Fender introduced two revolutionary instruments—the Telecaster and Precision guitars. Bass — along with a full line of critically acclaimed acoustic guitars and a handful of big, solid and stylish amplifiers is the best out there.

Fender was a small company in the early 1950s, but it was clearly growing and it is possible that Leo Fender was seriously turning his attention to a new electric guitar model to succeed the Telecaster and compete with the competition. more advanced as early as 1951. Elements such as new pickups and a new horse were certainly implemented by the end of 1952. Aged conventions of design and previous methods meant nothing. For Leo, this will likely be of great help in explaining the origins of such an extraordinary instrument as the Stratocaster. Perhaps author Tom Wheeler expressed it best when, in his indispensable history The Stratocaster Chronicle, he asked:

"How does a dominant product end up being created by a new entrant in the business who seems to have a lot of disagreements with himself? Leo Fender is not a serious musician, yes. little background (or interest) in traditional craft or instrument-making knowledge, and even little interest in associating with the network of acquaintances who run major guitar companies and may have helped keep him on his toes.

It's not that Leo Fender is trying to be radical and revolutionary. Being a realist, he just wanted to build a better guitar. He and his closest employees spent many hours developing and perfecting the new model, which quickly became his own instrument, not an improved version of the Telecaster.

Guitarist Rex Gallion, working in Leo Fender's lab as early as 1954 with the very early Stratocaster, is often credited with suggesting this guitar's relaxed lines.

However, the new guitar certainly had some new design elements compared to its predecessor, and by late 1953 its body shape was almost identical to that of a Telecaster. However, that spring, newcomer Freddy Tavares sketched out a new body shape that matched Leo's well-proportioned two-horn form for Precision Bass. The new guitar thus combined the features of Fender's first two instruments in the 1950s, and in another important development in early 1953, Fender sales manager Don Randall ordered name for it: Stratocaster.

To compete with higher-end instruments from other manufacturers — notably Gibson's Les Paul, introduced in 1952 in response to what Randall once called "Jane's simple" Telecaster — the Stratocaster was A significant step forward in Fender design and innovation. It doesn't have one or two but three pickups, with switching and control creating tonal flexibility (although, oddly enough, the switch configuration only allows for three of the several possible pickup combinations. Have).

The three-point pickup configuration isn't the Stratocaster's only first configuration. The telecaster sounds great but isn't particularly comfortable to play as its square body presses deep into the player's body and forearm. Guitarist Rex Gallion was the one who suggested that a solid-body guitar doesn't need squared edges because it doesn't have a soundboard inside, and in asking himself Leo, "Why not get rid of a body that's always crashing into your ribs? As a result, the Stratocaster has rounded edges and deep body and forearm contours that make it very comfortable and add a sleek look.

The evolution of the Stratocaster also saw a notable touch of elegance when Fender first used a sunburst finish, which came as Randall insisted on giving the guitar a more upscale look. This included two popular paint colors at the time — a dark brown outer color called dark Salem, which turned into a golden inner color called canary yellow. The sunburst finish also has the added benefit of reducing the visibility of grain mismatches in ash logs, which are often (but not always) composed of two or more pieces glued together.

The Stratocaster's biggest innovation, however, is its horse tree. In response to player feedback about the Telecaster, Randall wanted the new guitar to have some sort of vibrato system, and Leo was eager to improve on the designs of his old business partners Doc Kauffman and Paul Bigsby. The vibrating system should deliver solid tuning stability without compromising the player's tone, durability, comfort and ease of use, and Leo immersed himself in the task with his usual focus. .

However, the original design for the Stratocaster's vibrating horse was a glaring failure. Leo "equipped his factory with an unusual way to produce this vibrating horse design before full testing." Leo used a connecting horse with rollers for each rope and a separate tail. In this design, the strings actually move over the horse on rollers. Leo and guitarist/consultant Bill Carson seem to think the prototype guitars sounded fine at the factory, but George Fullerton says they "sound awful."

Even Carson later noted that when he tried the instrument with the original vibrato at a performance, as noted in Smith's book, it "sounded like an amplified banjo and no vibrancy.”

The first early 50s Stratocaster prototype with Leo Fender's second vibrating bridge design — and vastly improved.

Leo invested a lot of time and money trying to perfect the vibrating horse well in 1953 before scrapping the whole design and starting over. In fact, the Stratocaster would probably have launched that year if its original vibration system hadn't had so many problems. Randall and the salesmen were trying their best to get the new guitar up and running, and Leo himself was under considerable pressure to come up with a new Stratocaster vibrating system.

Inspired by the scale, he hastily completed a completely new design at the end of 1953, in which the entire horse assembly moved by the rope instead of letting the rope move on the rollers while the horse was still. The strings are threaded through a cavity that is transferred to the back of the guitar; first through the holes in the plastic cover, then through a sturdy steel "inertia block" fixed to the underside of the bridge for stability, then go up through The holes in the horse and through the individual saddles can adjust each rope to suit height and length — another marked improvement over the three-saddle Telecaster and a remarkable design step in itself. The back of the horse is not anchored and is slightly curved upwards; The front panel is secured to the body by six screws, one in front of each bridge. The screw holes in the bridge are recessed from both sides, creating a knife-like edge and a pivot point on which the entire horse can be rocked back and forth using a tremolo bar. /arm) is easily removable, so the pitch can be raised and lowered. In the cavity oriented to the back of the guitar, the entire spring-anchored assembly (three at first but then five) is attached to an inertia block at one end and an adjustable anchor plate. screw into the front wall of the cavity at the other end. Spring tension on the back and guitar strings on the top keep the entire system "floating" in balance and produce shimmering vibrato, unconstrained timbre and, importantly, intonation. stable.

In fact, the Stratocaster's second vibration system has been "over-engineered" so effectively that it has proven capable of doing more than what the original designer intended. Leo and his staff envisioned an acoustic guitar-like sound with only very small pitch changes, but his design actually allowed for a pitch range of three semitones or more. Simply put, it's better than it should be, and within a decade or so, players will be using it to create swooping, "dive-boombing" sounds never imagined. at Fender's headquarters.

Other Stratocaster innovations included the alnico 3 single pickup with staggered height pole pieces that effectively addressed the varying outputs of thick strings in use at the time, and a tiltable output jack. mounted on the top instead of the side. The distinctively shaped head of the guitar — more rounded than that of the Telecaster and Precision Bass — is certainly influenced by instruments built by Paul Bigsby and, like the Telecaster and Precision Bass before it, all easily accessible adjustment buckles on one side.

Stratocaster electronics are attached to the single-layer white plastic pickguard (anodized aluminum on some early models) rather than to the body, allowing the entire pickguard/pickup/control assembly to be drop into place and screw in (using eight screws) and only requires connection to the output jack. Three controls located near the bridge are within easy reach of the strumming/picking hand—one master volume control and two tone controls for the neck and center pickups. There are no timbre controls for horse pickup.

During previous design refinements in late 1953 and early 1954, Leo and his staff were greatly assisted by a number of swing guitarists such as Gallion and Carson, who were delighted to try it out. Field testing of Stratocaster prototypes in local nightclubs. Their input is invaluable, and while Stratocaster is in one sense the brainchild of Leo, in another it is the collaborative work of a group of outstanding designers and musicians. sharp.

Finally, the Stratocaster was introduced in the spring of 1954 as Fender's new flagship guitar, in tremolo and non-tremolo versions. The first advertisement for it appeared in the April issue of International Musicians magazine, and a small pre-production began that month. It's a sleek, sleek instrument with great features and produces a full, clear, and sparkling sound. The first full-scale production began in October 1954, with the vibrating model priced at $249.50 and the non-vibrating model priced at $229.50.

With its introduction by accident given the growing popularity of a new musical and cultural phenomenon called rock 'n' roll for about a year, you would think that Stratocaster would quickly reach its peak. of acclaim and popularity?

But the reality is not like that!

The Stratocaster got off to a slow start. Three years after its first introduction in 1954, as Tom Wheeler noted in his introduction to The Stratocaster Chronicles, it remained “unknown to many people,” and seemed to be “far away from guitars.” traditions such as the baritone ukulele or even the banjo.” Against the backdrop of the times, Wheeler continued, “A lot of professional musicians consider the new Fender unworthy of serious consideration—merely a tool, a gimmicky machine, even a joke. .”

It was the uphill climb that Stratocaster faced; indeed, its ascent was long and gradual rather than immediate and rapid. Rock 'n' roll flourished from the late 1940s until it burst into a national phenomenon in the mid-1950s, and during that early period, with few exceptions, the main instrument of this music is more saxophone and piano than guitar. The first rock 'n' roll musicians to play sling guitars often played Gibson and Gretsch's big, hollow electric flat-top guitars or guitars.

And so the Stratocaster waited for its moment for the first few years - a time when saxophones and pianos gradually gave way to electric guitars, music that could be heard louder and clearer than ever at a rate popularity is increasing rapidly. In the meantime, Fender puts his new Stratocaster in the hands of Western pop guitarists, and Leo dedicates it to players like Buddy Merrill (of the band Lawrence Welk), Alvino Rey, Eddie Cletro, Charlie Aldrich, Al Myers, “Stash” Clements, Kenneth “Thumbs” Carllile, Charley Raye, and others.

Also during Stratocaster's first few years, Leo Fender and staff continued to work on it; modified and improved. By 1957, the Stratocaster had essentially been perfected into a form that has remained largely unchanged since.

Fender switched to cheaper and easier-to-work Alder instead of Ash for the Stratocaster body in mid-1956. Additionally, the original Stratocaster neck had a rounded "C" shape (also described as a "D" shape). and “U” ) were changed to sharper “V” and “medium V” profiles between 1955 and 1957 before reverting to rounded profiles as the decade closed. The two-color sunburst finish became a three-color sunburst finish in the first half of 1958 with the addition of a red “middle”. The brittle plastic originally used for the pickguard, handle and pickup cover Stratocaster was replaced by a more durable plastic in 1955. The serial number, originally located on the rear tremolo plate, was moved to the lever. in early summer 1954. The circular eyelets on the back tremolo became oval in 1955.

The Stratocaster had already found its way into the hands of a number of famous and influential people by the time many of these design changes were made. Three years after its introduction, things were still standing, but that changed when Texas rock 'n' roll trio called the Crickets appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday, December 1. 1957. They began with two songs, "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue," written by the band's Stratocaster leader, a 21-year-old bespectacled singer/guitarist named Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holly.

Others also embraced the Stratocaster later in the decade. Ike Turner was an early Stratocaster champion with a powerful tremolo that predestined Jimi Hendrix by a decade. Pee Wee Crayton, Ritchie Valens and Carl Perkins played Strats in the 1950s, as did Cliff Gallup's successors in Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps, Johnny Meeks and Howard Reed.

Across the Atlantic, however, a post-World War II import trade ban on US goods made the purchase of a Fender guitar nearly impossible for young British guitarists in the early 1990s. This was particularly disappointing for young London guitarist Brian Rankin, who went by the stage name Hank Marvin and had just joined singer Cliff Richard's band armed with a cheap electric guitar. Japanese money. Marvin had seen Buddy Holly holding a Stratocaster on the cover of his 1957 album The "Chirping" Crickets and he mistook it for the same model James Burton had played on Ricky Nelson's record. Prohibited or not, Richard offered to buy Marvin a Stratocaster, an opportunity the guitarist took, and in early 1959 a brand new Fiesta Red Stratocaster with gold hardware somehow to London. It is believed to be the UK's first Stratocaster,

Marvin's Fiesta Red illustrates another defining step in Stratocaster's history in the 1950s: the availability of custom colors. The sunburst finish has been the norm since its inception in 1954, with a handful of guitars made for specific artists with specific colors around that time — a golden guitar for the guitarist. Eldon Shamblin of the Texas Playboys; red models (later known as "Dakota red") for Bill Carson and Pee Wee Crayton. George Fullerton created what is now known as Fender's first "official" custom color—the aforementioned Fiesta Red—circa 1957. After that, a selection of custom colors became popular. widely available for an extra charge. Depending on the body wood and other factors, different compositions, color coatings, clear coatings, etc., have been used.

By the late 1950s, players were well aware of one particularly unintentional feature of Stratocaster's electronics: the two "in-between" switch positions. Indeed, many players discovered this subtle sound balancing trick as soon as the Stratocaster was introduced. As intended, the three-way pickup selector switch provides one pickup at a time rather than a combination of pickups; that is, you can take the rod yourself, get the middle, and get the horse yourself. However, players quickly discovered that they could get two combinations of pickups — boom and center pickups together and pony and center pickups together — with careful tuning. switch between the two points of the three selector positions. Many famous guitarists will enjoy the Stratocaster's unintentional "middle" timbre.

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Fender closed out the Stratocaster's first decade with a number of notable developments for the guitar. Its brief reign at the top of Fender's line of two-instrument professional guitars ended in 1958 when a third professional model, the Jazzmaster, was introduced. The design changes made in 1959 were significant enough that the models introduced later that year were considered the "second incarnation" of the Stratocaster. Most notably, the one-piece neck has been replaced by a two-piece construction that includes a keyboard with a rosewood panel glued to a maple neck. As the truss bar is now installed in the front it can now be set as a channel routed to the top of the neck and then covered by the keyboard. These new rosewood keyboard models also replace the black markers on the side of the neck with new off-white dots. In mid-1959, Stratocasters were offered laminated celluloid pickguards with more screw holes (11) and a noticeable green coloration (although some were supplied with imitation nitrocellulose pickguards). turtle). Other minor changes have taken place (shapes need to be thinner, etc.); Suffice it to say that the Stratocaster is ready for a new decade with a new look.

At the dawn of the 1960s, elder brother Telecaster was enjoying the feeling of irreplaceability. Leo Fender had assumed that Telecaster players would replace their instruments with Stratocasters, but that turned out not to be the case. And completely unaware of Fender, the player had completely different plans for the Jazzmaster. But who knows where the Stratocaster would fit in? Who knows if it has any kind of future ahead of it, let alone a bright one? The answers to those questions are far from clear. Sleek and innovative as it is, the future of the Stratocaster was not guaranteed at the end of 1959.

Meanwhile, children on both sides of the Atlantic are taking their first formative steps as a new generation of immature guitarists. Near the end of 1959 in England, these included three 14-year-olds— Peter Townshend, Eric Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore; a 15-year-old boy named Jeff Beck and a 13-year-old boy named David Gilmour.

In the United States at the end of 1959, a talented 23-year-old guitarist from Louisiana named George "Buddy" Guy had just received his first recording contract the previous year, and 22-year-old Richard Monsour, of California, stepped onto the stage. Dick Dale, just released his first two singles with Deltone. Two small Dallas kids, 8-year-old Jimmie Vaughan and 5-year-old brother Stephen Vaughan, a.k.a. “Stevie,” are just big enough to wrap their arms around a guitar neck.

And in Seattle, a boy named James Marshall Hendrix — nicknamed “Jimmy” — turned 17 that November. He had just bought his first guitar last year, an acoustic one that cost $5, and despite constant practice, he still aspires to get an electric guitar. His father bought him a white Supro Ozark 1560S electric guitar in 1959.

Supro is not a Stratocaster. But again James will be no ordinary guitar player, and a new decade is about to begin.