Why the Fender Stratocaster will never be matched
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- Опубликовано: 3 июн 2024
- On the 70th Anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster , we go through the impact of this piece of wood and metal has on the world and my own journey with it
One of the stories of the 20th Century. The niche product that became a mass product and then a cultural icon, the voice of generations, one of the most iconic shapes of all time. 
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The Strat is what drew me to guitar in the first place. Been obsessed with them since I was a 10-year old.
I've been a strat guy for 30 years and tried many other shapes, but i just can not get away from the stratocaster
I feel similarly about the Les Paul
Love these brand and model breakdowns. Can you please make a video about Leo Fender's last company G&L? And why it didn't become as successful as his previous works in Fender and MusicMan even though he considered them to be his best instruments. They recently re-launched their new website with a new design and opened a new RUclips channel.
It's a very good question and one that will require some research on my part to give an informed opinion. I'm going to mark this down and make a future video on it
The same reason why the McDonald's brothers restaurant failed after they sold out to Ray Kroc: rarely does lightning strike twice. G&L make great guitars, but the reason Fender is still iconic isn't because of Leo but because of the particular products he made: the Tele and the Strat.
Initially I wanted a semi hollow guitar like Tito Jackson's and BB King but after becoming a Hendrix freak at 13 the Strat has been my constant companion for over 40 years!
I agree with everything you said about the Strat. It's an iconic design.
The Fender Stratocaster - is a Design Icon - like few others ! It was the reason I started playing Guitar at all. Hendrix pointed the way toward the limitless potential it represents ! The Strat is the Vibrato standard, the Tele is the most stable "in Tune" guitar - that most players can afford. The Strat is the reason we have so many great players today !
love strats
my first guitar was a strat
I always come back to the S-style guitar
it is just perfect for me
Video looks crisp. Lighting up the background makes a difference.
i thought i would be a strat guy, but as it currently seems, i am a 'telecaster" guy. i don't currently have a telecaster, although i have my eye on a couple. i do have a g&l asat tribute which is my favorite from the time i got it, and even more so after i upgraded the pots and wiring to 4 way with normal 3 and an added series position. but back to strats, they are my second choice, i currently have 2 plus an epiphone sg special with the humbuckers switched out to seymour duncan phat cats and new wiring to allow for out of phase and treble bleed via pull pots and a traveler eg2 guitar that is the strat version. my 2 strats are a bargain 1984 mij strat and a partscaster i put together that i call my disaster caster (it has slight structural issues which make the action just a touch too high for my liking. i have texas specials in it. the mij strat has my favorite neck of all my guitars but i hate the pickups it came with...its currently an ssh setup. i'm saving up for the seymour duncan jimi hendrix set, which i'm sure will cause me to play it more. with regards to the traveler strat i like it alot, but i do want to switch the pickups (it only has 2 due to traveler size), my current goal for it is to switch the pickups for seymour duncan quarter pounder in the neck and a surf antiquity in the bridge. for me to justify muliple guitars i made the rule that i have to play them regularly, so every couple of days i switch the guitar i'm playing. although the asat gets alternated in the rotation more than the others. someday i'd like to get a regular p90 guitar, i'm kind of leaning towards a prs soapbar, but am not against a gibson of somekind. since i have an sg, i'm kind of interested in a flying v or a firebird (i associated firebirds with southern rock). les pauls are so heavy though, and after i had an unrelated to guitar neck issue, guitar weight became more important to me...which was the main reason besides convenient to take with me, that i got the traveler guitar. i would say i'm more of a single coil guy than a humbucker guy, just because for me when switching to a humbucker, without the hum something seems missing. my first electric was an hh ibanez artcore, but i sold it to a guy who regretted selling his artcore and wanted another one. i have played the kirk hammett signature flying v and i did like the sound of it, despite the humbuckers. lol
I don't think it's possible to give too much credit to the Stratocaster. A very strong case could be made that it is the perfect guitar, though no one would have to make it to me. I can't explain the sheer joy I experience whenever I see one. Happy 70th to the most iconic instrument of modern time.
Of all guitars I have owned or played, the Stratocaster has the most comfortable body to hold when playing seated in non-classical position. It is well balanced and rounded in the right places for people of an average size. Everything else can be changed, the electronics can be varied to infinity, the bridge can be whatever one likes, even the scale length could be changed as with the PRS Silver Sky but the comfort of that body shape is what makes players stick to it.
I recently found your channel and I really like it. You talk about cool and interesting topics. Keep the videos coming. I wish you all the best from Florida. ✌️
I've been in & out of the shop playing the Vintage II '54 strat.... it's incredible. I want to hate it, and usually mod my strats in one way or another. But it's perfect. Just incredible
Thanks for another excellent video Utkarsh!
I feel like Leo's Story, as well as the entire story of Fender, would be included in "Think and Grow Rich" if it had been written today. Very inspirational, also I wanted to say, I traded my Blueberry Burst Les Paul Standard (dream guitar when I bought it) for a MIM 75th anniversary Fender stat (my first Fender), Katana 100, and a handful of less than $500 guitars, and I have zero regrets, I realized, I feel at home on a Strat
My Strat story could be long, but I'll try to summarize.
Got an awful Les Paul copy for my first guitar because it was $40 with an amp, hated it, build my own body in school woodshop to replace the plywood LP body, and of course it was a Strat shape!
Rocked that for a while, but lusted after a Mockingbird, so replaced it with that.
Had a couple of RG550s after the Mockingbird (super strats!), and then a used heavily modified 90s Mexican Strat. Changed every part of that guitar until only the neck plate was left as original, LOL.
Fell out of love with that and got a bunch of PRS, and eventually a John Mayer strat, which is now one of my mains, it's so good at what it does.
The Stratocaster is just too good at what it is to not have one.
Fender Telecaster chuckles…
... while Fender Stratocaster continues to rule ...
PS: Loving the cleaned up space, as are the pups I see!
Spot on (as usual). I learned guitar on a “borrowed” Strat from a guy who lived in my dorm in college (1987-88) who was a drummer and didnt know how to play it. After 2 semesters i had to return it to him and bought many other guitars in the interim (mostly Super Strats like Jackson, Charvel, Carvin, ESP & Hamer). I played many Strats over the years and never bonded with any of them. Two years ago I found a USA American Ultra, 2021 Blue Denim. HSS configuration with a gorgeous flame maple top and ebony fretboard at a Pawn Shop. I bought it from Reverb so i didnt play it before I paid for it. Within 5 minutes of arriving I knew it was “My Strat”. Many gigs later it is incredible in sound and playability. Never selling it. Took 30 years to complete the circle.
I think I may know why you like the ultra. I didn’t mention it in this video but I also have an ultra, in the limited metallic purple. It’s my second Strat . They play like a breeze compared to normal Strats
@@ministryofguitar I also love the feel of the ebony fretboard. Very tight, dense wood. My PRS, Les Paul and Strat are all ebony, which is rare for all three of those brands. I think I remember you saying something similar about Ebony, The JB humbucker in the bridge makes it much more versatile for the Classic Rock my band plays. I think the Denim Blue was a limited run for 2 years, I saw a guy post a pic of one on a FB group and my eyes melted out of the sockets. Immediately started looking for one!
This strikes me as a superb account of the cultural significance of the Strat, all the better for offering a perspective outside of Western culture and the obsessions of guitarists. The Strat was also invented when advertisers had recognised the importance of collateral and subliminal issues. Not long after Fender would be showing Jazzmasters improbably played by young women on surfboards. At the end I liked your saying that Gilmour’s famous solo wasn’t the reason you got a Strat but it was and remains part of how you feel about the design. Thanks for addressing all this with your characteristic subtlety.
Thank you. Appreciate your kind words and feedback
I grew up a much bigger Les Paul fan. After playing for nearly 40 years.... I can't think of a more iconic guitar than a Fender Stratocaster.
Traded my '76 Firebird for an Antigua strat because I wanted to be more like Jimi than Allen Collins at the time. Really wish I had tjat Firebird back. I got a 70's Vinzeta 2 and just could'nt get anything satisfying out of the pickups
I dolove 6:18 that big headstock though.
I was handed a pen and blank sheet of paper, then told to express what I think and feel. I was then handed a guitar and told to express what I thought and felt. 🤔 🖋🎸
When I started playing in 1981, Les Paul and Strat' were the two iconic shapes everyone associated with the electric guitar.
The devil-horned SG and the Flying V were for hard rock bands, black bluesmen were playing semi-hollow body things and Keith Richards was playing a Telecaster.
Les Paul and Strat' had become iconic in the late 60s for being played by the first guitar heroes like Clapton or Hendrix, who would mostly buy them 2nd hand (the Les Paul was discontinued in 1961), therefore cheap. Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, Peter Green all got their Les Paul's used. The first reason for playing them in a time when pedals were not ubiquitous was that humbuckers were able to drive amps (which had no master volume or overdriving gain stage) further into distortion. Single coil players like Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, Rory Gallagher or Brian May used boosters or fuzz pedals.
Telecaster and Strat' were cheaper to make so that must have been the reason for their gradual dominance over time. The Strat' must have won because it looked "cooler" than the edgy square plank with strings.
Nah, you've not overstated the importance and cultural significance of the strat. Indeed, it is the electric guitar in the eyes of the general public. If a marketing exec wants the person in the ad to be seen holding an electric guitar, a strat would invariably be in the final result. My journey to find The Strat would be too long to tell here, but in short, it was a rollercoaster of emotions. At first it was astonishment and joy, then it was heartbreak, followed by elation and a big hole in my pocket 😅
I can fully imagine
I love strats and the fact that most players can identify with one or another strat player, maybe Gilmour, maybe SRV, in my case, it was Yngwie and Jeff Beck, and later on some modern blues and fusion players. I eventually switched over to Suhr Moderns because I overdo big bends and usually go for a wide vibrato, and I wanted a slightly flatter radius (in this case compound 10"-14" in the Modern Terra and 14" straight in another Modern). But every time I see a good strat I think that's the coolest thing ever, it's the emblem of rock and roll music.
Nice playing..man....
Thanks
i have a squire 40 th anni vintage strat , plays great , sounds great , she's a keeper : )
the Strat is what attracted me to play guitar at age 54. what is that acoustic guitar in the background?
There are many who believe Strats have have been superceeded. Brian May's self made guitar he put in Burns tri-sonic pickups. He played concerts with Vox AC 30 amps in banks behind him. I have called The Burns Marvin ...a Strat with balls. That comment got a lot of thumbs up. The tri-sonic pick ups are world famous.
Great video. Thank you for referencing Gary Moore and Dave Gilmour. I have seen both play live. And thank you for mentioning Goose! He is a real gentleman and is also my guitar tech. My second guitar was a fender Strat (back in 84)… I then didn’t want to play strats for a long time. In 2020, I had an itch for a Strat and whilst trying many strats in Singapore within my budget, and not bonding with them, I accidentally tried a PRS USA silver Sky with maple fretboard (and I usually like rosewood)… and I fell in love. This is the Strat for me.
My favourite guitarists have played Gibson and Fender in their careers, but the top two for me are Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix….
I have had a love/hate relationship with Strats and Les Paul’s, but when you find the right one for you, you are set. Thanks again.
Thank you for sharing. I think your Silver Sky story is a great example of how you find what you want in the last place you expect. And yes, Goose is awesome
Hah! I love that you replaced the bridge pickup with a humbucker... I always do that but I usually replace with a full humbucker (having to alter the pickguard itself). I never found the strat single coil in the bridge satisfying, I throw in something high 'K' for hard-rock vibes. (always keep my original single coil and original pickguard stored safe to revert it back for resale)
I agree fully on the bridge single coil. That said, this guitar originally came with a humbucker in the bridge. That was the special thing about this model, the Fender Vintage Hot Rod 57
Agree😊
The strat for me is definitely an iconic guitar. Meant to be cheap to produce, mantain and modify, and thats why I dont feel the need to have a fender strat. There are really good and cheap options that are just as good IMO. Same for the telecaster, but I do have the George Harrison just because of the looks.
100% there are other ways to look at the central forces that shape history, e.g., Media ecology, which is close to how you're looking at it.
This is arguably the best guitar channel on RUclips. I don't think I could have dreamed this up in 1,000 years. Innovative AF. Delivers the goods. Hats off, sir!
Thank you . Appreciate your kind words. And yes of course almost everything is multi-causal. This is but shining the spotlight on one particular aspect
💯
I was trying to say you were approaching utilizing Media Ecology, Marshall McLuhan et al., as opposed to The Great Man theory or a variant of Determinism, to understand/spotlight aspects of history.
Media ecology/McLuhan rocks!!!
All the best picker's play tele's anyway.
roy buchanan and danny gatton just to name 2. i call my g&l "tele" roy.
@@bsjeffreyEven Jimmy Page and Rory Gallagher would sometimes use a tele
@@jasondorsey7110
Rory only used one for slide.
@@user-dh5bn2fe4b Ever see the performance of Taste at the Isle of Wight festival?
@@jasondorsey7110I stand corrected. I see that Rory very occasionally used a Tele for non-slide work instead of his legendary Strat.
You can replace Strat with Les Paul in this video and it would apply perfectly. Since I was a kid, always recognized the strat and Les Paul, but when I tried Strat, I had serious issues with the middle pickup and tone knob getting in the way, so was no go for me.
For guitarists, I 100% agree. For non guitarists, particularly outside the Western world, I think the Strat is much more recognisable
I don't think I've ever heard the word strat used that many times in 5 minutes.
I was trying to hit a world record there ;)
@ministryofguitar mission accomplished lol.
I think what the Stratocaster brought out in guitar players was what was missing in previous design: How does it highlight or support the part of guitar playing that is a performance art? It was at a very integral time where show business and music business merged even further meaning you have to look good on camera, and be entertaining. Guitar playing is as much of a performance art as it is a way to create music. Many people would rather watch simple songs being performed with a lot of theatrics than somebody playing very intricately sitting very seriously and still without animation.
The only guitar i like as much as my Strat is my Tele.
I love my strat, an Ibanez AZ, after trying other fender strats - sorry Fender. I need one to play U2, lol.
yeah it's just like I like my PRS 594. Sorry Gibson
I grew up a Gibson Les Paul fan. The older I get, the more I get into V's and Super Strats. I hated Fender with a passion. Again, the older I get, the more I love high-quality, well-made Fender Stratocasters.
I never liked strat.. cozz of its knob placement.. and no 24 frets.. PRS 😍😍😍
no, I don't think you are overstating the strat's importance. THE most influential guitarists plwyed strats or derivatives of them. Hendrix and Van Halen (if we areto name the top 2.
my love will always be super strats. Ibanez, Jackson, Charvel. there is no denying the fact that without the Stratocaster Vai would never have concieved of the Jem, EVH would not have made Frankie.
I do think though that Fender does a bit too much of what Gibson does. makes slight cosmetic variations out to be monumental achievements. the heel joint is still to this day a weak part of the design, and the volume pot placement is bad, too.
I agree that the 1950s design has many improvement areas. I guess that's why a lot of more serious players gravitate towards Suhrs and the like, while the mass market of course loves the originals
I think you make a good point about the visual impact of a Strat, but on any other level only guitarists care about it.
I feel Strats generally are completely overrated and overpriced because so many heroes from the 60s played them.
They're like the Ford Escorts of guitar, thrown together for the mass market, but turns out that in the hands of a good technician they can be tweaked to be something much greater than the original and can become immensely playable. But Clapton's favourite Strat was a Frankenstein famously cobbled together by a great tech from selected parts of three different Strats. Hendrix appeared to play a different Strat every time he played: they were disposable and, of course, he disposed of them with lighter fuel. Hank Marvin's first Strat drove him mad because it wouldn't stay in tune.
I admit I've always admired fender necks, but probably prefer telecasters for that, and jaguars and the lesser fenders had lovely necks too.
I don't count the custom shop guitars because they're bespoke and hand made and just *look* like Strats but are really something else altogether.
Yes, for people who know nothing about guitars Strats are *the* iconic guitar. The rest of us have so many more to choose from and I would never choose that shape nor the Fender build quality. Although the necks I won't criticise.
The Strat for me, if I had to choose and could afford another guitar, would be an Ernie Ball Music Man Albert Lee. They're better made, completely consistent, make a fantastic sound and the Music Man guitars I've played have always been set up terrifically well even when new.
The ford escort . Hmm. I think what makes the original Strat design not as functional as its Evolutions (by other manufacturers) is that it hasn’t changed that much since the 50s. It’s almost as if the air cooled 911 of the 60s never evolved and so it is ultimately flawed vs modern cars even if it looks iconic . In fact I find the 911 a better parallel because of how it’s an iconic shape, it is fetishized and how that design has definitely been improved (if you think about sports cars in general) yet the original formula is held in massive regard and people pay millions for the perfection of that formula (aka Singer)
@@ministryofguitar Problem there is that Porches were always excellently engineered, Strats weren't. And I really think most of the regard people hold them in is the reflected glory of the payers.
I learned on acoustics, and when I tried electrics I found strats unplayable. Older ones were so badly finished you might almost cut your hand trying to palm damping near the bridge because the screws were so sharp. It took Floyd Rose to show them how to do it.
The great innovation of the strat was quick assembly of pre-made parts when they were competing with other companies who were trying to find economies of scale from what was originally luthiery. But Leo knew his electronics and the sound was well conveyed, and the necks were always great.
I'm afraid I'm sticking with the Ford.
Then along came the Explorer…
Love the explorer
My mental image of a squealing e-guitar absolutely is a Strat
The Les Paul shape feels more similar to that of a normal acoustic guitar
When it co.we to electric guitars I personally am a traditionalist and indeed .IMO Fender Strats rule ! Not feels better in the hands then a Fender. iMO of course.
Actually , Edward Van Halen surpassed the Strat with his Frankenstein guitar .
Tele>Strat
Hmmm, I’m getting a bit tired of being excluded from the discourse tbh. Female guitarists exist. I’ve been one for over 30 years. PLEASE stop using the tired Freudian trope of the guitar as penis substitute. It has a far far broader appeal than that, and you’re alienating a whole section of viewers.
Thank you for sharing your perspective and I respect your freedom to feel how you do. However since you have alleged a certain stereotype to me, I would like to say a couple of things
1) Pointing out that many men pick up guitar to impress women does not nullify the multitude of other reasons men and women pick up guitar. It's not an exclusionary statement and nor does it claim to be
2) That particular point is hardly the focus of this video. it is but one point out of hundreds.
I appreciate your passion and daresay can think of multiple avenues where that energy could be positively directed. This video is not one of them
@@ministryofguitar I never said that was the point of the video, I agree with your overall points as I normally do. I am just tired of this from every single male guitar or music You Tuber and I'm going to point it out when I come across it, whether it's conscious or unconsciously done, I'm sure you can relate to this on many levels as well. You come across as a thoughtful person, I'd like to think that you would understand how saying stuff like 'the reason guitars have always been more than just a tool for making music is as a means for guys to pick up women' can make female players feels excluded, like you're not talking to us, like we're not part of the conversation. Your tone here is very passive aggressive and that's a shame - I'm a subscriber, I watch all of your videos, we have a lot in common, we're around the same age, we have a passion for guitars and music, hell I also own a PRS and even though it's a Tremonti signature model which is a bit embarrassing it's still actually my favourite guitar that I own, excluding the one I made myself. I would have welcomed a less hostile response in which you showed yourself to be open to critique, and a willingness to listen and take it on board rather than being defensive about it.
@@JojoFryrocks my apologies. I did not intend to come across as hostile. Thank you for elaborating your point. I understand better where you are coming from now. I think it is a fair criticism to say the guitar world is very male centric. That said, in a polarised world, I try to be deliberate in my choice of words to ensure my perspectives don't exclude anyone regardless of race, gender, nationality or proclivities, so I found the original criticism misdirected. In any case no hard feelings. Thank you for your frank feedback
The shape of the Strat' was unique when it appeared. I have owned 2, a 2000 Fender Pro in natural ash and a Kramer 111 partscaster I built with top parts. Both played well as such things go but I never bonded with either one. For whatever reason the shorter Gibson scale always worked better to my hands. DON'T get me started on the position of the master volume, to even really play the ones I had required met to put a tiny knob on the vol. pot. The very rounded fretboard was not my thing either, I came from acoustics with flatter boards. So I traded the Fender and a Gibson SG for a Martin D-35. which I will keep.
I like the sound of some Strats sometimes. David Gilmour is one example of how to do it. But I don't like playing them.
But when I look at my walls it is half acoustic and half electric just by chance, as things come and go. All but one of the electrics are hollow body, semi-hollow or chambered, only 1 true solid body. Most a variant of the ES335 style (one is a Gibson ES335 Cherry Dot). I have a new Eastwood Sidejack Baritone on the way now, a new type instrument to me. I have heard you play a baritone once I think.
Thank you for sharing. Yes I am rather fond of Baritone guitars