The Fender Stratocaster - A Revolution in Rock n Roll History!
When it comes to electrics, no guitar has had a bigger impact on popular music than the Fender Stratocaster. The Strat was not the Southern California company's first electric guitar-that honor goes to the 1950, solid-body Fender Broadcaster, renamed the Telecaster the following year. Introduced in 1954, the Strat's ash body (alder was used after 1956) was sculpted to fit players like a glove. Three pickups gave the instrument unprecedented tonal range, as did a tremolo bar that bent the guitar's strings when pressed. But the Strat defined the sound of rock n roll and was the choice of everyone from Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jeff Beck, to Eric Clapton, to name a few.
The 70's or the CBS years at Fender, were landmark years for the music industry. It was a time of revolution in Rock n' Roll history and the Stratocaster was the gun that backed it up! During the Leo Fender's five-year consultant contract with CBS/Fender, he developed a neck adjustment system in 1970 that corrected the pitch of the neck in the neck pocket with a micro adjustment in the neckplate. This device, along with the BULLET Headstock & 3-bolt neck plate, were installed on Stratocasters beginning in Mid-1971. Keeping up with the times and sticking with the tried and true, the evolution of the Stratocaster began. On the collector's market, these 70's CBS Strats are becoming the next high dollar Vintage and NOW is the time to buy!