The Fender Stratocaster
American Standard
The Tool to Unlock Your Creativity
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model
of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by
Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously
manufactured the Stratocaster from 1954 to the present. It is a
double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top "horn" shape for balance.
Along with the Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG and Fender Telecaster, it is
one of the most-often emulated electric guitar shapes.[1][2]
"Stratocaster" and "Strat" are trademark
terms belonging to Fender. Guitars that duplicate the Stratocaster by
other manufacturers are sometimes called
S-Type or ST-type guitars. The guitar introduced into the
popular market several features that were innovative for electric
guitars in the mid 1950s. The distinctive body shape, which has become
commonplace among electric guitars, was revolutionary for the time
period, and for the first time a mass-market electric guitar did not
significantly resemble earlier acoustic models. The offset waist,
double cutaway, elongated horns, and heavily contoured back were all
designed for better balance and comfort to play while standing up and
slung off the shoulder with a strap. The three-pickup design offered
players increased versatility and choice in tone quality over earlier
one- and two-pickup electric guitars, and a responsive and simplified
vibrato arm integrated into the bridge plate, which marked a
significant design improvement over other vibrato systems, such as
those manufactured by Bigsby. All of these design elements were
popularized and later became an industry standard due to the success
of the Stratocaster.
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