The History of the Strat

The Stratocaster is probably the most common electric guitar in the world. Almost every guitar player starts out on a cheap Squier Strat or a Strat knockoff. It’s an incredible guitar. The Strat has been played by insane players from Rock Legend Jimmi Hendrix to Blues Master Stevie Ray Vaughn. So how did this legendary guitar become the dominant force in the industry? 

Leo Fender’s creation

In 1953, Leo Fender was getting the factory ready to launch the new Stratocaster. But he ran into an issue. It sounded terrible! The new tremolo system created issues with the entire guitar. The original tremolo system was designed with the strings resting on rollers which made it sound like a banjo. His team pleaded with him to not release the Strat like this, but Fender knew that he had an incredible design. He already figured out how to make the body of the Strat feel comfortable for the player and created the first real 3 pickup guitar. But, he had to figure out how to make the tremolo system work. He spent months trying to make the roller system work, but he couldn’t figure it out. In late 1953, he scraped the entire design and created a new one. In fact, the new design was so revolutionary that it is basically the same today. This is how he created “two-point synchronized” tremolo/vibrato system the Strat uses. 

Finally, after all the trouble, Fender was able to release the Strat in 1954. The Strat was not received as a legendary invention by Fender when it started. In fact, it was kind of a joke.  Until “Buddy” Holly came to the scene in 1957. His performance launched the guitar to great heights.  

The CBS Era 

Fender as a company was doing well into the late 50s and early 60s. CBS noticed this and decided to buy Fender. The sale completed in 1965 for 13 million dollars. The start of the CBS Era was profitable, and they were able to bring Fender up to 19 million in sales in their first year. CBS also benefited from the Rock and Blues revolution in the late 60s and 70s. Players like Hendrix, Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughn inspire Strat players to this day.

But CBS had a very corporate short-term mindset. They introduced a ton of cost-cutting measures that took away from the quality of the guitar.  They made the pickup magnets level instead of balanced based on strings. They introduced 3-bolt neck instead of four. They also created the Strats with large headstocks. These were just a few of the cost-cutting and design changes that made the CBS era Strats unpopular. In the late 70s and 80s the changes caught up to CBS, and Fender began to struggle.  

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation 

In 1985 a group of Fender employees, led by Brian Shultz bought out Fender from CBS. They began calling it the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, aka FMIC. The employees bought the company for 12.5 million dollars in 1985 half a million dollars less than CBS paid for it. The Company lost a ton of value during the CBS time, but Shultz had a plan to right the ship.

The deal with CBS did not include the American factories used to build the guitars. So, FMIC did not create any US made guitars for the majority of 1985. The guitars made in 1985 were all Japanese made and were vintage reissues of the 1950s guitars. But in 1987, the price for importing Japenese made guitars skyrocketed. Fender began making more American models. These models included: the American Standard, the Plus Series, and Artist Signatures. They also launched the Mexican factory, moved the Squier factory to Korea, and created the Fender Custom Shop.

Conclusion 

For the last 30 years, the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has been innovating. They keep pushing the guitar industry forward while maintaining the classic Fender lines. They continue to honor the tradition of Leo Fender while innovating new designs. If you want to learn more about the history of the Strat check out this Youtube video.