BUILT FOR SPEED
This is the insider’s story of the early days of the Stratocaster, Fender’s solidbody electric guitar that, in 1954, followed the earlier Broadcaster/Telecaster and Esquire into the Californian company’s catalogue. It was stunning: sleek and refined where the Telecaster was plain and workmanlike; a beautiful three-pickup solidbody with a clever vibrato system and a curvaceous look. The Strat would, of course, become an industry standard and in its first few decades, stirred up the music of players as diverse as Buddy Holly and Jimi Hendrix. This history comes from the archive of interviews I’ve done over the years for my books about Fender.
The people you’ll hear from are: Jeff Beck, who got his first Strat in 1961, sold that, then turned from Lesters to Strats around 1968; Bill Carson, Western Swing guitarist, Fender ‘guinea pig’ in the 50s and, later, Fender salesman; George Fullerton, Fender employee from 1948 to 1970; Dale Hyatt, a Fender salesman from the mid 40s to the early 70s; Karl Olmsted, founder of Race & Olmsted, Fender’s original tool-and-die maker; Don Randall, Fender’s head of sales from 1953 to 1969; and Forrest White, Fender’s head of production from 1954 to 1967.
BEGINNINGS OF THE STRATOCASTER
Forrest White
“At the time I started with Leo Fender in May 1954, the production was very low. They had the Telecaster, the Esquire, the Precision Bass. The Stratocaster had been designed, but there was no production yet–the first production run was in October of 1954. Each musician who came in the factory had his own idea of how things should sound. Bill Carson said that with the three different bridge sections on the Esquire and Telecaster, there was no way he could get proper intonation; he said there should be a separate bridge section for each string on
