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'No other instrument like it on God's earth'

AFP, Los Angeles
Wednesday, Jun 30, 2004, Page 16

The sainted grandfather of electric guitars, the Fender Stratocaster, famously cradled on stage by music legends from Buddy Holly to Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, is turning 50.

It was half a century ago that the curvaceous instrument, recently named by What Guitar? magazine as the world's greatest electric guitar, debuted in a career that would change the sound of music forever.

Invented by a California radio repairman, the "Strat" became an instant staple for rock 'n' roll musicians, starting with Holly, and won iconic status when Hendrix vaunted his on stage as he famously performed The Star Spangled Banner at the 1969 Woodstock concert.

"It's an American rock 'n' roll icon. There is no more recognizable guitar in contemporary music than the Strat," said University of Southern California guitar professor Richard Smith.

"From a technical standpoint, it was a genius invention because it's absolutely practical -- it moulds into the body perfectly. As soon as you hold one, it embraces you," said Smith, an acclaimed jazz recording artist.

Jose Rodriguez blows on a Fender Stratocaster guitar body to remove wood dust as he does the final sanding work before sending the bodies to the paint shop, at the Fender manufacturing facility in Corona, California. PHOTO: REUTERS

The Stratocaster was first produced in early 1954 by Los Angeles engineer Leo Fender, who had tinkered with improving amplified hollow-body instruments since the 1940s.

He produced the first solid-body guitars, including the Telecaster Broadcaster models, in 1951 and the Stratocaster, with its simple built-in electronics, first hit stores in September of 1954.

Its incredible versatility has lent it easily to rock, jazz, R 'n' B, heavy metal, reggae and classic guitar tunes. From the start, its sound could differ completely between genres or even from player to player.

Adan Alcantar polishes the edges of a Stratocaster body, at the Fender manufacturing facility. PHOTO: REUTERS

"There is an intangible alchemy to putting a neck on a chunk of wood to make a guitar," Smith said.

"No two Strats sound alike. They have an incredible variety of sounds available on the same instrument. It's brilliant. There is no other instrument like it on God's earth."

The instrument has hardly changed in the 50 years that it has produced Buddy Holly hits, the blues riffs of Stevie Ray Vaughan, the soulful sounds of Eric Clapton, the shimmering tone of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, the sound of Joe Walsh of the Eagles, and the melodies of Jeff Beck.

Even as the company's custom production plant in Corona, near Los Angeles, produces special collectors' replicas of the first Stratocaster, selling for a cool US$5,400, its basic modern production models remain essentially the same, barring some electronics and materials updates.

"Fender got it right back in '54," said Fender Musical Instruments spokesman Morgan Ringwald from the company's corporate headquarters in Scottsville, Arizona.

"It's versatile and simple and 50 years on, it hasn't changed a great deal."

A Stratocaster can cost anywhere between US$499 for a model from Fender's cut-price factory in Ensenda, Mexico, to a specially-designed model, such as the gold-inlaid version made to mark the 75th anniversary of Walt Disney's Fantasia, which cost around US$75,000, Ringwald said.

Special Strats, including a mass production model bearing Eric Clapton's name and replicas of Hendrix's legendary Woodstock model -- one of the all-time favorites among Strat fans -- can cost a few hundred or a few thousand US dollars.

Musicians including Clapton, Beck, Alanis Morisette, John Mayer and Shakira order their personalized Strats at the Corona plant, where craftsmen work with the stars' technical aides to produce exactly the guitar they want.

But while the Stratocaster has long been the world's best-selling guitar, Ringwald says it isn't always easy marketing them as each musician has a very personal idea of how they should sound and look.

"The great thing about it is that it is so versatile that it lets people create their own styles and own genres," he said. "You can do anything on that guitar, its just waiting for a player.

"But that's also the problem, because if you started out playing a 1986 Stratocaster, you want all of them to be exactly the same. Sometimes we can't win," he joked.

For Richard Smith, the Stratocaster is more than just a musical legend -- it is a product that should make American proud as it comes under fire abroad over the war in Iraq.

"It's a much better export than our computers and our cars and our Colt 45s," he said. "It's part of a great message of goodness that we have for the rest of the world."
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