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From Smoke on the Water to Like a Virgin, the 70-year-old guitar shaped some of world’s biggest hits.

Could a single guitar change history? The Stratocaster did just that.


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Leo Fender was some kind of genius for sure. I mean, I understand how a pro guitarist and tinkerer like Les Paul, partnered with a world class guitar design team, could get the Les Paul guitar right. But Leo? He couldn't even play. He must have been a VERY good listener.

FWIW, the linked article is behind a paywall for me.


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Thanks for the feedback DCR.
What caught my attention within the article was this classic photo of the Fender Factory. Humble beginnings, indeed:
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I own a few different guitars, but strats have always been my favorite, for me they are the most versatile. My first good guitar was a strat, I bought it new in 1974 and I still have it. I also have a '94 and a 2004 50th anniversary guitar, my wife bought it for me when I turned 50 (I was born the same year Leo invented the strat eek ) The 2004 is the one I'm playing in my profile pic.

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Humble beginnings indeed. Nice to keep guitars, but I never seem able to. Even so, most of my guitars are Strats or Strat-inspired. The guitar in my profile pic is a 30 year old Peavey modeled after the Fender Jeff Beck Artist model of that era.


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I have a white Strat with a Lone Star configuration and I adore it. The thing can sing like an angel and growl like a monster, often at the same time. I love me a Strat now. BUT, you have to play 'em through a Fender tube amp like a Twin or an old Tweed or you are wastin' your time, IMHO FWIW, etc. And yes I know Marshall fans will yell at me. Go ahead. I have heard it before. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This may be tangential, but I have a funny story about the Fender Rhodes, another classic. My brother has a vintage Rhodes, and sometime back it broke, and Fender gave him Harold Rhodes' phone number, while he was still alive.

Harold Rhodes, over the telephone, spent several hours helping my brother repair the wiring on the piano after he had taken it apart, and walked him through the soldering process to make sure he didn't ruin anything.

But he had to listen to about two hours worth of: "Young kids these days! They don't know anything about a real keyboard! They don't know a thing about real music or real keyboards! They wouldn't know a real song or a real keyboard if it hit them in the face!"

And on and on.

When it was over, my brother plugged his keyboard in and played it, and Harold Rhodes said:

"There! Now that is what a real keyboard sounds like!!"

And my brother said:

"I know. It's why I called you."

Harold Rhodes liked that one, my brother said.

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I've got a Fender Blues Deluxe amp that is basically a Fender Bassman with an overdrive channel. I've had it since the mid 90's and it's the amp I used to use when I still gigged. I also have a Fender Twin from the 70's that still works great.

BUT! I use an amp sim for recording, sorry David, hope you don't think less of me eek

Loved the Rhodes story!

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OMG!

Dave, take it back!!

Please say it isn't so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Went to the link and 5 seconds in a Paywall pops up. Anyone else seeing this?

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pay.jpg (64.7 KB, 24 downloads)

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Originally Posted by Joseph Land
Went to the link and 5 seconds in a Paywall pops up. Anyone else seeing this?
Yes, DC Ron mentioned above: "FWIW, the linked article is behind a paywall for me."


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