The Stratocaster Turns 70

https://newatlas.com/music/stratocaster-70-fender-factory/

by bookofjoe • 2 years ago

31 17 2 years ago

tzs2• 2 years ago

...and ever since generations of electric guitarists have been confused over tremolo and vibrato, because Leo Fender mixed them up.

One the the Stratocaster's major innovations was a bridge system that allowed for large string bends without messing up intonation. For unknown reasons he called this a tremolo system, even though the effect produced using it is vibrato (varying pitch) rather than tremolo (varying volume).

He did a similar thing with the Fender Vibrolux amp. That had a tremolo effect built in, but Fender marketed as vibrato.

changexd• 2 years ago

wow thanks for the explanation, I always thought they are the same thing but presented differently and never tried to look it up.

hayley-patton• 2 years ago

The Uni-Vibe (though not a Fender product) is a phaser trying to imitate a rotary speaker, for which the slow and fast settings are often called chorale and tremolo. Go figure.

v9v• 2 years ago

The same labels can be found on Leslie rotary speakers: https://www.hammondtoday.com/img_4719-2/

josefritzishere• 2 years ago

I dig this, but If you had asked me what the greatest electric guitar design was I would have actualy answered Telecaster.

neverminder• 2 years ago

Les Paul.

bagful• 2 years ago

Too bad about the headstock, but a Telecaster doesn’t look right with any other shape either.

shermanyo• 2 years ago

I know it's subjective style-wise, but I feel exactly the same.

d1sxeyes• 2 years ago

Yeah, it looks ridiculously slender given how bulky the guitar overall is. The strat headstock looks wrong, but I quite like the look of a jazzmaster headstock on a tele (https://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=123565)

Brechreiz2• 2 years ago

Iconic guitar butt Jazzmaster is better IMHO.

polishdude20• 2 years ago

Why's that?

Brechreiz2• 2 years ago

It looks cooler.

jcims• 2 years ago

Just want to start a little sub thread on favorite guitar YouTube channels. For me it’s Chris Buck, hands-down, his Friday Fretwork series is phenomenal for the history of guitars, amplifiers and rock and roll. He’s also a fantastic guitarist that puts little intermissions in each of his videos with incredible playing.

https://youtube.com/@chrisbuckguitar

fuzzfactor• 2 years ago

https://www.siccasguitars.com/videos/ is the portal to their youtube offerings.

You would have to dig deep to find any renditions of rock music, but it would be worth it.

Even if you never got that far.

tzs2• 2 years ago

I like Brandon Acker [1] for classical guitar. He also does a lot of material on earlier plucked string instruments like lutes.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/@brandonacker

infradig• 2 years ago

Why did so many great guitarists who made their mark using other guitars then settle into boring middle-aged mediocrity playing a Stratocaster? Never understood.

etse• 2 years ago

The belly cut for comfort.

The Stratocaster Turns 70

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