The Stratocaster

In 1975 I was working at the Cessna Pawnee plant in SE Wichita. A friend and his cousin brought this CBS Strat (s/n 264780) to my apartment. The cousin said he was going to LA to break into the music business. He'd take $150 for the Strat and that would get him to the golden land. I asked him how he was going to break into the music business with no guitar. Not to worry, he had a nice Martin acoustic and everything would be magical once he got to the coast. He returned within 6 weeks, asking if I'd sell his guitar back to him. No way.

Probably the only original pieces left are the body, jack plate, tremelo screws/hook/ springs, neck plate, and strap pins. I've replaced or modified everything else. The original neck wore out long ago. A good thing because I never liked the fat CBS peg head. The original neck was stamped '71, I think, and the body '69. That makes sense. I imagine bodies pile up faster than necks do. I've seen footage of bodies being routered and formed. Looks like it takes a few minutes. I think necks are not as conducive to mass production. For a while it had a Tele neck that was never very good, and recently I replaced it with this dandy Stew-Mac piece. It has Spurzel locking tuners, Graphtech bridge pieces and nut, EMG Select pickups, and a Gotoh standard tremelo. The Stew-Mac neck was a perfect fit, easy to set up, and I even removed the shims I'd had under the heel of the neck.

I've had this guitar longer than any other. It's been wildly customized at various times. Once I had a giant home made wang bar. 3/8" in diameter and at least a foot long. It was over sized partly because the threaded hole in the tremolo block was wallowed out and had to be re tapped. The rest was just overkill. You can still see how the huge bar banged up the bottom of the cut away. We routered the body for a humbucker at the bridge. Then I taped it all up like Eddie's Kramer. It didn't help me play any better. Another time I made a clear pick guard so you could see the guts. It's been my guinea pig for what ever gadget or add-on I felt necessary over the years, but it's always had that Fender sound.

It was stolen once. Left piled in the back of a Ranchero in Gorham, KS while we were inside closing the bar. A middle schooler explained to his father that he'd "found" it between some buildings. His father made him take it to the Sheriff's Office. The cops were aware of an ad I'd placed offering a reward for it's return. They brought the guitar, kid, and father to my workplace then demanded that I pay this kid the reward. I wonder if the Mafiosi raise their kids any differently.

For a long time this was the only guitar I owned, and probably all I needed. It doesn't get played in public much anymore, but it's always ready. I've always thought that a Strat is a Strat is a Strat, but that's the beauty of it. The sameness is what creates familiarity and comfort in an instrument. You have to work really hard to mess up a Fender guitar. I know some people can do it, but most Fenders are relatively easy and inexpensive to fix. Replacement parts are more widely available for Strat and Tele styles than any other. "Long Live Stratocasters!" That's just what you'll get. Unless you're into smashing them. They're easy enough to replace, though. $150 is still about the going rate for a typical used Strat. Always has been.