The Fender Stratocaster introduced in 1954

Specs:
Strat - offset double cutaway alder body, bolt-on four-screw maple neck, 21-fret rosewood fingerboard with clay off-white dot inlays, small Strat-style headstock, six-on-one-side tuners, tremolo bridge, three-layer celluloid W/B/W greenish tint pickguard, three single coil staggered height pickups, three knobs (v, two tone), three-way pickup switch, jack angled into the top, nickel hardware, available in standard 3-Tone Sunburst finish or various custom color finishes, mfg. 1959-1965

Starting in 1954, the Stratocaster was offered with a solid, deeply contoured ash body, a 21-fret one-piece maple neck with black dot inlays, and Kluson tuning heads. The color was originally a two color sunburst pattern, although custom color guitars were produced. In 1956, Fender began using alder for sunburst and most custom color Stratocaster bodies; ash was still used on translucent blonde instruments.  In 1960, the available custom colors were standardized, many of which were automobile lacquer colors from DuPont available at an additional 5% cost. A unique single-ply, 8-screw hole white pickguard held all electronic components except the recessed jack plate—facilitating easy assembly.

Original Stratocasters were shipped with five tremolo springs, with the bridge set up to 'float,' with the pull of the strings in one direction countering the pull of the springs in the opposite direction. In this floating position, players could move the bridge-mounted tremolo arm up or down to modulate the pitch of the notes being played. Hank Marvin, Jeff Beck and Ike Turner used the Strat's floating tremolo extensively in their playing. As string gauges have changed, players have experimented with the number of tremolo springs, and modern Stratocasters ship with three springs. While the floating bridge has some advantages, some musicians find that these are outweighed by the tendency of the guitar to temporarily go out of tune during double-stop string bends, and many Stratocaster players tighten the tremolo springs so that the bridge is firmly anchored against the guitar body: in this configuration, the tremolo arm can still be used to slacken the strings and therefore lower the pitch, but it cannot be used to raise the pitch. (As the pitch can be raised through string bending, this can be a good compromise, depending on a player's style.) Some players, such as Eric Clapton and Ronnie Wood, feel that floating bridge has an excessive propensity to detune guitars and so inhibit the bridge's movement with a chunk of wood wedged between the bridge block and the inside cutout of the tremolo cavity and by increasing the tension on the tremolo springs; these procedures lock the bridge in a fixed position. Some Strats have a fixed bridge in place of the tremolo assembly; these are colloquially called "hard-tails". There is considerable debate about the effects on tone and sustain of the material used in the tremolo system's 'inertia bar' and many aftermarket versions are available.

The Stratocaster features three single coil pickups, with the output originally selected by a 3-way switch. Guitarists soon discovered that by jamming the switch in between the 1st and 2nd position, both the bridge and middle pickups could be selected, and similarly, the middle and neck pickups could be selected between the 2nd and 3rd position.  In 1977 Fender introduced a 5-way selector making such pickup combinations more stable.

The "quacky" tone of the middle and bridge pickups, popularized by players such as David Gilmour, Rory Gallagher, Mark Knopfler, Bob Dylan, Scott Thurston, Ronnie Wood, Ed King, Eric Clapton and Robert Cray, can be obtained by using the pickup selector in positions 2 and 4. The neck and middle pickups are each wired to a tone control that incorporates a single, shared tone capacitor, whereas the bridge pickup, which is slanted towards the high strings for a more trebly sound, has no tone control for maximum brightness. On many modern Stratocasters, the first tone affects the neck pickup; the second tone affects the middle and bridge pickups; on some Artist Series models (Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy signature guitars), the first tone is a presence circuit that cuts or boosts treble and bass frequencies, affecting all the pickups; the second tone is an active midrange booster that boosts the midrange frequencies up to 25 dB (12 dB on certain models) to produce a fatter humbucker-like sound.

After the introduction of the Fender Stratocaster Ultra series in 1989, ebony was officially selected as a fretboard material on some models (although several Elite Series Stratocasters manufactured in 1983/84 such as the Gold and Walnut were available with a stained ebony fretboard). In December 1965 the Stratocaster was given a broader headstock with altered decals to match the size of the Jazzmaster and the Jaguar.

During the CBS era, particularly the 1970s, the perceived quality of Fender instruments fell. During this time, vintage instruments from the pre-CBS era became popular.

When the Fender company was bought from CBS by a group of investors and employees headed by Bill Schultz in 1985, manufacturing resumed its former high quality and Fender was able to regain market share and brand reputation. Dan Smith, with the help of John Page, proceeded to work on a reissue of the most popular guitars of Leo Fender's era. They decided to manufacture two Vintage reissue Stratocaster models, the one-piece maple neck 1957 and a rosewood-fretboard 1962 along with the maple-neck 1952 Telecaster, the maple-neck 1957 and rosewood-fretboard 1962 Precision Basses, as well as the rosewood-fretboard "stacked knob" 1962 Jazz Bass. These first few years (1982–1984) of reissues, known as American Vintage Reissues, are now high-priced collector's items and considered as some of the finest to ever leave Fender's Fullerton plant, which closed its doors in late 1984.

In 1985, Fender's US production of the Vintage reissues resumed into a new 14,000 square-foot factory at Corona, California, located about 20 miles away from Fullerton.  Some early reissues from 1986 were crafted with leftover parts from the Fullerton factory. These three guitars formed an important part of the American Vintage Series line since July 10, 1998.

As well as the vintage reissues, Fender launched an updated model in 1987: the American Standard Stratocaster. This was tailored to the demands of modern players, notably having a flatter fingerboard, a thinner neck profile and an improved tremolo system. This model line has been continuously improved and is remains in production as of 2016. The model line received upgrades in 2000, when it was renamed as the American Series Stratocaster, and again in 2008, when the American Standard name was restored.

This category covers the Stratocaster from its inception in 1954 to the end of CBS production in late 1984. No U.S. production of the Stratocaster, other than the Vintage Reissue models, occured in 1985 and the only model standard production Stratocaster was produced in Japan. In 1986, Fender introduced the new American Standard Stratocaster under new managment led by Bill Schultz.
The Stratocaster is Fender's most popular guitar and they produced thousands of them. Changes in production were fairly well documented and they often happened within a short period of time. While the basic information about Stratocasters between 1954 and 1984 are covered here, several books and other articles are written about the topic, and we suggest looking into these titles for more detailed information.
Custom color Stratocaster's are extremely collectible in regards to their standard Sunburst counterparts. Blonde and Black finishes were introduced early on, but most custom colors were introduced in 1958. Below is a list of Stratocaster custom colors. All values listed below are for standard finishes, which is most often 2-Tone or 3-Tone Sunburst.
Please note that since there are so many variations of Stratocasters (finishes, body woodes, fingerboards, etc.) that each guitar needs to be individually appraised and evaluated. The following values listed are strictly a general guideline, and we suggest getting more than one opinion when buying or selling a Stratocaster.

Stratocaster: American/American Standard Series (1986-Present Mfg.)

Fender has continuously produced a standard American Stratocaster since the mid-1980s, but there are three distinct models within the series. The first series was called the "American Standard Stratocaster" and produced between 1988 and 2000. At the Summer 2000 NAMM show, Fender introduced the new "American Series" that was announced as an evolution of the American Series. Changes included American Deluxe body specs with a historically correct upper horn and non-veneered body, HSH pickup rout instead of the old "swimming pool," American Deluxe neck shape with rolled edges, Deluxe Staggered tuners, original headstock shape, custom staggered pickup magnets, three-ply parchment/black/parchment pickguard, and parchment pickup covers, knobs, and tips. At the Winter 2008 NAMM show, Fender introduced the third round of the American Stratocaster, and the name reverted back to the old one as the "American Standard Stratocaster." Changes include a new bridge with bent steel saddles, a new tinted neck treatment, thinner finish undercoat, and all guitars come with an SKB molded case.

Stratocaster: American Vintage Reissue Series

The '57 and '62 Vintage Reissue Stratocasters were originally produced at the CBS/Fender Fullerton facility between 1982-1985. These models were also the first Stratocasters of the post-CBS era to be made in the U.S. at the Corona, CA production facility in late 1985, and they were produced before the American Standard Stratocasters were introduced.

Prior to the formation of the Custom Shop, the Research and Development section used to construct custom guitars requested by artists. In 1987, Fender brought in Michael Stevens and John Page to start what was envisioned as a boutique lutherie shop - building an estimated 5 or 6 guitars a month. When work orders for the first opening month almost totaled 600, the operation was expanded, and more master builders were added to the Custom Shop. Michael Stevens later left the Custom Shop in the Fall of 1990.
The Custom Shop quickly began a liaison between artists requesting specific building ideas and Fender's production models. Page eventually became manager of both the Custom Shop and the R & D area, and some model ideas/designs that started on custom pieces eventually worked their way into regular production pieces.
In addition to the custom guitars and Limited Edition runs, the Custom Shop also produces a number of models in smaller production runs. The following models have a Stratocaster offset double cutaway body, bolt-on neck, 6-on-a-side headstock, three single coil pickups, and volume/2 tone controls (unless otherwise specified).

In 1994, Fender Custom Shop manager John Page, Fender Custom Shop Master Builder Jay Black, and Black's friend Vince Cunetto developed the first Fender Relic prototype guitars. Cunetto had established himself in building Telecaster replica bodies and Page and Black from the Custom Shop took note of his abilities. At the 1995 Winter NAMM show, Fender displayed two new Relic prototype guitars that were built by Black and Cunetto. Response from dealers was strong and Fender decided to add these guitars to their catalog; however, they decided that the Fender Custom Shop was not properly equipped to produce these guitars, so they hired Cunetto as an independent contractor to "Relic" the guitars. The first Relic guitars were introduced in 1996 with a '50s model and a '60s model and Cunetto continued to age and relic these guitars through 1998. It should be noted that Cunetto and his crew did not build, cut, or assemble any of these guitars - they simply did prep work, finishing, and distressing/aging of the guitars.
In 1999, Fender reorganized their effort and moved all production into their Custom Shop. They also introduced two new finishes/wears along with Relic: NOS and Closet Classic. Built to exacting specifications of their respective vintages, body contours and radii, neck shape, fingerboard radius, pickups, electronics and hardware. Original materials, tooling and production techniques are employed whenever possible, available in three distinct finish packages: NOS (New-Old Stock), as if the guitar was bought new in its respective year and brought forward to the present day; Closet Classic, as if guitar was bought new in its respective year, played perhaps a dozen times a year and then put carefully away (has a few slight dings, lightly checked finish, oxidized hardware and aged plastic parts) Relic, shows natural wear and tear of years of heavy use - nicks, scratches, worn finish, rusty hardware and aged plastic parts. Instruments are stamped on the headstock and into the body under the pickguard to avoid market confusion with actual vintage guitars.
In 2009, Fender discontinued the Closet Classic finish leaving only the NOS and Relic models. Fender also introduced the Classic HBS-1 Stratocaster that combines elements from both vintage and modern designs. The body, neck, and overall design are styled after a 1950s Stratocaster, but the pickups, electronics, and bridge are from modern designs.

Notable Strat clones

· Tom Anderson

· Schecter

· Melancon

· Warmoth

· USACG

· Bill Lawrence

· Suhr

· ESP

· G&L