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. At the dawn of the Schultz era, things began to come back into focus, and in 1985, with Schultz and his investors now owning the company, Fender faced one of its most daunting design challenges yet: Build a better Stratocaster. Not a reissue, not a cost cutter, not a “Cadillac,” not an import — just a basic U.S. Strat. A new Strat was developed in 1986, unveiled to key dealers, and introduced to critical raves at the January 1987 NAMM trade show. Details included typical features (three-layer pickguard, one-piece maple neck, etc.), plus a small headstock, 4-bolt neck, a 9 1/2” radius fingerboard with jumbo frets, a TBX tone circuit, a redesigned tremolo with two bearing points instead of six screws, flat-polepiece pickups, a hum-reducing, reverse-polarity pickup in the middle position, a silver transition logo, and a urethane finish. All information is based on Gibson's own documents and literature. * The different stages of evolution of the electric guitar, with detailed speci fications of all models introduced up to 1961. After much lobbying Left handeders are going to get a shot at these collectable babies. No one changed the sound of guitar music more than Leo Fender. The Bass is widely used in many musical genres, including rock and roll, heavy metal, jazz, funk, Gothic rock, Hard rock, country, and disco. Hendrix is known to have owned and played approximately 32 Strats, as guitarists fondly call them. Tying for distant second place are two Gibson models, the Flying V and the SG, of which Hendrix owned two each. The reissues of ’82 were okay, but many players had the real thing and they were still affordable. Guitar Jazz Learn.
