![]() Manufactured in 1956 with the serial number 12073, it can be seen on the cover of his 1970 debut solo album Eric Clapton. It has an alder body, two-tone sunburst finish, maple neck, skunk-stripe routing and black dot inlays. Eric had bought Brownie for $400 at London’s Sound City, while touring with Cream in May 1967. The tone gives it away, but you need to be a guitarist of his towering stature to make it sing so well.Ĭlapton used the Stratocaster he called “Brownie” on the Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs album by Derek and the Dominos. Today you can buy an Eric Clapton signature Strat, along with those endorsed by Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Ritchie Blackmore (pictured above), and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.Īs soon as you hear the opening notes of Dire Straits‘ “Sultans of Swing,” played of course by Mark Knopfler, you know it’s a Strat. The Stratocaster came along in 1954 and it remains a mainstay of rock bands and just about every other kind of group. Jimmy Page played one on the solo of Led Zeppelin’s timeless “Stairway to Heaven.” King of the Chicago blues, Muddy Waters, was another who favored the Telecaster, as did Albert Collins, Stax man and Booker T and the MGs guitarist Steve Cropper.Īt the last ever live appearance by The Beatles, on the roof of the Apple building, George Harrison played a custom-made Telecaster. Eric Clapton played a Tele while he was with the Yardbirds and Blind Faith. James Burton, the guitar wizard who played with Elvis Presley and Rick Nelson, was one of its early stars. ![]() In the early days, it was country musicians that favored the Telecaster. It all depends on which pickup is used – “bridge” pickup for the twang and “neck” for the mellow tone. It’s known for its bright, rich, cutting tone, referred to as the telecaster twang, as well as its mellow, warm, bluesy tone. Ask just about any British guitarist that came after the Shadows and almost everyone will admit to having been impressed with Hank’s red and white Stratocaster.īefore the Stratocaster there was the Telecaster, the first solid-body electric guitar the initial single-pickup production model appeared in 1950 and was called the Esquire. That equates to about $2,900 today.įour years later, on the cover of the first album by British instrumental greats the Shadows, Hank Marvin is holding (admittedly not as visibly) the Stratocaster he had bought after seeing Holly’s on the Crickets album. Two years earlier, Buddy walked into Adair Music in Lubbock, Texas and traded his first electric guitar for a brand new Fender Stratocaster, which back then cost a shade over $300. They have a look, an aura of sleek refinement that says “Play me, play me loud, play me subtly and play me well.” Our celebration of this unique instrument honors Clarence Leonidas “Leo” Fender, the founder of the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, born on August 10, 1909.įor many people of a certain age, their first awareness of the Fender Stratocaster was on the cover of the 1957 Chirping Crickets album, on which Buddy Holly is clutching his guitar.
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