| Fender Stratocaster - COMING SUMMER/FALL 2026 |
| The Specs |
Year: 2025
Builder: Fender
Series: American Vintage II
Model: 1961 Stratocaster
Color: Fiesta Red
Hardware Finish: Chrome
Serial Number: V2xxxxxxx
Body: Alder
Body Finish: Gloss Nitrocellulose Lacquer
Body Binding: None
Cutaway: Double
Pickguard: 3-Ply Mint Green
Bridge: Pure Vintage Synchronized Tremolo
Saddles: Bent Steel
Fretboard: Rosewood
Fretboard Binding: None
Fretboard Inlay: Clay Dots
Neck: Maple
Neck Profile: 1961 "C"
Neck Finish: Gloss Nitrocellulose Lacquer
Nut: Bone
Headstock: Stratocaster
Headstock Binding: None
Headstock Logo: Gold Fender "Spaghetti" Logo Decal
Tuners: Pure Vintage Fender Deluxe
Neck Pickup: Pure Vintage '61 Strat
Middle Pickup: Pure Vintage '61 Strat
Bridge Pickup: Pure Vintage '61 Strat
Pickup Switching: 5-Way
Pickup Covers: Aged White
Control Knobs: Aged White
Controls: Volume, 2 Tone
Case: Fender vintage-style hardshell case
Body Size/Shape: Stratocaster
Frets: 21 Vintage Tall
Fretboard Radius: 7.25"
Scale Length: 25.5"
Nut Width: 1.65"
Body Width: 12.75"
Body Depth: 1.75"
Strings: D'Addario Chromes ECG24PL (11-50)
The very first guitar I ever owned was a red Memphis Stratocaster that my parents got me for Christmas in 1983. The classic Stratocaster shape became
the electric guitar in my mind.
This impression was further cemented as my taste in music shifted over the next couple of years, from the heavy metal that first inspired my interest in electric guitar to classic rock and blues. It seemed that almost all of the guitarists that I admired and tried to emulate were Stratocaster players—Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Cray, David Gilmour, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and especially Mark Knopfler.
I bought my first Fender Stratocaster when I was playing in my first band in high school. I was a big Eric Clapton fan at the time, so I purchased a Japanese-made black Strat with a white pickguard and a maple fretboard—just like Clapton's "Blackie." It was on that guitar that I really started developing as a player, as I got immersed in blues and blues-influenced rock music. I never had much talent for playing fast, but once I started focusing on playing with emotion instead, my playing quickly progressed.
In the 90's, when I played in the progessive folk-rock band Shiver, my main guitar was a sunburst American Standard Stratocaster that I purchased when the band started getting serious and I decided it was worth upgrading my gear. I would later own a white Gibson Les Paul Studio that I used on two specific songs, but the sunburst Strat was my clear favorite and constant sidekick during those years.
Over the next 25-30 years, buying and selling guitars would become an addictive hobby for me, and I've owned more Stratocasters than any other type of electric guitar (with Telecasters being a distant second). There's just something about the look and the sound—especially those instantly recognizeable "quacky" tones from positions 2 and 4 on the pickup selector switch—that keeps drawing me back to Strats.
I'm especially fond of clean Stratocaster tones through a good tube amp with spring reverb. There's something about that glassy tonality that really resonates with me—and it's a sound you can only get using a Stratocaster. Mark Knopfler is my favorite guitarist to listen to, but there are others who really make their Strats sound heavenly as well when played clean—SRV on "Tin Pan Alley" or "Riviera Paradise," Robbie Blunt's guitar work on Robert Plant's early solo albums, and James Calvin Wilsey's or Hershel Yatovitz's tasty playing with Chris Isaak.
