The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously manufactured the Stratocaster since 1954. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top "horn" shape for balance. "Stratocaster" and "Strat" are trademark terms belonging to Fender. Guitars that duplicate the Stratocaster by other manufacturers are sometimes called S-Type or ST-type guitars. Many prominent rock musicians have been associated with the Stratocaster for use in studio recording and live performances, most notably Eric Clapton, Buddy Holly, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Frusciante, Jeff Beck, George Harrison, and Tom Petty.
The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation is an American manufacturer and marketer of musical instruments and amplifiers. Fender produces acoustic guitars, bass amplifiers and public address equipment; however, it is best known for its solid-body electric guitars and bass guitars, particularly the Stratocaster, Telecaster, Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Precision Bass, and the Jazz Bass. The company was founded in Fullerton, California, by Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender in 1946. Andy Mooney has served as the chief executive officer (CEO) since June 2015.
The Fender Showmaster is a discontinued model of electric guitar made by Fender, and is characteristic of a superstrat.
Music Man is an American guitar and bass guitar manufacturer. Originally formed in 1971 by Forrest White and Tom Walker, along with Leo Fender as a silent partner, the company started manufacturing electric and bass guitars under the Music Man name in 1974. In 1984 it was acquired by Ernie Ball, and renamed Ernie Ball Music Man.
The Fender Precision Bass is a model of electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrument usually equipped with a single split-coil humbucking pickup and a one-piece, 20-fret maple neck with rosewood or maple fingerboard.
Superstrat is a name for an electric guitar design that resembles a Fender Stratocaster but with differences that clearly distinguish it from a standard Stratocaster, usually to cater to a different playing style. Differences typically include more pointed, aggressive-looking body and neck shapes with increased cutaways to facilitate access to the higher frets, an increased number of frets on the fingerboard, a contoured heel at the neck joint facilitating easier higher fret access, the usage of humbucking pickups, and locking vibrato systems, most commonly the Floyd Rose.
Charvel is a brand of electric guitars founded in the 1970s by Wayne Charvel in Azusa, California and originally headquartered in Glendora, California. Since 2002, Charvel has been under the ownership of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.
The Jackson Soloist is an electric guitar model introduced by Jackson Guitars in 1984, although prototypes were available before then. The design is a typical "superstrat"; it varies from a typical Stratocaster because of its neck-thru design; tremolo: Floyd Rose or similar, Kahler; or a fixed Tune-O-Matic; premium woods; a deeper cutaway at the lower horn for better access to the higher frets, and a sharper body with squared-off edges.
A headstock or peghead is part of a guitar or similar stringed instruments such as a lute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and others of the lute lineage. The main function of a headstock is to house the tuning pegs or other mechanism that holds the strings at the "head" of the instrument; it corresponds to a pegbox in the violin family. At the "tail" of the instrument the strings are usually held by a tailpiece or bridge. Machine heads on the headstock are commonly used to tune the instrument by adjusting the tension of strings and, consequently, the pitch of sound they produce.
The Guild Guitar Company is a United States-based guitar manufacturer founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge, a guitarist and music-store owner, and George Mann, a former executive with the Epiphone Guitar Company. The brand name currently exists as a brand under Córdoba Music Group. In February 2023, The Yamaha Guitar Group acquired Cordoba Music Group.
Kramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses. Kramer produced aluminum-necked electric guitars and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to hard rock and heavy metal musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of Gibson Guitar Corporation.
The Frankenstrat, also known as "Frankie", is a guitar created by Eddie Van Halen. Its name is a portmanteau of Frankenstein, the fictional doctor who created a monster by combining body parts of the recently deceased, and the Stratocaster, a model of electric guitar made by Fender.
Lado Musical Inc. is a Canadian guitar manufacturing company owned and operated by Joe Kovacic. The company is based in Lindsay, Ontario and produces electric guitars and basses. Vintage-custom, hand made Lado guitars remain some of the most sought after guitars in the world to date.
The Jackson Rhoads is a model of electric guitar, originally commissioned by guitarist Randy Rhoads and produced by Jackson Guitars.
The star is a body shape of solid body electric guitar, particularly favoured for heavy metal music. It blends some features of the Gibson Flying V and Gibson Explorer, both of them much older designs.
The Fender Custom Shop is a division of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, housed within its headquarters complex in Corona, Riverside County, California. The Fender Custom Shop produces special-order guitars for customers through a Custom Shop dealer network, creates limited edition high end quality guitars, builds limited edition amplifiers, and does some research & design for the parent company.
Electric guitar design is a type of industrial design where the looks and efficiency of the shape as well as the acoustical aspects of the guitar are important factors. In the past many guitars have been designed with various odd shapes as well as very practical and convenient solutions to improve the usability of the object.
Grover Jackson is an American luthier best known for designing and making various guitar models at Jackson Guitars, such as Jackson Rhoads and Jackson Soloist during the 1980s.
The Charvel Surfcaster is a model of electric guitar designed and produced in the early 1990s by the Charvel/Jackson guitar company. The Surfcaster was manufactured in Japan at the Chushin Gakki factory as were all the import Charvel guitars in this era. In addition the Charvel Jackson Guitar company released the Surfcaster in 1991 with advertising and public relations featuring Steve Cropper as an official endorsee. The Surfcaster has been considered a boutique style guitar that employs many retro styles from leading manufacturers of the fifties and sixties. These design aspects make it significantly different from other models by Charvel/Jackson that focused mainly on the hard rock guitarist. The Surfcaster was picked as a "Pawn Shop Prize" by Guitar Player magazine in July 2003.
The Fender Prodigy is a discontinued model of electric guitar produced by Fender from 1991 to 1993. It is one of Fender's attempts to compete with the superstrat-style guitars produced by Ibanez, Jackson/Charvel, Carvin Corporation and Yamaha. Since the Prodigy series was discontinued after about 2+1⁄2 years of production without a clear reason, it is considered one of Fender's rare models because of its limited production. Fender also produced a Prodigy Bass based on the Precision Bass Plus Deluxe featuring a P/J pickup layout (P as in Fender Precision Bass and J as in Fender Jazz Bass), 2-band active circuitry and a "fine-tuner" Schaller Elite bridge assembly.
