1987 Fender Stratocaster USA standard

In 1985, a group of employees and investors led by William Schultz purchased Fender from CBS. This sale put Fender in the hands of a small group of musically dedicated people. The 1987 NAMM saw the introduction of the American Standard Stratocaster which started everything from scratch again. This is one of the first of them, almost certainly made in 1987. I bought this guitar new from Carlsbro in Nottingham in 1987 for about £350 with a non-Fender hard case. An interesting thing about this guitar is the serial number. Only a few guitars like this with the "EE" serial number prefix were made from after the CBS sale to 1988. One E stands for eighties and the other for export. Otherwise specs are the same as other American Standards.

This guitar is number 1 in my blog list because it immediately became my main guitar and to me it is the most significant guitar I have owned because of its age, feel, sound and the fact that it is a classic.

At that time I also owned a 1984/5 Japanese Strat. I had  Chandlers in Kew install a Kahler locking tremelo. I also fitted a Dimarzio preamp - it was a unit which was a straight swap for the usual strat jack socket - it locked the jack and gave a huge gain boost. Along with the Seymour Duncan quarter pounder in the bridge position which I later replaced with a hot rails pickup it was a bit of a hooligan although the fact is that I never liked it much it with the Kahler fitted which did something to spoil the tone. Incidentally, when I was having the Kahler fitted, Charlie Chandler handed me a gorgeous goldtop guitar I had never seen before. It felt and played beautifully even without a locking trem (which was all the rage at that time). He told me he had just had a few of these guitars arrive from the states and this one was for Andy Summers of the Police. He asked me if I wanted one. Of course I couldn't afford it, as it was about £1,200. It was the first time I had heard of Paul Reed Smith and the guitar was a custom 24. That would be worth a few quid by now.

The American Strat standard was a much nicer guitar than the Japanese version, that I had rather spoiled and which I sold without any regrets at about that time.  However, I soon replaced the standard Fender single coil pickups (I still have them!) with Seymour Duncans - a hot rails at the bridge and two strat stacks which are still in the guitar. I used the guitar on hundreds of gigs, playing in working men's clubs, pubs and student unions in and around the East Midlands. No matter how many other guitars I have played since this strat feels familiar and comfortable whenever I pick it up. The weight is right and the neck and edges of the rosewood fingerboard have smoothed out perfectly. The joins in the 3 piece body are visible through the sunburst finish but it doesn't matter - everything fits tightly and it is a great instrument, aging nicely as it approaches its 25th birthday. I also replaced the tuners with locking Sperzels, as Fender fitted to the strat plus model of the same vintage, along with a graphite nut, fitted by Sheehans of Leicester who always did a great job. I invariably take two guitars to gigs (unless I am on bass when one is ok) and this would almost always be one of them.

I may blog later about amplifiers but I mostly played this strat through a c.1982 Mesa Boogie Mk2b 60/100 head and matching EV 1x12 - it was lethally loud but sounded great!