Fender Stratocaster - CBS Buys Fender; Player Modifications

CBS Buys Fender; Player Modifications

Many artists discovered that the 3-way pickup selector could be lodged in between settings (often using objects such as matchsticks or toothpicks to wedge it in position) for further tonal variety, resulting in a unique sound when two pickups are combined. Jimi Hendrix would also move the switch across the settings while sustaining a note, creating a characteristic 'wobbly' sound, similar to that created by the wah-wah pedal. Since 1977, the Stratocaster has been fitted with a 5-way switch to make such switching more stable. This switch is the same electrically as the original 3-way, but with extra detents for the in-between settings. Other subtle changes were also made to the guitars over the years, but the basic shape and features of the Strat have remained unchanged. In the 1970s and 1980s, some guitarists began modifying their Stratocasters with humbucking pickups, especially in the bridge position, to create what became known as a Fat Strat. This was intended to provide a thicker tone preferred in the heavier styles of hard rock and heavy metal. The popularity of this modification grew and eventually Fender began manufacturing models with a bridge humbucker option (HSS), denoted and separated from the original triple single coil by the title of "Fat Strat", as a reference to the humbucker's distinct sound, as well as models with dual humbuckers (HH), better known as "Double Fat Strats". Fender also started making Stratocaster pickguards specially designed for guitar bodies routed for HSH (humbucker-single-humbucker) and HHH (humbucker-humbucker-humbucker) pickup configurations.

Since 1998, many high-end US-made Fender Stratocasters such as the American Deluxe, American, Hot Rodded American, American Special and American Standard series came with an HSH pickup rout instead of a "swimming pool" (or "bath tub") cavity to increase the total amount of wood that actually can resonate, producing a more complex tone. The HSH rout allows players to modify their pickups to the most often seen after-market configurations without re-routing or cutting into their guitar's body, while maintaining more wood than a "swimming pool" rout.

Players perceived a loss of the initial high quality of Fender guitars after the company was taken over by CBS in 1965. As a result, the late-1960s Stratocasters with the large "CBS" headstock and (from the mid 1970s) the 3-bolt necked models (instead of the conventional 4 bolts) with the "Bullet" truss-rod and the MicroTilt adjustment system fell out of fashion. However, many blues-influenced artists of the late 1960s soon adopted the Stratocaster as their main instrument, reviving the guitar's popularity. Also, so-called 'pre-CBS' Stratocasters are, accordingly, quite sought-after and expensive due to the perceived difference in quality even compared with contemporary post-CBS models. In recent times, some Stratocasters manufactured from 1954 to 1958 have sold for more than US$175,000.

After a peak in the 1970s, driven by the use of several high profile players, another lull occurred in the early 1980s. During that time, CBS-Fender cut costs by deleting features from the standard Stratocaster line, despite a blues revival that featured Strat players such as Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray and Buddy Guy in their choice of the Stratocaster as a primary blues-rock guitar. Yngwie Malmsteen is known for playing a Stratocaster in the Neo-Classical genre.