Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open - 43

(LEFT) A key piece of the Strat's
sound involves the height of its
pickup polepieces. Leo Fender
adjusted them in an effort to
match to the output of each
string, as seen on a 1955 model
(top). For a time after CBS
aquired Fender, it used the design
(middle) before giving them a
more-uniform height (bottom).

The infamous three-bolt neck
plate with access hole for
Micro-Tilt neck adjuster.

Carson, a body shape borrowed from the well-received Precision
Bass developed by Leo and George Fullerton in 1951, and a vibrato
Leo designed (and refined with a heavy push from Carson) to be
part of the instrument, in contrast to the clumsy bolt-on Bigsby
used by competitors.
Beyond the mechanical elements, two common complaints
about the Tele centered on how its low E string often sounded
louder than the others, and the pickups would feed back when
the guitar was played at high volume, especially when the player
was close to their amp. With these things in mind, he tested several
new pickup designs that included coils of varying heights, widths,
and impedance. He also tested polepieces with different lengths and
diameters, and ultimately decided the new pickups would additionally
forgo metal covers and elevator plates. And while he claimed the guitar
was given three pickups simply because he had a surplus of threeposition selector switches, others point to the fact Gibson had been
using three on its popular ES-5 since 1949. Beyond that, though, each
of Leo's new pickups did a fine job rendering the tones he preferred
- a clear ringing that, when used with the vibrato, sounded like
a steel guitar. He had no way of knowing players would discover
how placing the selector= between pickup positions (neck with
middle, bridge with middle) would help the Strat produce sounds
that would largely define electric-guitar tone, or how the Strat
would impact the sound of popular music.
When Leo sold Fender to broadcasting giant CBS in early
1965, the company began to shift construction with an eye
infamously more to the bottom line than to quality materials,
fit, and finish.
The changes came slowly but immediately, starting in '65
with white plastic three-ply pickguards replacing the "mint

September 2017

43

Note the enlarged
headstock's
"transition
logo" paired
with original
Stratocaster
typeface on
this '66 model.

VINTAGE GUITAR



Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open

Contents
Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open - Cover
Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open - IFC
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