The Stratocaster in 1954: Birth of a Legend

by Gary Bohannon

There’s an incredible 1954 Strat at the store right now. I thought I’d use the occasion to talk about Fender’s Flagship guitar, it’s early development and some of the players that have used the guitar to achieve massive fame and fortune.

The Fender Stratocaster is one of the most iconic musical instruments ever made. Maybe the most popular electric guitar ever produced. Almost every famous guitar player from Eldon Shamblin, with Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys, to John Mayer has had a reckoning with the iconic design from Fullerton, California. Players as diverse as Buddy Holly to Jimi Hendrix, to Ike Turner, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Eric Clapton, Jimmie Vaughan and his little brother Stevie Ray Vaughan used the Strat to it’s fullest potential to make their music.

I hope that by the end of this writing you’ll know a bit more about how the Strat was developed and some of the differences the early ’54 “Prototype” Strats have from the production guitars that followed. The interesting thing, for me anyway, is to contrast an early ’54 with a regular production guitars that followed in the 50s and early 60s. What always amazes me is how “Right” the Strat was from the absolute introduction of the model. It’s so much like the Telecaster’s history; Fender did their level best to work out all the problems with each guitar before they were rolled out to the public. Look at the cars made in the 1950’s versus what’s made today. Big difference, huge difference! Now, compare and contrast a 1954 Stratocaster with a current production American Standard Strat today. Not much difference at all. That is such a testament to Leo Fender, his vision and the skilled craftsman that took his idea to fruition.

A little bonus: at the end of this article I’ll include one of the greatest tips, that I got from a few different Strat icons, about how to make that darned ol’ bridge pickup sound good. Spoiler alert… it’s the simplest thing ever and it’s free!

Years ago I had the good fortune to meet, and make friends with, a man by the name of Bill Carson. At the time I met Bill, and his wonderful wife Susan, they were working for Fender as sales reps for the Southeast region. I remember Bill telling me he was so happy that I wasn’t after him for stories about what it was like to work for Fender back in the day. Most of our discussions were about the age old guitarist obsession, tone. Bill was as big a tone junkie as I ever met. It was fascinating to go down the rabbit hole of amps, guitars, speakers, strings and all the other things that make for great sound. Later on, as I got to know Bill better those stories about the old days at Fender came on their own. It was so fascinating to hear about how the guitar was born from someone who was right there as it happened and had a hand in it’s development as well.

From Bill’s perspective it was all about comfort. Bill was an Oklahoma transplant to Southern California and he was also a pro musician. He played guitar for Hank Thompson, Lefty Frizzell and Spade Cooley and other Western Swing bands that needed a great guitar player. When Fender began work on the prototypes for the Strat Bill had a great suggestion: Chamfer the back of the guitar’s body so the it didn’t dig into a players ribs, like the Tele did when worn high up on a strap; or when playing the guitar sitting down. Also, remove a little wood, on the top of the guitar, where the right arm rests over the body. For Bill, it was all about making the guitar as comfortable as possible to play.

Eventually, all through 1953, and into the Fall of 1954, Fender developed the new guitar and by the Spring of 1954 it was ready for it’s debut.

The Stratocaster was a radical design for it’s time. After being presented at the Spring NAMM Show in 1954 for the first time. Guitar players looked at the new guitar and scratched their heads. Here was a modern musical instrument that was exactly right for the times: The Jet Age! America was coming into the apogee of the it’s Golden Age. Especially when it came to manufacturing, America led the charge for just about everything. From jet powered airplanes, affordable new suburban homes, beautiful cars, to sleek, efficient washing machines to Jet Age looking guitars that promised to take their new owners to “Stratospheric” heights.

Well, as far as Fender’s new creation goes, things were a bit slow to take off. Eldon Shamblin, of Bob Wills’s Texas Playboys, was given a new gold painted Strat directly from Leo himself. Leo loved country music and especially Western Swing; a music that Bob had helped to invent. Leo distributed quite a few prototype Strats to local Country and Western players in the Los Angeles area. Not too many people took notice. Unfortunately for Leo, Western Swing music was in decline in the mid ‘50s. There was another form of music that was ascending. And it was ascending quickly! Rock ’n’ Roll was taking over the radio airwaves.

In 1955 rock ’n’ roll was still in it’s infancy when along came a man from Lubbock Texas: Buddy Holly. The first time Buddy saw a Strat he knew it was the instrument of his future. It was love at first sight. Eventually Buddy convinced his brother to loan him the money to buy his first Fender guitar, a 1955 Stratocaster.

Buddy was a great songwriter, singer and guitar player. Soon he began making his mark on the music business with his band The Crickets. As far as other early pro’s who chose a Strat, none was more influential, at least in the Rhythm and Blues world, than: Izear Luster “Ike” Turner Jr.

Ike hailed from Clarksdale Mississippi. He was a barrelhouse/ boogie boogie piano player non-parallel. He got his start playing piano in juke joints and houses of ill repute around the Delta. Mead Lux Lewis and Roosevelt Sykes were his main piano influences. He told me this when we had a chance to sit down and talk at the King Biscuit Blues Festival back in (I think it was…) 2002.

Ike told me he never considered himself a guitar player, he was a piano player who had to play guitar. I asked why he, “Had” to play guitar? “I couldn’t find a guitar player who played what I wanted to hear.” Sounds like a good enough reason to pick up the guitar to me! And pick up the guitar Ike did. He liked the modern look of the Strat and how he could get some many sounds out of one guitar. He also loved the vibrato bar that the Strat featured. He REALLY loved it and set out to revolutionize music with his use of the, pick you fave term: Whammy bar, trem bar, vibrato bar, panic bar, wiggle stick… whatever you want to call it, Ike was into using it. And he used it to it’s fullest extent. Check out an Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm song on YouTube called, “Much Later” for a eye opener.

Ike used the bar on a Strat in a way Leo Fender, and all the rest of the designers at Fender, never thought about. Ike, along with his killer band, The Kings of Rhythm, 1956 “The Kings of Rhythm” ruled the R&B charts all through the ‘50s. 1950’s guitar heroes especially the West Side Chicago guys like Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and Magic Sam all played Strats because Ike played one.

Ok, enough history lessons. Let’s take a closer look at the early 1954 Strats. Most all of them from their inception in the Spring of ‘54 until the Fall of the same year can be considered prototypes and extremely rare. Here’s a few things to look for on early first year of issue Strats:

1. The maple neck is heavily contoured at the edges. Only early ’54 Strats have those rounded headstock edges that look so cool. That’s Tadeo Gomez the artist at work. He shaped almost all the early Strat necks.

2. The bodies were more heavily contoured than the later ’54 guitars. I’ve often thought of ’54 Strats as have the most elegant curves that any Strat ever had.

3. The pickups featured AlNiCo 3 magnets. This was a holdover from the way Telecaster pickups were made. A3 magnet pickups could best be described as, “Dry” or “Country”, maybe “Twangy” might be the best descriptor? By mid ’55 the magnets were changed to AlNiCo 5 and that’s the way they’ve been ever since.

4. The “Plastic” on the guitar was quite different from what we’re used to these days. The early ’54 guitars used a molded plastic that was like Polystyrene for the pickup covers and the knobs. The covers have a swirly look to them like the Fada catalin radios of the ‘40s. The knobs are larger than what we’re used to seeing with rather short skirts where the numbers go. These early parts were very fragile and often cracked, or broke. This led Fender to start using a more sturdy plastic when the Strat when into regular production in the Fall of 1954. And another, yet more sturdy thermoplastic by Spring of 1957.

Some minutia. Let’s really drill down on the early ’54’s.

1. The inertial block, called the “Trem block” these days, was not drilled as deep as later blocks. The string ends sat right at the end of the block. The block also featured more rounded edges than what we’re used to seeing from late ’54 on. By late ’54 the holes were deepened to accommodate larger string ball ends.

2. The early switch tips, also made of “Bakelite” (actually Polystyrene as well) looked kind of like a football. By late ’54 the switch tip became the pear shaped unit we all know… and lose, haha!

3. The earliest Strats, probably the first 100 to 150 guitars, have the serial number impressed on the Bakelite trem cover, on the back the guitar. That cover also featured round access holes for the strings. These proved to small for use and were soon changed to oblong holes.

4. After the first 100/150 guitars the serial number moved to the usual place on the neck plate. The early serial numbers on these plates have four digits.

5. The “Worm route” in the bridge pickup route is missing from the early guitars. By Fall of ‘54 the area where the pickup wires are routed to the switch was made less shallow by hand chiseling the wood in this area. By 1955 the wood was removed with a hand held ball router. The reason this was done was to make the area where the pickup wires traveled to the switch deeper so the pickguard fit better and sat flat on the face of the guitar.

6. The early ’54 bridge saddles have “Fender Pat Pend” stamped on them. The stamp is very faint and uneven in the beginning. Definitely looks like it done by hand.

7. The earliest Strats, the first 100/150, have 100K pots instead of the 250K pots that became the norm. 100K pots in a Strat are kind of fun to try. Kind of takes the whole tone spectrum of the guitar to a completely different place. If you’re into blues try putting a 100K pot in the volume position of your Strat.

8. The first case for the Strat is a form-fit affair known as the “Poodle case” with collectors. They’re incredibly fragile and usually disintegrated over time. Finding one in good shape is something to see and very rare.

9. A few of the first Strats featured sassafras bodies. This is incredibly rare to see. It’s easy to spot one as they have incredibly tight grain patterns. Almost all Strats, from the beginning, were made of ash until the change to alder in late 1956.

Ok, I think we’ve touched on the major points regarding the details of the inception of the Stratocaster. Thank you for coming along with me for this little history lesson. If you have a chance please come down to Carter Vintage and see the 1954 guitar we currently have. It’s insanely rare and one of the best examples of a Strat from the early “Prototype” stage of the guitar’s development.

Oh, I almost forgot your tip! Ok, get ready for this because it totally works and best of all, it’ s free. I got this tip from quite a few different, and very famous (I won’t name names… Paul McCartney told me it’s not cool to drop names) guitar players known to use a Strat. The question I asked all of them, “How do you make that sometimes too bright, nasty and thin sounding bridge pickup on a Strat sound good? I mean, how do you actually use that thing?” From every Strat icon I asked I got the same exact answer. It was rather uncanny how uniform, and consistent, the answers were actually. Ok, here it is…

Amp up, guitar volume down. Or, as Ike Turner told me (sorry Paul)… “turn the damn thing (the amp) up and turn the damn thing (the guitar) down.”

That’s all you have to do. That’s it! Crank the amp a bit more than you’re used to. If you usually run your amp at “5” or under, try turning it up to at least “7 or 8.”

Now, put your Strat on the bridge pickup and turn the volume of the guitar down to around 4 or 5 or so, a little bit more to solo. Viola! Fat, very Tele-like, wonderful tone from a Strat bridge pickup. It’s like a miracle. You’re welcome.

Gary Bohannon is Senior Authenticator and Acquisitions for Carter Vintage. If you have a vintage instrument you'd like to sell through CVG, reach out to [email protected]