- FENDER HIGHWAY ONE STRATOCASTER POTS FULL
- FENDER HIGHWAY ONE STRATOCASTER POTS PLUS
- FENDER HIGHWAY ONE STRATOCASTER POTS SERIES
FENDER HIGHWAY ONE STRATOCASTER POTS FULL
I thought it was interesting that this Graffiti Yellow Strat in the picture, which had to be built before May of 1987, had a FULL Wilkinson nut, Lace Sensor pickups, the new 2-point American Standard bridge, and what looked like Sperzel locking tuners. Below are some picts from the magazine and the guitar in question.
FENDER HIGHWAY ONE STRATOCASTER POTS PLUS
I also wanted to see if he knew about the curious picture of Bruce Bolen, head of sales at Fender at the time, standing next to Dan Smith, holding what looked like a Strat Plus Prototype! This picture was found in the the May, 1987 issue of a British magazine called the Guitarist. I asked him about Jeff Beck and how he was connected with the Strat Plus advent. The picture to the right is a more current picture of George. Behind John to the left in the red shirt is Dan Smith, another Fender icon, the man who helped turn Fender's failing reputation around by bringing higher standards to the company. Behind him to the left is John Page of Fender Custom Shop fame and now owner of John Page guitars. The middle picture shows him in the lower center. (Side note: all were used in the "Prince Trust Live Aid,” "Live in Montreux" and "Eric Clapton and friends Live 1986" DVDs from 1986.)Ībove you will see in the 1st picture George right after he was hired at Fender. One was finished in Torino Red and the other two in Pewter Grey Metallic. As Fender started branching out with Signature model guitars, he ended up building three prototype models for Eric Clapton, using the new Lace Sensor pickups. In 1986, George Blanda was hired to get Fender’s Custom Shop up and running and was given the title, “Senior Design Engineer.” He was responsible for much of the design of the “new” American Standard Strats that were released that same year. This way you know this is no hearsay, but the story told by the man who actually made the Strat Plus design !!!! George's personal history is brought out in more detail on this page when we discuss the mysterious BOB body on the very early Strat Plus guitars, but let's start with a introduction.
This would become historically known as the Jeff Beck/Strat Plus prototype. In order to get the facts behind this story straight, I contacted George Blanda, the man who built the prototype that would be presented to Jeff Beck as a his Signature model. Finally, as we talk about the Plus Series, the Fender-Lace Sensor pickups, invented by Don Lace, was introduced in 1987, and a new upgraded version of the American Standard Strat was born = The Strat Plus! A Lace Sensor "Dually" was also used in the Ultra and the Version 1 Tele Plus which is two Lace Sensors placed side-by-side looking like a humbucker but were actually two independent pickups. Then in 1986 they started production on the new American Standard Stratocasters. When the Corona plant was started up, only the Vintage Reissue Stratocaster models were produced between late 1985 through 1986. from February, 1985 to October, 1985 (almost 8 months!). In the mid 1970s the "Thick Skin" high gloss all-polyester finish was introduced.Īfter CBS sold Fender in 1985, there was no production of Fender guitars in the U.S. Here's a few little tips to remember to help aid in dating those late 1970s and 1980s Stratocasters: Fender's three-way selector switch was updated to the Stratocaster's 5-way in 1977.
FENDER HIGHWAY ONE STRATOCASTER POTS SERIES
The model went through a series of changes through the years.
The Stratocaster was Leo Fender's second guitar design after the Telecaster around 1953, with actual production beginning in early 1954.
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