A 1969 "Hendrix" Strat.

1969 Fender Stratocaster.

This "Hendrix" Stratocaster has a three-tone sunburst solid alder body, contoured on the back and lower bass bout and weighs 7.60 lbs. One-piece maple neck with a nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches, a scale length of 25 1/2 inches and a very comfortable medium neck profile. Veneer rosewood fretboard with 21 original frets and pearloid dot position markers. Large headstock with decal with Fender logo in black with gold trim, "Stratocaster" in black beside it, "With Synchronized Tremolo" in black beneath it, and two patent numbers in black below that: "PAT. 2,741,146 3,143,028." "Original Contour Body Patented" on the ball end of the headstock. Single 'butterfly' string tree with nylon spacer. Fender "F" closed-back tuners with octagonal metal buttons. Four-bolt neckplate with the serial number "210790" between the top two screws. The end of the neck is stamped "22 MAY 69B." Three single-coil pickups with staggered polepieces and balanced outputs of 5.41k, 5.43k, and 5.51k, respectively. Four-layer plastic pickguard (white, black, white, plus mother-of-pearl "mother-of-toilet-seat" underneath) with eleven screws. Three controls (one volume, two tone) plus three-way pickup selector switch, all on treble side of pickguard. White plastic Stratocaster knobs. Fender "Synchronized Tremolo" combined bridge/tailpiece. The potentiometers are all stamped "137 6618" (CTS May 1966). There are a few minor dings and surface marks and some minimal wear to the back of the neck. The original frets have been dressed and do show some signs of playing wear. This "Hendrix" Strat is in excellent plus (9.00) condition and is an exceptional player. Complete with the original tremolo arm. Housed in its original Fender black hardshell case with orange plush lining (8.50).

"The Stratocaster was launched during 1954 [and was priced at $249.50, or $229.50 without vibrato]...The new Fender guitar was the first solidbody electric with three pickups [Gibson's electric-acoustic ES-5, introduced five years earlier, had been the overall first], meaning a range of fresh tones, and featured a new-design vibrato unit that provided pitch-bending and shimmering chordal effects. The new vibrato -- erroneously called a 'tremolo' by Fender and many others since -- was troublesome in development. But the result was the first self-contained vibrato unit: an adjustable bridge, a tailpiece, and a vibrato system, all in one. It wasn't a simple mechanism for the time, but a reasonably effective one...Fender's new vibrato had six bridge-pieces, one for each string, adjustable for height and length, which meant that the feel of the strings could be personalized and the guitar made more in tune with itself...The Strat came with a radically sleek, solid body, based on the outline of the 1951 Fender Precision Bass. Some musicians had complained to Fender that the sharp edge of the Telecaster's body was uncomfortable...so the Strat's body was contoured for the player's comfort. Also, it was finished in a yellow-to-black sunburst finish. Even the jack socket mounting was new, recessed in a stylish plate on the body face...the Fender Stratocaster looked like no other guitar around especially the flowing, sensual curves of that beautifully proportioned, timeless body. The Stratocaster's new-style pickguard complemented the lines perfectly, and the overall impression was of a guitar where all the components ideally suited one another. The Fender Stratocaster has since become the most popular, the most copied, the most desired, and very probably the most played solid electric guitar ever" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of Fender, p. 18).