(Book). The world's most famous guitar had a golden anniversary in 2004, and this official, authorized book/CD package offers the best photos, quotes, facts and sounds to properly celebrate this achievement. From Buddy Holly to Jimi Hendrix to today's hottest players, the Fender Stratocaster defines rock'n'roll for generations of fans and players. Special features include exclusive photos from the world's greatest guitar collection, as well as a CD with musical examples of famous Strat sounds and styles hilariously performed by Greg Koch even spoken excerpts from the author's interviews with the Strat's beloved inventor, Leo Fender. This book also recognizes that the Stratocaster's deeper significance lies in the music that guitarists have created with it. You'll hear what Strat players have to say about their instrument, their music and each other. The Fender Stratocaster both reflects and influences popular culture worldwide. The Stratocaster Chronicles focuses on the people who brought it into the world, the designers and builders who refined it, and the players who have taken it from there.

THE STRATOCASTER GUITAR BOOK: A COMPLETE HISTORY OF FENDER'S GREATEST GUITAR

book for musicians, instrument collectors, and fans of Fender. This, at last, is the complete Fender story." --Book Jacket.

Revered as much as one's guitar, the Fender amplifier gets its due in this full-color, richly illustrated book. It will be highly desired by the millions who have plugged into one of these indispensable components, and were delighted at its sound. An accompanying CD features more than 50 tracks that make terms and topics come alive.

Fender’s Stratocaster is arguably the number-one instrument icon of the guitar world. When introduced in 1954, its offset space-age lines, contoured body, and three-pickup configuration set the music world on its ear—it was truly unlike any guitar that had come before. In the hands of the world’s most beloved players, the Stratocaster has since become a popular weapon of choice among rock, blues, jazz, and country players and, not coincidentally, is also one of the most copied electric guitars of all time In this authoritatively written, painstakingly curated, and gloriously presented tribute to the 60-year-old Fender Stratocaster, author Dave Hunter covers the guitar’s history from concept, design, and model launch through its numerous variations and right up to the present. The story is illustrated with archival images of Stratocasters and their players in action, studio shots of Stratocasters of varied vintage and provenance, memorabilia associated with famous players, and profiles of over 30 noted Strat slingers through the ages. Influential rock’n’ rollers like Buddy Holly, Hank Marvin, Ike Turner, and Dick Dale; blues players like Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt, and John Mayer; metal gods Richie Blackmore, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Dave Murray; esteemed rockers Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Ronnie Wood, Robbie Robertson, Rory Gallagher, Mark Knopfler, and Wayne Kramer; and post-punk heroes The Edge, John Frusciante, and Billy Corgan are all included. And so, of course, is Jimi Hendrix. With its unprecedented level of detail and stunning visuals, The Fender Stratocaster is the only book tribute worthy of the world’s greatest guitar.

Don’t fret! The music historian and guitar sleuth brings you more astounding stories of rare guitar finds and the legends who owned them. Do you dream of finding a 1954 Stratocaster or 1952 Gibson Les Paul online, at a garage sale, or in the local penny saver? How about virtually rubbing elbows with one of your favorite rock legends? Following up his first-of-its-kind The Strat in the Attic, musician, journalist, and “guitarchaeologist” Deke Dickerson shares the stories behind dozens of more astounding finds including: A rarer-than-hens-teeth 1966 Hallmark Swept-Wing that originally belonged to Robbie Krieger of the Doors, stashed away in an attic in Alaska for forty years! A crazy-valuable 1958 Gibson Flying V belonging to a Chicago bluesman—who, it turns out, also happens to have an equally rare 1958 Gibson Explorer! An out-of-the-blue, a “to whom it may concern” email leads the author to a trailer park in Salem, Oregon, where one of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys’ original 1940s Epiphone Emperor archtops is waiting to be purchased for a song! Luthier R.C. Allen relates the tales of buying Nat “King” Cole Trio guitarist Oscar Moore’s Stromberg Master 400 archtop and of being gifted a 1953 Standel amp from Merle Travis! Buddy Merrill, the amazingly talented guitarist from the Lawrence Welk show, gives his 1970 Micro-Frets Huntington to the author, but only if he “promises to PRACTICE.” Photos of the guitars and other exciting memorabilia round out a package that no vintage-guitar aficionado will want to be without! “The man knows how to tell a great story.” —Jonathan Kellerman, #1 New York Times–bestselling author

(Book). This third in a series of hardcover books joins the award-winning titles The Stratocaster Chronicles and The Soul of Tone by author/historian Tom Wheeler. In nearly 600 pages, The Dream Factory features hundreds of full-color photos of incredibly rare, collectible, and limited-edition handcrafted guitars. Learn how the Fender Custom Shop, originally intended to employ just two master craftsmen, grew into the most prolific custom instrument shop in the music industry. Features: * Foreword by Billy F Gibbons * More than 630 images illustrating the first master builders and their humble beginnings through the many changes up to present-day operations. Includes many one-of-a-kind custom guitar masterpieces and reproductions of acclaimed guitarists' instruments, such as Eric Clapton's "Blackie," Jimi Hendrix's Monterey Strat, Stevie Ray Vaughan's No. 1, and many more. A must-have for all guitar enthusiasts! * Unprecedented view inside one of the music industry's most creative custom instrument shops, revealing how playable works of art are created * Fascinating interviews with the shop's founders, most of the first-generation Master Builders, all of the current Master Builders, other key craftspeople, sales representatives, artists' guitar techs, marketers, executives, guitarists, and many of the graphic artists, woodcarvers, jewelers, pinstripers, graffiti artists, pearl-inlay specialists, and others who have partnered with the Master Builders to create art works of stunning beauty