Fender Stratocaster

The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top horn for balance while standing. The Stratocaster has been used by many leading guitarists and can be heard on many historic recordings. Along with the Gibson Les Paul and the Fender Telecaster, it is one of the 'big three,' the most common and enduring models of electric guitar in the world. The design of the Stratocaster has transcended the field of music to rank among the classic industrial designs of all time; examples have been exhibited at major museums around the world.

The American Special series, new for 2010, sports many of the features found on the Highway-1 and American Standard Series guitars. Features include a solid alder body finished in a gloss urethane, 9.5"-radius maple necks with 22 jumbo frets, CBS large headstock with black Fender decals and three Texas Special pickups with 5-way switching and Fender's Greasebucket tone circuit. The HSS models feature a rosewood fingerboard, a 3-ply black pickguard and an Atomic humbucker pickup in the bridge position.

The Vintage Hot-Rod Series feature authentic '50s and early '60s designs paired with some hot-rod modifications, including flatter fretboards and larger frets to increase the playability of necks and modern pickups.

The American Special Series included Stratocasters with features that span the bridge between traditional and modern technology, either in specifications, design or both. Fender American Special series models were made in Corona, California (USA). The Floyd Rose Classic Stratocasters (made from 1992 to 2003) featured an original Floyd Rose locking tremolo bridge. They came in HSS (Fender DH-1 humbucker and 2 DeltaTone single-coils) and HH (dual Fender DH-1 humbuckers) configurations. Models manufactured before 1998 had DiMarzio PAF Pro humbucking pickups. The range also included the Honduran mahogany-bodied Strat-O-Sonic guitars with the choice of Black Dove P-90 soap-bars and Atomic II humbuckers, which lasted until 2007.

The VG Stratocaster (designed by Fender and Japanese synthesizer giant Roland) is an American Series virtual modeling guitar with a Roland VG pickup and two extra knobs for Tuning and Mode control. The tuning knob allows the player to switch between standard, Drop D, D Modal, open G, baritone, and twelve-string tunings. The Mode control knob allows the player to choose between Stratocaster, Telecaster, humbucking pickup, and acoustic guitar sounds. The VG Stratocaster was introduced in 2007 where it won "Best In Show" at the NAMM show; Fender discontinued this model as of April 1, 2009.

The Road Worn series includes a '60s Stratocaster (with rosewood fretboard) and a '50s Stratocaster (with maple fretboard), Tex-Mex pickups, a C-shape neck, Alder body, nitrocellulose lacquer, and 6105 frets. These guitars are deliberately aged to produce the "road worn" look of a vintage Stratocaster.

The Black Top series of dual Humbucker equipped Strats made in Mexico were introduced in September of 2010. They feature either rosewood or maple necks with adler bodies in various standard colors and finishes. They are issued as part of the new BLACK TOP series from Fender emphasising the Humbucker pickup in different positions on standard Fender models.