Martin Kelly, Terry Foster and Paul Kelly have been writing an extensive book called Fender: The Golden Age 1946-1970. After following the writing of the book on their website and on twitter (@GoldenAgeFender), I feel confident in saying they have researched the topic exhaustively. Covering instruments, amps, cases etc, the photos are absolutely glorious and would work just as a coffee table book. The accompanying text supplies all of the historical information you need to know about this iconic company. You can check out sample pages from Fender: The Golden Age by checking out this virtual book.
Tagged as:
fender,
strat,
stratocaster,
telecaster
If you have a Fender Strat you may have noticed that the metallic rods or polepieces on your pickups are at varying heights. Not all Strats have the staggered heights, but those that do are compensating for not having adjustable polepieces. But really this is just getting us to the question of why you would want to have staggered or adjustable polepieces. Fender explains:
“staggered polepieces help bring the volume of each individual string into balance so that one string or a couple strings aren’t disproportionally loud compared to the other strings. This is a sonic phenomenon that can and does happen, and depending on your ear for tone it can range from mildly noticeable to outright maddening”
To read more about this concept check out the article
. I adapted the photo above from hyperbros to highlight the polepieces with my super high tech green arrows.
Tagged as:
fender,
guitar,
guitar blogs,
stratocaster
