The Fender Stratocaster’s Greatest Moments - GH TOP TENS 

I think that anytime Hendrix picked up a Strat is one of the greatest moments,,,,He was Leo's greatest salesman

Thank you for including the great Rory Gallagher in the list. Too often he is forgotten

I think if you want to talk individual moments that defined and brought attention to the Fender Stratocaster, Eric Johnson’s appearance on Austin City limits playing Cliffs of Dover was iconic. At the time hair metal with its superstrats was phasing out but still had a foothold. Grunge was in its infancy, and though it sometimes used more vintage style guitars, the sound certainly wasn’t what one would associate with the Strat. EJ’s performance made jaws drop and reminded everyone of what a strat could do in the hands of a great guitar player.

This was fun ! Thanks for the memories.

...Thank you,Sir,for doing this & much-love from Southern Illinois!!!..."Me & Strats" were both released to the planet in 1954!!!...(...1/11/54,for me...)...,My Brother,in my "mis-spent-youth,I "Roadied" quite-a-bit!!!...In the "State-Fair-Circuit",I had the "Honor"of working a "SRV" gig!!!..."I" not-only removed #1from the case,BUT I held-it & placed it in the stand!!!...THEN,I met SRV & "HE HUGGED ME!!"...(...Not an "Autograph-Hug",but like two class-mates that hadn't seen each other for a while...)...No pictures,No proof, BUT the "MEMORY" I will carry to my grave...Peace...

Another brilliant video!

Great video again! My first "real" guitar was a Brown 1979 with black plate that i bought new from a store in Stockholm. It had a maple fretboard and i used it for a coupe of years before i sold it back to the store (cheap) to get money for parts to my Chevy. I still regret that i sold it.

Excellent,well done,your iconic picks were spot on,but you forgot me !!!

I saw a picture of Hendrix burning his strat at an old black and white magazine in the late 70’s when I was 5 or 6 years old and at that moment I realized I was a guitarist and the strat was going to be my instrument for life… I snagged that magazine from my dads collection and I would stare at it every day…it was the 10 year anniversary of his death…. It was a while before I started to learn guitar and many years before I owned my first strat.. no matter how many fancy guitars I’ve owned and played since then, grabbing a strat always reminds me of Jimi and makes me feel home…

Loved the video! Well done and researched as usual ... Love SRV's Number One! Love and prayers to your family ❤️

Great show! Really enjoyed it. I’m sure we all have our own ideas about the particular order of the events but you certainly caught the main ones.

Stevie’s Number 1 is a sight to behold. The most striking thing was the size of the frets. We’ve all heard that he liked jumbo bass frets, but these were railroad tracks. I have some of the largest available frets on all of my Strats, and they’ve still smaller than Stevie’s.

This is a great topic ! Here before,,,,prob will be again. A personal moment for me would be Danny Kirwan's use of a Stratocaster on Fleetwood Mac's "Station Man" from Kiln House. A good friend heard this song on SF's KMPX back when it came out, loved the track, bought the album and shortly after. i did, too. This is '70/ '71. "Tell Me All The Things You Do" has some great Strattiness. too. The older brother of another friend had Blue Horizon imports of FM's Mr Wonderful and such but tho i was into Cream, LZ, GFR and stuff by then, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac was too deep for this 13 year old kid Got into them later. ha, The door opened by a song played on a Strat by a band usually using Gibsons.

Outstanding! Great choices, and very informative.

A thoughtful, interesting collection.

I don't know enough about guitars to comment. But I enjoyed the video, as always. I love music. Best wishes to your son.

Played Gibson Les Paul, SG. Played Kramer, Jackson, Ricky's and Ibanez.....all on stage and in the moment. For me hands down, give me my Strat and my Tele bi-amped through Marshall Fender. Kick ass.

Nicely Done !!! Yes, Buddy Holly should be rightly be #1. I thought of this for years (i'm 64, born in '57) Side note for me would being 4 in '61 and my older sister buys The Colorful Ventures. Bob Bogle, SB Jazzmaster, Don Wilson, SB Strat. Coolest thing i'd ever seen,,,two guys on chairs with great threads and great guitars. Sadly, Don Wilson passed away this last weekend, Last original surviving member. A few Strats here,,,'75 HT SB MN, Great until things got 'hot' and it got slippery. Memphis in '81, Quarter Pounder couldn't save it. '85, i demo the MIJ Sq . Passed. Buy an Arbor Woodstock type,,,,rental used and saved about $100. It's on a stand now. All about the fingerboard radius,, MIA Peavey Predator Turbo, $ 249, '95 BTW, story with the JB Strat. Tour with John Maclaughlin. Buys a guitar at every big city and asks Jeff to play them. one, "I don't want to play your guitars anymore" John, "Well, do you like it ?" JB, "Yes". "It's yours" The Wired Strat,,,,ha, same year as i i bought mine in '76. Blue Wind anyone ?

The reason the Strat is so ubiquitous among even non-musicians is because it can play literally EVERY style of music. It’s versatility created whole GENRE’S of music. Plus Leo Fender as a person, and Fender as a company has NEVER been afraid to change it up to make it even more versatile. From jazz to straight up death metal, and everything in between, the Strat has done it ALL.

Fun and interesting. Looking forward to the Les Paul episode.

I know it’s all just opinion but the Hendrix #4 slot seems silly. Try #1. You made a good point about the financial impact of Clapton’s use of Strats. Given Blackmore was the most influential electric guitarist from the death of Hendrix to the emergence of Van Halen he is more worthy of your list than having two Hendrix entries. Holly may belong on the list but not at #1, and Mr Fender would be better placed at #10.

1955's "Tight Spot" with Ginger Rogers and Brian Keith, may be the first movie exposure of the then new Stratocaster. Check it out!

Great vid!!! I've got a Strat story for you. I'm certain every one remembers Frank Marino. A good friend, saw him at the California Jam. (Mind you, this guy stuttered worse than me. He was always ready to try any pharmaceutical, never one to ask too many questions. He'd get to stuttering & his head would be bobbing up & down, his hand shaking. The guy was quite the character.) At the end of Mahogany Rush set, Marino threw his Strat down on the stage. A single purple tight spot light lit it up, as the feedback was screaming, "Mee Aw Mee Aw Mee Aw" for a considerable length of time. Finally some guy in the crowd jumps up & starts screaming "Turn it off!!! Turn it off!!! For God'sake TURN IT OFF" my buddy says "W W W W What a weak d*ck!" (Know this, in the Navy back then, especially in aviation, a "weak d*ck" was the ultimate insult. Much akin to being called a Fraidy Cat, or Scaredy Cat, when I was much younger. Mind you my Granddaughter informed me, Fraidy/Scaredy Cat is still a bitter insult, when levied against another kid. She's 7.) Hope your son is doing good. Be blessed.

When George Harrison walked out on the stage of Madison Square Garden, playing a white Stratocaster, for both shows for the Concert for Bangledesh quite a cool picture,,

11:02 in reality Hendrix used 3 strats at Monterey! The black one that we all know and a sunburst big headstock strat for ONLY Can You See Me, unfortunately that was the only song that wasn't filmed in his set but we have a photo of him playing that strat with his theet at the festival, and after the red strat that he burned during Wild Thing

to say that Clapton made more people buy a Stratocaster than Jimi, Eddie, or Stevie (yes I know it's not actually a strat) is loony! (good video hehe)

A Fiesta Red Stratocaster that Jimi painted White. Jus' Sayin'.

This is an Al Gore Rhythm Comment before I watch the video.

Okay, you have my attention ...

This is a great video and as always, I can tell you put a ton of work into it, but the background music you've added this time is very distracting, in my opinion. It competes for attention with your dialogue. Hope this is taken as a constructive suggestion.

I'm still a Gibson man thanks Jimmy P And personally I like Clapton's sound before the fender

A top ten list? Boy, do I hate them. Yeah, buddy, you're top ten is probably gonna be so NOT my top ten. Oh, yeah, that tenth one was pretty good. Oh yeah, and the ninth. Woah, your eighth? Yup. And the seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth, third, second and wow, you had Buddy Holly as #1? Cool. Really cool. Rocking cool. Did I say I really like top ten lists?

👍

My all honey ‘caster is the prize of my collection.

Ritchie Blackmore made me buy a maple stratocaster!

Okay, where did you get the strap?

Jimi was the REAL savior of the Strat. Fender was about to discontinue its production and then along came the Voodoo Child. There is one name who really should've been mentioned, Dick Dale.

I wonder if Hank Marvin’s Strat was the first in Europe never mind just the UK?

Clapton bought them all and FranKastered them to friends.

Strat's Mmm yeah cool but Tele's actually sound better.

Too much Jimi…..Jeff Beck should be in there.

You didn't say anything about George Harrison's Rocky Strat.

FYI - Allot of this information is completely inaccurate! He knows just enough to be dangerous. Stops short of throwing shit against the wall but we’re not dealing with subjective content matter when we’re discussing dates of guitars (the most famous guitars in history BTW. First- #1 was a 62 body with a 63 neck and 59 pickups, not a 63 body with a 62 neck. I could live with that as being a simple mistake. But to then say it had Red’s neck put on it (it was actually Scotch’s neck that went on it (Red was the maple strat with the mandolin inlay that he played Lenny and Riviera Paradise on). The Strat Dylan played at Newport was a 64 not a 62. It sold at Christie’s for almost a million dollars and it is a 64. You can’t pass this stuff off as fact and be dead wrong bro. Something is getting lost between the research I have no doubt you’re doing but you’re jumbling things up in some which way. Bottom line is for sure you’re not editing. You can’t be this wrong and call yourself the guitar historian. I’m not being gickle or a troll dude. I’m not an aficionado and as soon as you said the dates on both of those I knew you were wrong. So imagine what more learned people than me realized. Got to get dates on famous guitars right. Its not subjective content.