Fender ‘The Strat’ 1982

This is the first good guitar I’ve ever had, and is probably my favorite. It is part of a series that Fender had out from the late part of 1980 until late 1982. As a result, it is not a very common guitar, although I have run across a few here and there. Mine is ‘Lake Placid Blue’ which is an opaque dark blue metal flake finish. The body is made of ash (looks like 3 pieces), with a maple neck (no separate fingerboard). All of the hardware on this guitar is 22k gold-plated brass, and as a result, it is fairly heavy. The electronics are fairly different on this guitar, as the first tone control is a master tone control for all of the pickups. The second tone control knob is not a tone control at all, but a 2 position rotary switch. This switch allows different combinations of the three pickups.

This is the way it works:

5-Way Switch Position 2- way Switch OFF 2-way Switch ON

1

Bridge

Bridge

2

Bridge & Middle

Bridge & Neck in Series

3

Middle

Neck & Middle in Series

4

Middle & Neck

Bridge & Neck in Parallel, with Middle in Series

5

Neck

Middle & Bridge in Series

Strat pickups in series are louder, and bassier than their normal parallel configuration. It is an interesting and useful sound worth exploring. This guitar is stock, except the addition of Schaller strap locks. I string this guitar with D’Addario .009’s.

This is the first good guitar I’ve ever had, and is probably my favorite. It is part of a series that Fender had out from the late part of 1980 until late 1982. As a result, it is not a very common guitar, although I have run across a few here and there. Mine is ‘Lake Placid Blue’ which is an opaque dark blue metal flake finish. The body is made of ash (looks like 3 pieces), with a maple neck (no separate fingerboard). All of the hardware on this guitar is 22k gold-plated brass, and as a result, it is fairly heavy. The electronics are fairly different on this guitar, as the first tone control is a master tone control for all of the pickups. The second tone control knob is not a tone control at all, but a 2 position rotary switch. This switch allows different combinations of the three pickups.

Strat pickups in series are louder, and bassier than their normal parallel configuration. It is an interesting and useful sound worth exploring. This guitar is stock, except the addition of Schaller strap locks. I string this guitar with D’Addario .009’s.