The Story of the Fender Stratocaster [Hardcover]

Ray Minhinnett (Author), Bob Young (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995

The Fender Stratocaster has reigned supreme in the hands of Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton. This book reveals how the distinctive Strat achieved its legendary status. Fine color photography and detailed text examine the guitar's design and technical history and provide a model-by-model evaluation of its evolution.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bob Young was on the road with Status Quo for 13 years as their songwriter/ harmonica player/tour manager. He co-wrote many of their classic songs and has also written three books, several plays and many more songs. Ray Minhinnett is a guitarist who received the 1990 award for Best British Blues song and in 1991 was nominated by the British Blues Foundation for the Best British Blues Guitarist. The authors have written, arranged and produced the music for many film, radio and TV themes and written jingles for many TV advertisements. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Backbeat Books (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879303492
• ISBN-13: 978-0879303495
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #869,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Strat as a Page Turner, August 6, 2000

By 

John W. Beasley (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Story of the Fender Stratocaster (Hardcover)

"The Story of the Fender Stratocaster", by Ray Minhinnett and Bob Young is an excellent read for anyone interested in this American musical icon. The entire range of the Strat's story is found in these pages: a synopsis of the instrument's and Fender's history, an analysis of the causes of the Strat's success, the changes made in the instrument as the years passed and the thoughts and storys about the Strat from interviews with over two dozen well known guitarists from Bryan Adams to Dweezil Zappa.

The book covers the technological evolution of the Strat as regards design and engineering witout going into the deep detail found in A.R. Duchossoir's "The Fender Stratocaster". Minhinnett and Young's work delves more deeply with the influence the Strat had on American culture and the resulting changes that culture inspired in the Strat. The book also includes a chronology, glossary, list of key people and an index all of which I found quite helpful.

Where most books I've read on the subject perform the function of reference books, I found "The Story of the Fender Stratocaster" to be a good, enjoyable read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Strat as a Page Turner, August 6, 2000

By 

John W. Beasley (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Story of the Fender Stratocaster (Hardcover)

"The Story of the Fender Stratocaster", by Ray Minhinnett and Bob Young, is an excellent read for anyone interested in this American musical icon. The entire range of the Strat's story is found in these pages: a synopsis of the instrument's and Fender's history, an analysis of the causes of the Strat's success, the changes made in the instrument as the years passed and the thoughts and stories about the Strat from interviews with over two dozen well known guitarists from Bryan Adams to Dweezil Zappa.

The book covers the technological evolution of the Strat as regards design and engineering without going into the deep detail found in A.R. Duchossoir's "The Fender Stratocaster". Minhinnett and Young's work delves more deeply into the influence the Strat had on American culture and the resulting changes that culture inspired in the Strat. The book also includes a chronology, glossary, list of key people and an index, all of which I found quite helpful.

Where other books on the Strat that I've read were reference books, "The Story of the Fender Stratocaster" is a good, enjoyable read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Another useful link in the strat chain, February 13, 2011

By 

M. Rael - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Story of the Fender Stratocaster (Hardcover)

The other review pretty much sums it all up. This isnt a book to discover when your strat pickguard screws were manufactured or at what time of morning Leo Fender drank his coffee. But there is a nice dose of comments from all the major players at the Fender company (Don Randal, etc.) ..and from the major players of the strat too, for that matter. Its a good book to have. On a personal level I got a kick out of the author commenting in passing that Yngwie Malmsteen's songwriting skills unfortunately lagged behind his solo playing. So true. Theres few or no strat revelations in this book, but its a good effort nonetheless. A page turner.