aubs1 wrote:
....Absolutely, Alan, when you think Strat, you cannot but help think Hendrix. The man was the reason I became obsessed with the Strat.
Well, believe it or not, Hendrix may have saved the Strat from extinction. Strats were very unpopular at the time - Gibsons were ruling the roost with their ability to overdrive the amps of the day. The Stratocaster was associated with "older" styles of music like Surf and rock 'n roll. The advent of distortion pedals helped with the overdrive thing, but it was Hendrix who redefined the music of the day and singlehandedly revived the Strat's fortunes overnight.
Interestingly the Les paul had almost disappeared at one time too, being associated with older players like Les Paul. It was a discontinued model from 1960, having been replaced by the SG. Then Keith Richards started using one in '64 and influenced many others like Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield, Peter Green, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck to do the same, until Gibson reintroduced it in 1968.
I just thought Fender would really have capitalized on that fact
It
is odd that they never really capitalised on it - everyone else did. Maybe it's because by the time Fender had caught on to the marketing value of artists, the music had moved on to other music and stars.
