Introduction : Since its inception in 1954 the Fender Stratocaster has remained one of the guitar industries top-selling guitar. Its design and components have also remained relatively unchanged since the original model as well. Its innovative style and overall quality is what lead to the guitar’s massive success. The signature double cut-away body style is one
Tuning Posts of the most replicated guitar shapes. Also the Stratocaster was the first guitar to use three different pickups as well as the first to use a floating tremolo system.
Headstock: The Stratocasters headstock has an iconic shape, which helped contribute to its signature style.
Functionally the main purpose of the headstock is to house the tuning system on the guitar.
Head Stock
Tuning Pegs: The tuning pegs are located on the topside of the headstock. Their function is to allow a player to adjust the tension of the strings to ensure that the guitar remains in tune: twisting the pegs either clockwise or counter-clockwise can do this. It should be noted that the direction of the pitch change will depend on how the string is wrapped around the tuning posts.
Tuning Posts: These posts are located in the middle of the headstock, adjacent to their respective tuning posts. Strings are slid through small holes in these posts and then wrapped around them to anchor them on the top of the guitar. These posts turn with the tuning pegs to adjust the tension of the strings.
Frets: Frets are small metal bars running down the neck of the
Fret Marker guitar that indicate places a players finger can be pressed to play a different note. This is achieved by making a string shorter, which changes the frequency at which it vibrates. The Stratocaster contains 21 frets.
Fret Markers: These are small circular marks on the neck of the guitar the helps a guitarist identify which fret their hand is on, as it can be difficult to quickly count them without an easy point of reference.
Body: The body of the Stratocaster has little functional use in the guitar, but it is responsible for housing critical equipment that makes the guitar work. Unlike an acoustic guitar’s body the body of an electric guitar is solid and not responsible for the tone of the guitar. The particular look of the Stratocaster is rather iconic. It features a double cutaway look that has been copied by many guitars since its release in 1954.
Tuning Pegs
Frets

Bridge: This is located on the bottom portion of the body and is mainly used to anchor the strings at the bottom of the guitar. Strings are inserted through the backside of the guitar and up through the bridge. Guitar strings are manufactured to have a knob on the end of strings that will get caught in the bridge. Once the strings are caught in the bridge they are pulled into a notch in order to keep them in proper alignment. The bridge is also part of
Input jack
Bridge
Pickups
Tremolo bar the innovative floating tremolo system of the Stratocaster that will be
Pickup selector
Tone knobs
Tone knobs
Volume knob explained at length in the tremolo bar section.
Volume Knob: The volume knob is located below the bridge, and as the name suggests, is used adjust the volume of the guitar. Simply twisting the knobs does this. This raises or lowers the amperage that is sent to the amplifier.
Tone Knobs: These nobs are used to fine-tune the sound of an electric guitar. They are connected to a capacitor that removes high frequencies from reaching the amplifier. This will give the guitar a warmer smoother tone that is sometimes desired.
Input Jack: The input jack is used to send the current produced by the electric guitar to an amplifier so it can be heard. A guitar creates electricity, but it is not enough to generate a loud noise, so an amplifier must be used. Also many amplifiers as well as effect pedals can be used to achieve specific tones that are not able to be achieved with the guitar alone.
Tremolo Bar: The tremolo bar itself is a simple device. It is a bar on the front of the guitar that can be pressed down to tilt the bridge forward and momentarily loosen the tension on the strings. This was a feature that had been used in the past. The floating tremolo system is a bit different however. In a standard tremolo system the bridge is connected to springs in the body of the guitar so that the bridge will not move unless there is force applied by the tremolo bar. In the floating tremolo system the tension of the springs is lessened so the tension from the strings gives the bridge a slight tilt forward to start. Because the bridge is already tilted forward the player isn’t just limited to the ability to loosen the tension of the strings, it is also possible to pull up on the tremolo bar tightening the strings and getting a higher frequency.
Pickups: The pickups are the most important part of the Stratocaster, or any guitar for that matter. They are what makes the guitar able to generate the current that

creates music. The pickups themselves are made up of two key components, magnets and a wire coil. The wire coil is a copper wire that is wrapped around the pickup thousands of times. The magnets are in the middle of the coil. The reason why pickups are able to turn vibrating strings into current relies heavily on principles of electromagnetism. The magnets create a magnetic field that is constant hen the guitar isn’t being played. When a string is struck it causes a disturbance in the magnetic field. On an electric guitar metal strings must be used, as they need to have the magnetic properties that cause this disturbance in the magnetic field.
When the magnetic field is disturbed there it causes what is called a flux in the magnetic field. This flux is what generates the electric current in the coils of the pickups and subsequently the current that leaves the input jack. The reason that the sound that leaves the guitar is a sound that matches the tone made by the string is that a vibrating string vibrates at a certain frequency, this causes the disturbance in the field to occur at the same frequency as the string. A Fender Stratocaster has three pickups.
Pickup Selector: This selector is a switch that selects which pickup’s current will be sent to the amplifier. The difference in the pickups is their location on the guitar.
The pickup nearest to the bridge creates much more high frequency tones as it is located near a point where the strings have their highest tension. The pickup nearest the neck provides a much more bass oriented tone. Using the selector a player can choose between all three and a combination of the front and middle pickup or the back and middle pickup. Since no other guitar before the Stratocaster had three pickups the Stratocasters pickup selector lets a player have more choice in creating a very specific tone.
Conclusion: The Fender Stratocaster is a classic guitar that has kept a winning formula the same for many years and still remains a staple of the guitar community.
It’s innovative and stylish design has become a standard of the industry.