This is my USA Fender Stratocaster, bought brand new only a couple of months ago. It is the Olympic White model that Jimi Hendrix (one of my heroes) was so famous for playing from '68 onwards. Fender Stratocasters are by far my favourite kind of guitar, the sleek lines, so sexy, not thick and chunky like a Gibson. The chiming clean bright sound of the original pickups, so reminiscent of Buddy Holly. The in-between tones in positions 2 and 4. But most of all... yes most of all... my favourite feature of my Fender Stratocaster is the blonde maple neck. The feel of the neck.. and 'feel' is highly important to me. Other guitars seem to have shallow D-shape neck profiles, edges that 'dig in' to my palm, especially if I want to play powerchord shapes. The C-shape blonde maple neck is something my hand can cradle and feels natural in every position on the fretboard, whether playing grungy powerchords, broken chords up and down the neck, or solo work. It's an all-round perfect guitar. No wonder guys like Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend also favour this guitar. I also think the blonde neck as opposed to the rosewood fretboard gives a player the psychological advantage of being able to 'see' the strings more clearly against a lighter (rather than dark) background, enabling more accuracy, assurance and "attack".

I have no plans in the future to mod the guitar, but I have another older blue 'Squier' (a Japanese one) that I would someday love to put a set of Langcaster noiseless Lo's in, but for now my White Strat is my pride and joy. I use it for recording and jamming to my library of mp3s (I don't own a hi-fi system, everything goes through my computer as a one-stop entertainment system). I have only ever publicly performed with the Strat once - at a mate's Karaoke night where I added some live "grunt" to well-known classics! I plan to record an album at home with my Strat. I can't see myself ever parting with this guitar :)

Kyle