The CHIC legend — and celebrated Bowie, SRV and Jeff Beck collaborator — dives into the history of his Hitmaker Strat
What first attracted you to the Strat?
Somebody else playing through my amplifier and sounding better than me! [Laughs]
What guitar were you using before the Stratocaster?
That particular night when that incident happened, I was playing a [Gibson] Barney Kessel, it’s a wonderful jazz guitar, but it was feeding back at relative medium live volumes. You gotta remember this was 1973, and we were playing in a club, and we didn’t have a proper PA. All the music that would spill from the stage was the volume the audience would hear. And my jazz guitar would feed back, and when this kid plugged into my amp and played this Strat, his guitar did not feed back — and he was playing louder, better and cooler than me. I was like, “Whoa.”
So you bought your Hitmaker Strat in 1973 in Miami, and it’s been your one and only, right?
I never changed. I bought that guitar in 1973, and I’ve never changed since I had it. I still carry it on my shoulder to this day. And I’m 71 and a half years old.
What was it about that Strat that attracted you?
Where I’m speaking to you right now is from my studio here in Miami, just a few blocks from where I bought the guitar. I wasn’t particularly attracted to it for any reason other than the fact that it was the cheapest guitar in the store. I’m being perfectly honest. And when I traded in my jazz guitar, the guy gave me back $300. I got the Hitmaker and $300. That was the best deal I probably have ever made in my life.
Talk about a return on investment.
Man, you have no idea! [Laughs] It was like buying Bitcoin at 15 cents on the dollar.
Once you had the Hitmaker, did it take you long to realize you had a special guitar?
Shortly thereafter, one reason was that our shows got better right away. We [Chic] were
opening for the Jackson 5; we only did a couple of shows for them standing in for the O’Jays, but those shows got better right away because, all of a sudden, I was able to play with a hell of a lot more confidence. Once I got the Strat, my partner Bernard Edwards basically took me into the woodshed and just started teaching me how to chuck. He said, “Man
