In honor of the Fender Stratocaster’s 70th anniversary, RITCHIE BLACKMORE, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ADRIAN BELEW, MICK MARS, BUDDY GUY, ALEX LIFESON, TOM MORELLO and more discuss THE STRATS they’re holding on classic Guitar World covers
INTERVIEWS BY ANDREW DALY (EXCEPT WHERE INDICATED) PHOTO BY JEFF FASANO
70 YEARS OF THE STRAT
TO CELEBRATE THE 70th anniversary of the Fender Strat, we’ve put together a special “Strat only” edition of Cover Models. For those who don’t know, Cover Models is a recurring one-page feature (usually found in the Tune-Ups section) where we ask Guitar World cover stars to tell us about the guitars they’re holding in their cover photos. In addition to the names listed above, we’ve also connected with Robert Cray, Steve Lukather and Los Lonely Boys’ Henry Garza to bring you something that’s truly unique and truly GW — plus bonus “Strat chats” with Nile Rodgers, Ana Popović and Larkin Poe’s Rebecca Lovell. You’ll also notice you’re getting a double shot of Yngwie covers because — as Yngwie always says — more is more!
Guitarist:ADRIAN BELEW
Adrian Belew in Amsterdam in December 1980 — with the same Strat from our May 1982 cover
Guitar: Fender Strat, precise year unknown (Belew says the serial number is 253265.)
GW cover date:
May 1982
Where, when and why did you buy this guitar?
I had a plain, natural-finish Stratocaster when I joined Frank Zappa’s band [in late 1977], and I used it only on the American tour because it never made it home. I don’t know if it was stolen or if the airline lost it, but that Strat was never seen again. I had two weeks before we were going to start the European dates [in 1978], and we were going to rehearse in London for 10 days or something. At the time I was in Nashville, where I live now. I went to a local used guitar store and was poking around, and in the back they had this kinda ugly Stratocaster hanging on the wall — like a brown sunburst. [Laughs] I said, ‘How much for this one?’ They said, “It doesn’t have a case, so we’ll give it to you for $285.” A pretty good buy, I thought.
Seymour Duncan used to live where I grew up in Cincinnati, and he was a spectacular guitar player in that area long before I even played out. I called up Seymour when I was back out in California
