If the Fender Stratocaster is such a perfect design, why – wonders Dave Burrluck – is there a whole industry of aftermarket parts and pickups to improve it?

More aged nitro finishes and a new US-made line-up that pares back the modernisms. Are our tastes changing? Max Gutnik, chief product officer at FMIC, tells all

IF YOU’RE EXPECTING something like Rory Gallagher’s or Mike McCready’s tattered Strats, you’re going to be disappointed. The new limited-edition Road Worns — a ’50s Jazzmaster, the ’60s Strat reviewed

Two new lower-end, similarly priced Stratocasters cater for both vintage and more modern tastes and blur the line between Fender’s USA and Mexican manufacturing. Which one has your name on it?

Michael Watts explores solutions to the challenge of amplifying acoustic guitars over the decades – are we nearly there yet?

Let’s whip off those ’plates and take a look inside