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?

Gary’s iconic early custom colour Strat is a fascinating timepiece forever linked to that blazing Fender anniversary performance of Red House

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?

As work continues, we get to hear the guitar for the first time in months

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