Dave Hunter (1) (1962–)

A pop/enthusiast's short history of the best-known Fender guitar, one of quite a few books on this particular instrument and its manufacturer. Brief vignettes of well known players and their particular Stratocasters take up about half of the book, and there is another section devoted to the disputable effects of wood and hardware choices. Good collection of historic photos, and some info on aesthetic variations that would be interesting to guitar collectors and poseurs more than players.

(I received my copy of this book for free in exchange for a fair review.)
This book, for the right reader, could be fantastic. If you are a guitar enthusiast who knows the names of all the parts and can knowledgeably discuss the sustain and vibrato and all the rest of guitar-playing jargon with ease, this book is for you. I can easily imagine this as a book touring musicians tote along to read on the plane or while enduring those endless hours of driving between gigs.

For everyone else, show more including musicians who play acoustic guitar and don't know the names of all the parts to an electric guitar yet, this book will be a bit dry and dull. Pretty guitar photos will only go so far to illustrate much of what this book talks about, and there are too few diagrams and instructive illustrations to support the discussions in this book about early pick-ups and different methods for connecting the neck of a guitar to the body, for instance. Throw in a healthy dose of such illustrations, not just in part 2 (which covers guitar construction in more detail), but in the history section as well, and this book could have a much wider readership, while simultaniously attracting more acoustic guitarists to brave the world of electric guitars. Most readers who are not already familiar with the jargon will have put the book aside long before they reach part 2.

For the select crowd for whom such illustrations would be unnecessary, this may be a 5 star book, but for the rest of us, including readers like me with some familiarity with pick-up design and guitar construction, this book left too much to be desired. But, the guitar pictures are pretty, and the history is still interesting and worth reading. The segment spotlighting great guitarists who have played Les Paul guitars was interesting, though again for readers without solid understanding of the jargon much of the detail in this section will be lost. I did enjoy reading some of the lesser-known musicians' biographical information, as not all the featured guitarists are mentioned much, if at all, in today's music scenes. show less

Music, instruments, guitars, Fender, Stratocasters

Music, instruments, guitars, Fender, Telecasters