The Stratocaster first appeared in 1954, incorporating many design innovations based on feedback from professional musicians, Fender staff and Leo Fender himself. Its third single-coil pickup offered more tonal possibilities, its sleekly contoured body made it more comfortable, and its double cutaway design made access to upper registers much easier.

Most important, however, was the addition of the new Fender vibrato (or "tremolo") bridge, an innovation originally intended to let guitarists bend strings, thus achieving the pedal steel-like sound so popular among country music artists of the day.

Nobody could have foreseen then how the Stratocaster would go on to revolutionize popular music. Essentially unchanged since its 1954 debut, it is the most popular and influential electric guitar ever, and players at all levels and in all genres continue to rely on its sound, playability and versatility to this day.