0:38

well hello friends and welcome to ask

0:40

Zack today we're going to talk about the

0:43

hard tail Stratocaster so today I'm

0:46

lucky enough to have a uh a 57 hard tail

0:50

Strat on loan and there you go got to

0:55

have the the proofs the proofs in the

0:57

back so uh yeah we're going to talk

0:59

about hard tals what's uh different

1:02

about them uh just kind of we've also

1:05

got some shipping totals from 54 and 55

1:08

so you can kind of see you know where

1:11

the emphasis was at Fender whether it

1:13

was on the tremolo or the hard tail ones

1:16

we're going to talk about the uh the

1:18

players that are famous for the for

1:21

using the hard tailes and uh yeah just

1:25

I'll talk about this specific 57 that uh

1:28

that's really cool it's got some some

1:31

cool things going on with it all right

1:34

before we get started I just need to

1:36

thank my patreon members and uh I just

1:40

appreciate you guys supporting the

1:42

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1:44

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1:47

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1:49

helpful um yeah and there's a link to uh

1:53

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1:55

become a patreon member all right also

1:59

uh you know I'm I'm on Instagram and I

2:01

do a lot of you know kind of additional

2:05

posting on stuff there so that's another

2:07

good place to uh to follow me and see

2:11

what's going on uh especially like gigs

2:13

and things like that all right let's

2:16

dive in so of course Fender introduces

2:20

the Stratocaster in

2:22

1954 really the uh the summer of

2:25

54

2:28

and the

2:30

brto which we're just going to call it

2:32

tremolo because that's what Fender calls

2:34

it so that way I don't keep going back

2:36

and forth we're just going to go with

2:37

tremolo even though it's a a br so the

2:39

tremolo

2:41

system is really part of the guitar and

2:45

one of its main novel features so the

2:48

whole notion of hard tail is not really

2:53

pushed a whole lot the first year in

2:57

fact and this is information from

2:59

Richard Smith's book uh which is

3:02

wonderful and it's my favorite book on

3:03

Fender guitars it's called Fender the

3:05

sound heard around the world and that

3:07

book he states that Fender sales was

3:12

shipped out

3:14

268 stratocasters in 1954 and they all

3:18

had

3:20

tremolos not one hard tail now does that

3:24

mean that Fender didn't make any hard

3:26

tail strats in 1954 no that means that

3:30

the few the exceptionally few hardtail

3:34

strats made in

3:35

1954 probably went to artists or like

3:39

custom orders friends and family

3:41

something where it didn't go through a

3:44

dealer where somebody came to the

3:46

factory and of course Leo was kind of

3:49

known to uh to sell stuff you know kind

3:52

of not through Fender sales which you of

3:55

course Don Randall was not real happy

3:57

about that but uh yeah so if you have a

4:00

hard tail strap from 54 that is super

4:02

duper

4:03

rare uh in 55 that's when you really get

4:07

the push of the hard tail and in 55 you

4:11

have 357 strats were made with tremolo

4:16

and then you have 95 that were made non-

4:18

tremolo so you can get you know it's not

4:20

a a huge percentage it's you know

4:22

significant but not uh it's it's not

4:25

nowhere near half or anything like that

4:27

so they kind of knew that most people

4:30

were going to want you know all the

4:34

features all the novel features of the

4:36

Strat and you know even though the hard

4:39

tail doesn't have the vbr people don't

4:42

think about the fact that you still got

4:44

this amazing bridge I mean this is an

4:46

amazing bridge design I mean you had

4:49

this six saddle bridge that all the

4:53

strings were adjustable for intonation

4:55

and height individually and that was a

4:58

big deal

5:00

so who cares if you didn't get the vbr

5:02

you still got this amazing bridge that

5:04

you were finally able

5:06

to tune your instrument and intonate it

5:09

well which you couldn't do that with the

5:11

Telecaster because you didn't have in

5:14

individual string uh adjustment so this

5:18

was a huge deal another difference

5:21

between the tremolo version and non-

5:24

tremolo version was of course the price

5:27

so a Stratocaster in 1954 with the

5:30

tremolo was

5:32

$249 which basically translates to about

5:35

$3,000 in today's money of course I'm

5:38

talking in 2024 money the non- tremolo

5:42

version was $229 so $20 less in 1954

5:47

money which translates to about $300 so

5:52

basically you saved $300 in today's

5:55

money to get the hard tail model which

5:59

of course meant that they didn't have to

6:01

route as much and you know you just had

6:04

this easier to install Bridge

6:08

tailpiece you know you also you gave up

6:12

the decal you know that said uh with

6:15

synchronized tremolo underneath here

6:17

just a quick aside this has an

6:20

additional decal on here that was put on

6:23

by one of the um the former Rolling

6:26

Stones texts he put these uh he put this

6:29

uh Tumbling Dice on there um on this

6:33

guitar but uh yeah of course you don't

6:37

have the routing on the back you have

6:40

you know string ferals here instead of

6:42

the uh the chamber you don't have the

6:45

Springs you don't have the claw you

6:47

don't have the big inertia

6:49

block and so all of those things make

6:54

for a different sounding kind of Strat

6:57

so you know when you have the tremel

6:59

over

7:00

version it's got a certain ping and a

7:04

certain air to the note and that comes

7:07

from the big inertia block it comes from

7:10

the claw and the Springs so those

7:13

Springs kind of act like a little bit of

7:15

a Reverb chamber and they add kind of a

7:17

different sound to the note is it some

7:21

huge difference no but it is noticeable

7:25

um so the the hard tail you know has a

7:29

little a little bit more of a solid

7:30

sound I would say it's a little more

7:32

assertive and it's a little drier

7:35

sounding uh in that it doesn't have that

7:37

kind of pingy Airy stuff but uh you know

7:41

these tend to have more sustain

7:44

especially if you're talking about

7:46

comparing it with a same-year unit that

7:49

has a tremolo and it's floating so this

7:51

will absolutely have you know a little

7:54

bit more sustain to it um yeah and they

7:59

just they just have a wonderful you know

8:02

sound to them I love my favorite sound

8:04

on a strat is the middle pickup on its

8:06

own

8:14

and you know kind of the thing I was

8:16

playing in the

8:24

intro you know the the middle pickup

8:27

sound to me is just yeah it's that

8:30

perfect compromise between the bridge

8:32

pickup and the neck pickup it's just

8:34

it's it's in a really great position and

8:37

uh to me it's it's always the star and

8:40

if that doesn't sound good on a strat

8:42

then I'm probably not going to pick it

8:44

up um the sound that's kind of the the

8:47

easiest to get a good sound on a strat

8:49

is usually you of course the neck pickup

8:58

[Music]

9:18

[Music]

9:20

so uh yeah and then of course you got

9:23

the the combination sound

9:38

you know that's front two and you get

9:39

the back two

10:02

and of course the

10:05

bridge which on a hard tail you get a

10:07

little better Bridge sound because it's

10:10

uh it's just a little more solid it's

10:11

got a little more beef to it than the

10:14

than the tremolo version and so you know

10:17

you get a little bit more of the

10:18

Telecaster thing of course it doesn't

10:20

have the doesn't have a bottom plate

10:22

it's not mounted in a in the bent metal

10:25

you know bridge that a that a Telly has

10:28

but it's still still you know a really

10:30

good sound and that's you know where you

10:32

get you know one of the uh and I need to

10:35

turn the Reverb off for this and now

10:38

I'll do my best Nile Rogers cuz that's

10:41

one of the uh one of the main hard tail

10:44

guys there's not a ton a hard tail

10:46

players and so really I think probably

10:49

one of the most recorded would be Nile

10:52

Rogers and that's just because of all

10:53

the hits that he's played on with of

10:56

course his guitar that Fender has made a

10:59

signature model called the hit maker and

11:01

that of course is a late 50s hard tail

11:04

that's blonde and he's changed out the

11:06

pit guard and it's got some some cool

11:07

knobs on it and uh you know and you know

11:11

you get that kind

11:15

[Music]

11:20

of we'll try it with a pick

11:32

yeah but it's got to be dry I'm turn the

11:34

Reaver back on but the other kind of

11:37

famous cat for playing a hard tail is

11:39

Ronnie Wood who has used a 55 hard tail

11:43

for years with the Stones it's been a

11:45

you know one of his main guitars and uh

11:48

he's always done great things with that

11:52

so yeah so this one is a is a 57 which

11:59

like like you know most 57s it has a has

12:01

an alder body has that nice v-shaped

12:05

neck which to me is the best thing

12:06

Fender ever did I mean if I had my pick

12:10

of any Strat or Telly um you know I'm

12:15

always going to go with a 56 or a 57 and

12:18

I just think they're the best neck

12:19

shapes by far I love a black guard and

12:22

there are some you know some 54s and

12:24

different you know there's v-necks kind

12:26

of through the years that are but that

12:28

they're not kind of as constant as they

12:29

are in 56 and 57 but this one has that

12:33

great vneck on it and uh you know this

12:37

is a body refin uh so who knows what

12:40

color it was initially but this is a you

12:42

know they did a really nice job on it uh

12:46

yeah it's kind of got the the right wear

12:48

on it and everything so it's got some uh

12:52

strap locks that have been put on here

12:53

cuz this is you know used live and such

12:56

and uh some other little things it's got

12:59

a it's got a refret on it to uh make it

13:02

a little more friendly to play which I'm

13:04

a big fan of that I do not like vintage

13:06

little Frets I mean yeah that's why I

13:09

would never buy anything that's Mint

13:11

Condition because uh you know I'm always

13:13

going to want to put bigger Frets in an

13:15

old Fender cuz uh those little Frets are

13:18

just really hard to play on unless you

13:19

put James Burton strings on them but uh

13:23

yeah these are really really great

13:25

guitars that are kind of they're kind of

13:27

sleepers uh and also they're just

13:30

they're they're rarer and you just don't

13:32

have U that many you know famous users

13:35

of them which is you know part of what

13:37

drives things and so you know if you

13:40

think about a lot of guys that don't use

13:41

a tremolo like Clapton well his is you

13:44

know his has a vbr but it's blocked off

13:46

or even like Ry cter you know he has

13:48

those two strats that he played for a

13:50

long time well they were both tremolo

13:52

models that you of course one of them he

13:54

did all sorts of crazy stuff too well

13:56

both of them he did crazy stuff too but

13:59

main slide Sunburst one you know it's

14:02

got a regular vbr on it but he just

14:04

doesn't use it I'm sure it's you know

14:06

blocked or you know all the way up

14:07

against the body but yeah even slide

14:10

players and guys that don't use the

14:11

tremolo at all on a strat they've you

14:14

know usually have triolo models and uh

14:16

yeah I think it's just the uh the Rarity

14:19

of them this one's really light um they

14:23

tend to be a little lighter though I I'm

14:26

I'm kind of I say that cautiously cuz

14:28

you can get some 7s hard tailes that of

14:30

course weigh a ton but usually the wood

14:34

you know the the more wood that you have

14:35

on this uh doesn't kind of push it over

14:39

like the inertia block does cuz that

14:41

inertia block uh weighs a lot on a strat

14:45

and it kind of pushes it over so

14:47

especially 50s hard Tails can be pretty

14:50

pretty light they can start getting into

14:51

the uh you know like this one is in the

14:54

upper six lb range which is a you know

14:57

which can be found you in uh in in 50s

14:59

and early 60s

15:01

strats all right guys well I hope you've

15:04

enjoyed today's episode I hope that uh

15:07

that uh you if you have a hard tail

15:09

Strat or or if there's a famous hardtail

15:12

Strat player please uh you know post

15:15

about it or send me an email with a

15:17

picture of your hard tail Strat or

15:18

something I always appreciate that so uh

15:21

hope you all have a good week and we'll

15:23

see you next time bye-bye

15:29

a