Think of an electric guitar. There’s a good chance that you are thinking – consciously or unconsciously – of a Fender Stratocaster. A fitted ‘body’ with those two typical asymmetrical horns. Three knobs, a switch and three elements – the magnetic coils that convert the vibration of the strings into an electrical signal. The bolt-on neck with f-shaped head and all tuners on the same side.
It is not surprising that you see this guitar in front of you. Almost every guitarist has had one in his hands at some point. Type the words “electric guitar” into Google Images and two of the three guitars you’ll see are Stratocasters. The electric guitar emoji? You get the point.
The model, often affectionately called the ‘strat’ by guitarists, is the most widely used and most copied guitar model in the world. But for how long?
Angry guitarists
This spring, builder Fender took the relatively unknown Chinese producer Yiwu Philharmonic to court in Düsseldorf. That company exported ‘S-Type’ guitars (‘S’ for Stratocaster) via AliExpress, including to Germany. According to Fender, the shape of the guitar is considered applied art within European copyright law and is therefore protected against intellectual theft. The judge ruled in favor of Fender in default: Yiwu Philharmonic is no longer allowed to make, offer or distribute Stratocasters in the European Union. If the Chinese company does so, it risks a fine of 250,000 euros per copy.
Enough reason for Fender to try again what the guitar manufacturer already tried unsuccessfully in the American court in 2009: enforce a monopoly on the guitar model. Then the judge ruled that the guitar shape had become so commonplace in the guitar world that the intellectual property was not reserved solely for Fender.
Yet several American and European guitar makers have received demand letters in recent weeks to cease production of s-type guitars, recall units sold on the European market and destroy stocks.
And now guitarists are angry. Different guitar influencers on YouTube cut their ties with Fender. Guitar manufacturer LSL Instruments raised through GoFundMe nearly £50,000 to challenge Fender’s notice in court.
Why does Fender’s action spark so much anger? What makes this guitar so special? And: what does it actually sound like?
Democratic instrument
Anyone who comes across the beloved Stratocaster comes across the history of pop music. Some of the greatest guitar innovators – Hendrix, Clapton, Van Halen – swore by it. Striking in that history is the versatility of music styles for which the guitar model is suitable: pop, blues, funk, metal. Which genre isn’t actually?
:format(webp)/s3/static.nrc.nl/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/27141551/020626CUL_2034026518_beck.jpg)
Jeff Beck on a Stratocaster.
Photo ANP / EPA
One of the reasons for this is the configuration of the elements, or ‘pick-ups’. Unlike most other electric guitars, a Stratocaster has no fewer than three, which you can turn on and off in five different ways with a switch. The warm, almost rumbling sound of the neck pickup, the tinkling bells of the combination between the neck and middle pickups, the biting bridge pickup: it’s all there.
Particularly painful in light of the current fuss is that the Stratocaster was initially a guitar for everyone, a democratic instrument par excellence. Guitar maker Leo Fender launched the model in 1954 as a follow-up to the successful Telecaster, with a few adjustments to increase playing ease. The back of the body of a Strat is cut in such a way that it fits better to the human body. The so-called double ‘cut-away’, the space cut out on both sides of the neck of a Strat, makes the high registers easier to play. Stratocasters also consist of many separate, screwed together parts, which makes them easy to personalize and repair.
It is therefore no coincidence that you rarely see a rock guitarist molesting a Gibson guitar. If you smash such a guitar, with its glued neck and often fragile sound box, it can then be thrown in the trash. The outbreaks of violence Kurt Cobain or Pete Townshend: all Fenders focused. Even if you are really good at it, in the worst case scenario you will break your neck. You can simply screw a new one on and you’re ready for the next round. (Forward; the Strat that Jimi Hendrix in 1967 set fire to the stage will no longer have been playable.)
David vs. Goliath
For the record: most guitarists prefer to keep their instruments intact. Perhaps that is why Fender’s call to destroy existing stocks of ‘illegal’ stratocasters is so misguided. Moreover, it is David against Goliath: LSL (from the fundraiser) makes fewer than 500 guitars per year, Fender about 500,000. “Our small company does not pose a threat to them in any way,” the company wrote on guitar blog Unleavened Shreds.
Fender responded to the fuss last week and stated that the legal measures are only “aimed at products that almost or completely replicate the exact design of the body of the Stratocaster.”
:format(webp)/s3/static.nrc.nl/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/27141808/020626CUL_2034026518_gilmour.jpg)
David Gilmour, also on a Stratocaster.
ANP/EPA
Then you make that guitar just a little bit differently, you might think. But even then Fender knows where to find you. PRS, so far the best-known builder to receive a letter from Fender, was called upon to cease production of their Silver Sky line: a guitar that is clearly based on a Stratocaster, but to the trained eye is really different from a Fender Strat.
Or something like that cease and desist remains to be seen in court. For the time being, the ‘imitation Strats’ are still available at all European guitar wholesalers.
Shrinking market
It is no coincidence that Fender is opting for the legal attack now, 72 years after the first Stratocaster saw the light. After a flare-up in demand for guitars during the corona pandemic, the market is slowly declining again. In addition, the company is faced with hefty tariffs under Trump and increasingly better, more affordable competition.
There has long been the idea among guitarists that you no longer have to go to Fender for the Stratocaster with the best price-quality ratio. As a company that makes half a million guitars a year, it simply cannot put the same time and attention into a guitar as a smaller luthier.
What you pay for as an enthusiast is history. The fact that your favorite guitarist also plays a Fender. That iconic logo on the head. But not necessarily for the best guitar. YouTube guitarist Rhett Shull summed up the frustration in the guitarist community aptly summarized: “Do you want to sell more Stratocasters? Then make better Stratocasters.”
What does a ‘strat’ sound like?Three times in action:
Every instrument is a percussion instrument, James Brown once said. Few guitarists have taken this as closely to heart as Nile Rogers, who is known for his driving percussion technique and wrote and recorded music for Sister Sledge, among others. On other guitar models, such a percussive style would quickly become too heavy and cumbersome, but on a Stratocaster it remains easily digestible.
In contrast to an average Gibson guitar, a Strat has single-coil pickups, which produce a relatively large amount of residual sound (a so-called ‘hum’). Some guitarists see this as a disadvantage. For a rock guitarist like John Frusciante, it is an opportunity to really kick his guitar on the tail.
You get the most typical Stratocaster sound if you switch on two of the three pickups at the same time: the neck and middle pickups, or the middle and bridge pickups. Together they provide a nasal, slightly pinched sound, without losing clarity. It’s one of the building blocks of John Mayer’s signature, measured guitar sound.
