My First Guitar… Fender Stratocaster Waleed Abouelela The tone and sound I got from that old Stratocaster guitar was amazing! When I played a clean sounding song you would get a smooth, buttery, unbiased sound. The maple body and bolt on neck resonated a hum in the back-round so full it was as if every single note hugged you. With the flip of a switch that same clean channel turned bright and so energetic one could swear it was jumping off the walls. The high notes seemed to smile as they popped out one by one. The strings vibrated so tense that Stratocaster sounded like a joyous event had just taken place every time I finished a song. I got the same feeling and intensity every time I picked up that guitar. By pressing a button I would get distorted sound so often used in the music I loved. That very same guitar gave me a crunchy, chunky tone. Playing a lightning fast solo on the bottom of the neck would give me a rush that I cannot compare to anything else. A twisting and winding solo going a hundred miles an hour would make you feel like the notes were zooming in spirals around you. The speeding up and tension building technique so often utilized in solo work would often have you come crashing down with a famous “BIG ROCK ENDING”. That old Strat did all of that without a problem. They feature a sunburst design. Yellow and almost clear coats just thin enough to expose the woods texture covered by the finish. That fades darker into an orange and the shiny black on all edges that you can see yourself in. The top of the guitar has a white pickup guard with three single coil pickups in which the tremolo pick up is slanted down at the bottom to get the full effects of that sound it was put there for. The top of the guitar is the shape the headstock of an eagle with a shiny metallic Mohawk of six chrome plated tuning machines arranged in order on the top. Connecting the head to the body is the reason the other two parts even exist. That of course is the neck. The neck is shaped like a solid pole cut in half to make it the shape of a “D”. That soft maple pole has black dot inlays and brilliant stainless steel note markers that run across the neck. I actually played that guitar for so long I the oils from my fingers stained the neck with my hard word, practice, and passion of the music that came out of that beloved guitar of mine. Playing that guitar made me happy. That old