I haven't played any kind of vintage Fender since at least Friday. That's when I recorded a bass track with an old Precision Bass. It's a real warhorse. The tuning pegs are so hard to turn I use 2 hands.
Naturally, there's always the one that got away, but I had a Stratacaster back in the late 70s/ early 80s. Oh my God, it was gorgeous. It was white.
I stupidly replaced the pickups, (to be different) but I kept all the original parts in the case. The new pickups were black so it looked like a tuxedo shirt with a couple of bow ties on it.
Then some tweaked out lowlife/friend stole the damn thing. Sigh. It'd be worth big bucks today, I'm sure. Before I changed the pickups, you could just go through the switch positions and the sounds from one rock record or another would jump out at you. Pick up a Les Paul and you'd hear many of the rest.

I always preferred Fenders. For one thing, the Les Pauls were so heavy compared to Fender - I mean they weighed a lot. Les was so into sustain that by the end of the night, the guitar felt like a slab of concrete.

I had a Mexican Telecaster a few years back and that was a fun beast too although it was cheaper and the electronics were noisy. Same deal. Set the switch and guess the country record it sounded like.
There's a question for American manufacturing: Where have all the Leo Fenders gone?
Do you realize they make Fenders now that look worn? They're brand new but they have fake wear and tear on them. When did everything become so phony? Back in my day, all the grime was 100% real.

I've got a mid-70s (I think) Strat that's so easy to play, there's no excuse for what I did on it this afternoon.

Mine's an early 90's American Standard Strat. It's amazing how many variations there are on the basic Strat - through all the transitions of company ownership, the different factories in US and overseas. I love watching "Antiques Roadshow" and seeing somebody drag in some mint Strat that's been sitting in the closet for 50 years. Those Strats from the 50's are worth a bundle of $dough$.

When I was a high school-aged kid and even younger, I used to go to New York City and roam around the music stores, including the legendary Manny's, both new and old locations.
My Dad would sometimes work in New York and he'd give me "walking around money", then I'd meet him for lunch. I checked out a lot of stuff, but I'd always head to the music stores, all up and down one or two blocks. And Manny's was like going to church must be for some people.
Just looking at the pictures on the wall was a trip and all the sales people were amazing New Yorkers, from cool jazz musicians to the high pressure types.
You could sit in that store and in 15 minutes they could sell 10 grand worth of stuff.
It was ELECTRIC.
One day there were all these boxes piled up in the front and it was a rush order for Led Zeppelin. Too cool. The band's name was right on the boxes,"c/o Led Zeppelin" in magic marker.
Anyway, if you could have just gone in there or down that block and bought a bunch of pre-CBS Strats or other vintage equipment, the rate of return would rival Microsoft.
In fact, it took a Microsoft fortune to buy some of those guitars.

Strats can even be played upside down:

http://www.guitarplayerscenter.com/blog/guitar-articles/the-guitars-of-jimi-hendrix/

"Jimi purchased his first Strat from Manny’s Music in New York in ‘66 in the summer. Early on he would use a variety of CBS Strats with rosewood fretboards. While he was staying in Greenwich Village in late ‘66 and ‘67 he narrowed down his choices to black or white Fender Strats using maple fretboards. Which, most likely is the reason the Fender Stratocaster is the most important guitar in the history of guitars and music."

I have a Fender/Squier Telecaster. I picked it up several years ago in the intent to learn to play. Its one of the cheaper ones, but I didnt want to spend a lot of money and then lose interest (or suck at it.) I have changed the bridge pickup to one from standard American Tele a friend gave to me, and it sounds much better.

A few years ago, when Jonny Lang played at the Blues Festival, I got his autograph on the pickguard. Then bought a new pickguard and had the signed one framed. He is a pretty cool kid. Great guitar player too.

My son is pretty good player, but be prefers Jacksons and Gibsons. He doesnt have much use for my Tele.

I had a '62 Gibson SG Standard in excellent condition.
I used to pawn it when I needed money and one time I let it go for the paltry pawn amount. Dumb.

My pals played strats but I found the SG neck and frets easier to play.

I saw Jonny Lang open for the Rolling Stones. He played tasty blues beyond his years.

One interesting thing about Hendrix is he tuned down a half step so E became E flat. That is part of the sound. Now look at those fingers and imagine how far he could bend the looser strings. And he did it all with rings on. It's completely ridiculous.

Stevie Ray Vaughn is also an absolute beast but it is profound how Hendrix can pull sounds out of a guitar that nobody else could. It's also fortuitous that Leo Fender happened to build something that could be taken that far out there. I mean I doubt Leo anticipated the Cry Baby Wah-Wah pedal. Who did?

I mean if you listen to old Les Paul records, it's clear these guys had no idea what would happen with their instruments.

Nobody did. Just like in country on the Telecaster with that chicken pickin' stuff. There was no way Leo knew those sounds were in there to come out. Yet, he built the guitar anyway.

There's your philosophical question: Which came first? The chicken pickin' or the Telecaster? And yet the instrument is versatile enough to be a favorite of....Prince.

You know who builds an unbelievable guitar? 12th Fret on Belmont. I've got one that does everything but the laundry.

Don't forget the Esquire that Springsteen made famous.

"It was a stratocaster with a fender amp"

"we could jam in Joe's garage"

We should also be giving props to Freddie Tavares, who actually designed the Stratocaster's pegboard shape and played a crucial role in championing the guitar at Fender. I love a good Strat, but my heart has always belonged to the comparatively homely Telecaster. I had a custom 1982 reissue of the '52 blond Tele with a three-digit serial number, but I stupidly left my garage door open one night soon after moving into my house and the next morning discovered the Tele and two other guitars and my bass missing. I still mourn the loss of the Telecaster and curse the memory of the thief.