“When this kid plugged into my amp and played this Strat, he was playing louder, better and cooler than me. I was like, ‘Whoa’”: Nile Rodgers on what convinced him to buy a Fender Stratocaster – and why it was the best investment he ever made

The Chic founder on the tale of his legendary Hitmaker Strat – which was the cheapest guitar in the store when he bought it

It wouldn’t be a celebration of the Fender Stratocaster’s 70th anniversary without speaking to one of its most iconic proponents about the Strat that has shifted so many units it is forever to be known as the Hitmaker

Here, Nile Rodgers of Chic explains what makes the Strat so special – and how he got turned onto it in the first place.

What first attracted you to the Strat?

“Somebody else playing through my amplifier and sounding better than me! [Laughs]”

What guitar were you using before the Stratocaster?

“That particular night when that incident happened, I was playing a [Gibson] Barney Kessel, it’s a wonderful jazz guitar, but it was feeding back at relative medium live volumes. You gotta remember this was 1973, and we were playing in a club, and we didn’t have a proper PA.

“All the music that would spill from the stage was the volume the audience would hear. And my jazz guitar would feed back, and when this kid plugged into my amp and played this Strat, his guitar did not feed back – and he was playing louder, better and cooler than me. I was like, ‘Whoa.’”

 

Read the full article on GuitarWorld.com HERE: https://www.guitarworld.com/features/nile-rodgers-on-his-hitmaker-fender-stratocaster