I really like the Marshall Crenshaw song. There was a surf guitar sound to that Strat, really nice.

I'm not sure if the 2nd link was correct or not, but I didn't like it as well.

Leo Fender's follow on company after leaving Fender in the CBS buyout is G&L http://www.glguitars.com/index.asp

Appreciate the correction.

It was Gibson, not Martin.

Indeed. I believe Martin dealt with that not long ago. And as with most government "raids", it was a farce. One of those wonderful exercises in how eager the system is to deploy force against those they know cannot or will not fight back.

"drop the D-18 and nobody gets hurt!"

You have to pay big $$ to get a guitar made in the U.S. with U.S. hardware. Especially when the EPA seizes all your wood.

I will note also that Guild guitars, once American-made, are now manufactured overseas, as are some venerable Martins. And Seagull, once a proud Canadian brand, is now packaged alongside several brands manufactured in various parts of Asia.

As it happens, I have a Washburn guitar, a somewhat unsung company (though well-known for their banjos) but once all-American. Mine was made in Indonesia. It's a beautifully-made guitar, but I test-drove four identical instruments before I found one with decent intonation.

A valid point. Mind, it has also caused "vintage" Fender instruments to soar in price. And older Tacoma instruments (a fine American instrument manufacturer purchased by Fender) are often described as "pre-Fender".

That's the result of failed U.S. economic policy, not failures of the Fender company. The failure would have been not to ship jobs overseas to areas where production costs were lower, then they would have become unable to compete with lower cost guitar manufacturers and would have slowly failed into nonexistence.

That's interesting. One of the more odd & rather unknown songs from them that most folks never heard of is "Several small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with pict." I listened to it once, and not in its entirety. Definitely not radio friendly.

good cover of Santo & Johnny's 45 (in my collection)!

I always thought that "saucerful of secrets" was about coffee spilled over the cup's edge!

Alas, poor Fender. A great American guitar company, which sent most of its jobs to China.

No problem here. Playing the comfortably numb solo's in a setting, like at home is fine. But when you play it (perfectly, including David's sound) on a stage in front of everyone, it's hard not to appear as if you are showing off. Thus, I understand why you wouldn't want to play it.
You could however, play "Marooned" by PF; it is much more subdued.

I am a big David Gilmour fan.

Those are all good. And what testimony to the versatility of the strat and the electric guitar in general. The impact on contemporary music of this single instrument over the last half of the 20th century can not be overstated.

No Pink Floyd. Our vocals guy wants to do that song, and I'm saying I can't and won't play it. This is a much better use of a strat in my opinion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGKQdx08A...

Yep!

Good song, however, I really prefer this one for the Strat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyvbQtLhk...
Where's DG? :)