this invention was first made in the 1950's, and even with the better technoligy of today no one can improve on it, its made of wood, it has electronics built into it and every rock musition has one or wants one, and strangley enough, they prefer the older ones to the later ones,,,it was origionly made by lionado fender, and is the fender stratercaster gutar,,true fact not learned in't pub,,,cos the old bint won't let me out.
the best strats are indeed the 1954 to 1965, known as "pre-CBS" models. The CBS Broadcaster Company bought Fender in January 1965 and although they are still great guitars the early ones are worth not a small fortune but a large one. Also tom i have a strat (among my collection of 20+ guitars) and to cap it all i'm going out on the drink in a min