A 1971 Fender Hardtail Stratocaster, 309479, in Olympic White finish. Owned and played by Randy Bachman, who has sold 40 million records worldwide as a member of The Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and as a solo artist.

This Hardtail Fender Stratocaster was Randy’s main stage and recording guitar in B.T.O., taking the place of his beloved ’59 Les Paul due to its excessive weight, which Randy estimates to be 14 lbs. “That guitar was too heavy to keep playing after “American Woman.” 3 hours a night on that shoulder, plus rehearsing. I went to a chiropractor, and he said ‘Stop playing guitar.’” “I said, ‘Yeah, good luck with that!’ So I went to a music store and said, ‘What’s the lightest guitar you have?’ And I got this.”

This beautiful white Stratocaster was played on many of Randy’s hit songs including “Let it Ride”, “Hey You”, “Lookin Out for #1”, and “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”. It’s documented in album artwork and photographs, graced the stage countless times, and is featured in the 1975 “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” music video.

In the studio, this Strat was often used for rhythm tracks and doubled with the back-up 1955 Stratocaster, then blended together to create the chiming strummed sounds we all know from “Let it Ride” and “Hey You”. While this Stratocaster has a distinctive, round, yet cutting sound, what makes it special is that it’s one of the rarer ‘hard-tail’ models. Standard Stratocasters come equipped with a so-called tremolo bridge, a misnomer by Leo Fender himself that persists to this day; the effect is actually vibrato, i.e., a modulation of pitch rather than volume.

This particular guitar left the factory with a fixed bridge, screwed down to the body, which the strings pass through as they’re installed, giving the guitar a different sound and feel when compared to its vibrato-laden compatriots. Bigger, bolder, and with more sustain, it’s no wonder why Randy gravitated toward this guitar in those days.

Obviously a well-worn touring instrument, the guitar is in rather good condition and presents with lots of play wear including dings, scratches, areas of missing finish worn away by contact with the player’s body, and fading of the white finish of the body which has yellowed with age.

Includes black hardshell case.

PROVENANCE From The Collection of Randy Bachman

Guitars & Instruments