Stratocaster Guitar Book.

A complete history of Fender Stratocaster guitars

A bit of a niche book but probably a must read if you own, or inspire to own, a Fender Strat, especially if you want to buy a non-new model.

Basically the book is, as the sub-title suggests, a complete history. Sounds stuffy but Tony Bacon makes it enjoyable and an easy read, bringing out the characters involved.
Guitar changes are catalogued as the book progresses through time making it easier (still a minefield) to approximately age a guitar and the reader may find themselves geekily counting the number of screws holding down the finger plate of their hero's guitar on Youtube.

The reference lists at the back of the book divide the Strat into places made and years manufactured and there is a list of ‘Series numbers’ showing place of manufacture and dates manufactured – it is nice to find your own serial number and mine showed me that my Roadworn copy of a 60s Strat was manufactured in Mexico in 2008-9.

Some interesting snippets as we go through the book and my personal favorite is on one of the first pages and involves Hendrix playing at the Monterey Pop Festival, using his favorite guitar throughout the set and changing to a cheaper version for the final number where the guitar gets burned and smashed.

I loved this book as a good read and then a reference book afterwards.