When LEO FENDER re-designed the solid body electric guitar in the 1950s, he wanted to make it louder, cheaper and less fragile than existing instruments. Fender called his first guitar the Broadcaster, renamed it the Telecaster, and followed it up a few years later with the soon-to-be classic Stratocaster.
It seems he was thinking of electronics and…clouds. But he couldn't have anticipated that future guitarists would take the instrument out of the atmosphere completely and into deep space, adding layers of electronic distortion, echo and reverberation to create a sound that can only be called cosmic.
On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, a tribute to Leo Fender on another installment of our long-running Space Guitars series called GALACTICASTER. Music is by CLIVE WRIGHT & HAROLD BUDD, HAMMOCK, MONO, FORREST FANG & CARL WEINGARTEN, JEFF BECK, JONSI, and JEFF PEARCE.