Mine is a 2005 MIA American Standard. I didn't even know it had a fixed bridge until I tried to put the tremolo arm on it that the guitar store gave me. I have since been told that Fender didn't make many Strats with a fixed bridge and they don't make them anymore. Anyone know how many were made?

They are called Hardtail bridges

They made a good number of them but they never really sold well at all so they were discontinued around 2007 ( in the American Standard Line). They still make a few Hardtail Strats in the signature lineup. They aren't as common as tremolo strats but they aren't rare either.

Bummer! I was hoping they're rare. Anyway, I didn't really buy it as an investment anyway and they are less common than floating bridge Strats. I'm surprised that they didn't sell well. A lot of Strat players don't like the floating bridge and will use a piece of wood to stop it from moving. Anyway, it's the perfect Strat for me as I prefer guitars with a fixed bridge.

Well Hardtails do sound a bit different then traditional strats ( I owned a 06 ) so many players stick to the traditional strat formation. Also Look at it this way: You can block a strat trem and basically have a hardtail, but you can't just toss a trem on a hardtail without routing out the whole body.

I don't play surf music and I'm not much of a "dive-bomber" -- thus, I find little need for the wanker bar. The traditional Strat formula includes a trem bridge but I prefer the tuning stability and the enhanced sustain of a hardtail. I have eight Strats in total (one is a 12-string), including three home-built hardtails which all share "number one" status in my herd's pecking order.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

i certainly like my hardtail Strat. I can bend a chrord if needed.

Still have my 1st guitar which is a 1976 hardtail. Over the years I've added many hardtails the the family. [wish I could figure out how to post a pic to this site]

[img][img]http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad165/2ManyStrats/CARRIER%202010/1976FenderStratocaster.jpg[/img][/img]