Left handed Fender guitars usually had the pole pieces reversed so they could be used in left handed models. While visiting the NAMM show in Nashville, my sales manager Tom Waters and I visited George Gruhn’s Guitar Shop and spotted a beautiful left handed ’57 sunburst Fender Stratocaster. We photographed the guitar with reverse staggered pole pieces.

I once saw a very early ’54 Stratocaster owned and played by British singer Terry Reid who toured during the 60s on the same bill with The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds featuring Jeff Beck. Terry’s Strat had a stock flat pole pickup in the neck position. The pickups were very similar to an early DuoSonic or Musicmaster single coil pickup. I never forgot about that pickup ever since I first saw the guitar around 1976.