I remember the time my parents took me to the mall to buy my first electric guitar. It was the old Park Square 1 in Makati around 1993. There were like four music stores there at the time. But it was in JB Music where my eyes got fixated to this guitar sitting on a shelf on its own. It was my first glimpse of a white American-made Fender Stratocaster. It’s difficult to recall what it was, exactly since I hardly knew anything about all the Fender models back then. I wasn’t able to look at it closely either, as it was off-limits to all but the most serious buyer — you couldn’t just test it (which, come to think of it now, was quite douchey of JB Music). But to the best of my recollection, it was either an American Standard or a Richie Sambora model. I don’t remember how much it was being sold for either, but it was definitely way out of reach as far as I was concerned. I was wowed and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. However, my feet were still firmly on the ground and understood full well that I, or more specifically, my parents, would not be able to afford something like that. If I recall correctly, I ended up not buying anything at the time and eventually got some bad Kramer copy from Raon. Still, as we went back home, my mom had the heart to tell me, anak, ang mahal, pero makakabili din tayo niyan (son, it’s expensive, but someday we’ll be able to buy one like that for you)…. She said that lots of times to me throughout her life. She didn’t always deliver, of course. But the promises never really got old and I love her for it.
While I have fond memories of those very first trips to the music stores with my parents, I never thought much about the Strat again. I mean, I did my best to avoid Strats at the beginning. I just thought it was ordinary and uncool. But when that phase was over, I realized that a Strat was exactly what I wanted and that holds true to this day. And so I went through a few of them over the years.
Last year, I thought my guitar purchasing days would be coming to a stop for a while. We were expecting a baby and I was worried by how much will my expenses pile up. I wasn’t doing too badly, but at the same time, the money wasn’t exactly pouring down on me like a waterfall. The luxuries had to be put on hold, and that included guitar gear. The abstinence was short-lived, though. A month before my son was born, Yupangco, the local Fender dealer, announced what would probably be one of their most awesome promos ever. Suddenly, it was going to be possible to buy two new American Standard Fender guitars for roughly 70,000 Pesos. That’s less than the regular price for one of these things — it was practically a buy-one-take-one deal. Even though I resisted at first, I eventually caved in and made the trip to their showroom. Of course, my financial status never ended up being in danger. My wife bore a healthy baby boy without complications. But I really had no way of knowing at the time.
I had already decided that I was going for a Strat with a rosewood board and a Tele with an all-maple neck. The Tele was going to be easy because there weren’t a lot of choices left as far as Teles went. The Strat, however, was going to be tougher. A far as colors went, I was still undecided. When I finally made it to the display cases, I found it — 2012 model Olympic white Stratocaster. It was the first one I tested and I did so for a while. I already wanted it, but I thought that since I was already there, I might as well go through some more of the guitars. There were the ones in black, sunburst, red and that cool Mystic Blue. I even tried another white Strat, but with a maple board (which I would find out was actually the one reserved for me). All in all, I went through at least eight copies. They all pretty much sounded the same. But there was something about the first one I tried. Maybe it was because it was the only one on display whose bridge wasn’t set to float or the one with the least fret buzz. Or maybe it was because of the fretboard which somehow looked different than everything else*. Whatever the reasons, I eventually went back to that white one I tested first.
It wasn’t until I unpacked the guitars at home when I suddenly recalled the childhood memory I wrote about at the beginning of this blog. I realized that my mom’s musing just came true. Perhaps not exactly as what either of us had in mind, but it was reminiscent enough as to make me remember. A white Fender American Standard Stratocaster finally made it to me. And a happy New Guitar(s) Day it was.
* As it turned out, it really was different. Jun Castro confirmed that, instead of the usual Indian Rosewood, the board was actually made of Pau Ferro, which Fender only uses on some signature and custom shop models. Never had I seen it on a mass production model. This was definitely a special buy.